NEW YORK - A Montenegro-based veteran reporter who has investigated organized crime in Europe and war crimes in the Balkans received on Thursday the 2018 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism. Jovo Martinovic's work helped expose war crimes including allegations of organ trafficking during and immediately after the 1999 conflict in Kosovo.

His investigations with US-based American RadioWorks led to the arrest and conviction of Serbian and Albanian paramilitaries and the creation of a new war crimes court in The Hague, organizers of the award said. The 44-year-old has worked for top outlets including National Public Radio, BBC, Vice, CBS, Canal Plus, The Economist, Time, The Financial Times, GlobalPost and the Balkan Investigative Reporting network.

He was unable to attend Thursday's awards ceremony in New York, however, as he remains passport-less while awaiting a trial that could see him sentenced to 15 years in prison over accusations of participating in drug trafficking networks.

"It's a great honor to receive this award and to continue working despite all the hindrances we, in this part of Europe, face as journalists," he said via video link, calling the area "an increasingly authoritarian part of Europe".

The award was created in 2008 to honor the memory of longtime AFP journalist Peter Mackler, who died of a heart attack that year at the age of 58.

Martinovic was arrested in October 2015 on charges of marijuana trafficking and participation in a criminal organization, and held for more than a year despite the failure by prosecutors to substantiate the allegations.

The journalist has rejected the accusations and said that his contacts with criminal circles were strictly professional in the context of reporting.

Human Rights Watch criticized the detention of the journalist and said the accusations against him had little credibility.

He was working on a story on the notorious "Pink Panther" international jewel thieves gang whose members are mainly from the former Yugoslavia.

They are suspected of some hundred attacks on jewelry stores around the world.

"For the first time in 10 years, we are honoring a journalist who knew my dad (Peter Mackler) and who could attest to his passion, his drive and his humor," said the late journalist's daughter Camille Mackler at the ceremony.

Peter Mackler's accomplishments during his 30-year career with AFP included working on the conflict in Kosovo, where he briefly met Martinovic.

"He struck me as a hardworking and kind man - always willing to help anyone," Martinovic said of Mackler.

Last year's award went to Marcos Vizcarra, who lives and works in Mexico's violent northwestern state of Sinaloa.

Partners in the award are the Global Media Forum training group, the US branch of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and Agence France-Presse.

Previous recipients have been honored for reporting in Burundi, Syria, Pakistan, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Honduras, Russia and Sri Lanka.