Manana Aslamazyan, the former CEO of Internews Fpundation died in a car accident in Yerevan.

Manana Aslamazian was born on 10 January, 1952 in Yerevan, Armenian SSR. In 1973, she graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Yerevan State University. She lived in Moscow since 1974. She worked at the Moscow Puppet Theater as a pedagogue of working with the audience, then at the Moscow Drama Theater as an administrator. Since 1993, the general director of the Russian branch of the American “Internews Network” fund.

Since 1998, a member of the Management Board of “Internews International” and the President of “Internews Europe”. Since 2000, a member of the Federal Competition Commission of the Russian Federation in matters of press, television, radio broadcasting and mass media.

She was removed from the commission in 2004, together with Vladimir Pozner. Since 2002, Vice President of the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters (NAA). She was removed in 2007.

Since 2007, she has been involved in the case of currency smuggling, for financing the activities of an American non-governmental organization she managed, in the case of currency imported from Europe. She hid from the investigation and left Russia, making Paris his permanent residence.

An open letter in defense of Aslamazyan, under which a number of Russian journalists signed was published.

Since 2007, the Russian department of “Internews” stopped its work. In 2010, by the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, as a result of the amendment of Article 188 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the “Smuggling” criminal case was reclassified as an administrative case.