The Washington Office of the Open Society Institute participated in a Washington, D.C. memorial service for Marla Ruzicka on Saturday May 14, 2005. Ms. Ruzicka, 28, was an OSI grantee who devoted her life to documenting the needs of innocent war victims and facilitating aid. She was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad on April 16, 2005.
Ruzicka founded the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC). CIVIC identified Afghan and Iraqi civilians that had been hurt or killed by U.S. military actions and helped to arrange medical care or compensation. CIVIC has received funding from OSI since 2003.
The Washington memorial service, hosted by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, included government officials such as Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, Samir Shakir Sumaidaie, war correspondents Peter Bergen and Steve Connors, CIVIC board member and Washington Director of Human Rights Watch Tom Malinowski, and several others who knew Marla and her work on behalf of innocent victims in conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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