Independent Belarusian journalist based in US wanted in Belarus

Ali­ak­san­dr Paz­ni­ak was a cor­re­spon­dent of the Per­shy Rehi­jon news out­let and the Hantsav­it­s­ki Chas inde­pen­dent news­pa­per. Some time ago, he won the U.S. Green Card Lot­tery and has been liv­ing in New York since the end of 2021.

There he engaged in pub­lish­ing the local dias­po­ra news­pa­per Belaru­sian.

Pos­si­bly, his social activ­i­ty result­ed in a vis­it of law enforcers to the journalist’s reg­is­tra­tion address.

As the jour­nal­ist told the BAJ mon­i­tor­ing ser­vice, his wor­ried moth­er called him in the morn­ing to tell him about the police vis­it. Alleged­ly, Ali­ak­san­dr is a wit­ness in a crim­i­nal case, but the vis­i­tors refused to dis­close any­thing under the con­di­tion of “secre­cy of the inves­ti­ga­tion.”

This is the sec­ond time Pazniak’s fam­i­ly has had to deal with such vis­its. The jour­nal­ist believes he became the focus of atten­tion for the law enforcers over the 2020 protests that he cov­ered in the province. In par­tic­u­lar, Ali­ak­san­dr Paz­ni­ak and his col­league Siarhei Bahrou were beat­en and arrest­ed. Ali­ak­san­dr was lat­er fined $300 and Siarhei Bahrou was detained for 15 days.