Zianon Stanislavavich Pazniak (born 24 April 1944) is a Belarusian nationalist politician, one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front and leader of the Conservative Christian Party – BPF. He was the Belarusian Popular Front nominee for

President of Belarus The president of the Republic of Belarus is the head of state of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Council of Belarus, Supreme Council. This replaced the office of Supreme_Counc ...

in the 1994 election. Zianon Pazniak has lived in the United States since 1996.

Biography

Zianon Pazniak was born in the village of Subotniki in Baranavichy Region during the German occupation of Belarus (present-day Grodno Region). He graduated from the Belarusian State Institute of Theatre and Arts in 1967 and completed his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Ethnography, Art and Folklore in 1972. Upon completion of his university studies, Pazniak worked as an arts researcher. After a wave of Soviet political-administrative repressions in 1974 resulting in the loss of his work at the Arts Institute, Pazniak worked as an archaeologist at the Archaeological Division of the History Institute of the Belarusian Science Academy. His specialisation was the Late Middle Ages in Belarus. He was heavily involved in efforts to preserve the remaining section of the historic centre of Minsk, which was considerably damaged by the redevelopment efforts undertaken by the Soviet administration after the end of the Second World War. In 1981 Pazniak successfully defended a doctoral dissertation on the history of the theatre. In 1988, Zianon Pazniak made public his researches of

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

mass executions in the forest of

Kurapaty Kurapaty (, ) is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, where a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 during the Great Purge by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD and in particular, during the Soviet repressions i ...

near

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. At that time, he became a leader of the Belarusian national movement for freedom and independence. In 1988, along with Vasil Bykaŭ, he was one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front and the Belarusian Martyrologue. From May 1990 until January 1996, Pazniak was a deputy of the Belarusian parliament. As parliamentary deputy, he was the leader of the fraction of the BPF. In 1994, he participated in the 1994 election as the Belarusian Popular Front nominee, gaining 13.1 percent of the vote. Pazniak’s candidacy was supported by the famous Belarusian writer Vasil Bykaŭ and a number of representatives of the Belarusian scientific community. Zianon Pazniak Warszawa 4

In 1996, Zianon Pazniak fled Belarus, citing a potential arrest by the forces of the Belarusian president Aliaksandar Lukashenka. He was granted

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. On June 19, 1997, Belarus's prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against Pazniak accusing him of incitement to ethnic hatred against Russian people. Following emigration, Zianon Pazniak is still active in leading the CCP-BPF ( Christian Conservative Party of the BPF). His endeavour to participate in the presidential elections of 2006 was set back when he refused to forward the requisite number of signatures gathered for his candidacy. Pazniak and the Conservative Christian Party – BPF refused to join elections in the oppositional coalition led by Aliaksandar Milinkevich in 2006 election. He is a founding signatory of the

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

. In 2018, Pazniak received the Belarusian Democratic Republic 100th Jubilee Medal from the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in Exile. In the summer of 2020, Pazniak founded the association "Free Belarus", which, according to its own statements, "advocates the protection, development and representation of the Belarusian nation, the Republic of Belarus and Belarusians around the world". During the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

in 2022 Pazniak called to support the

Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment The Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment (also known as simply Połk Kalinoŭskaha, the Kalinoŭski Regiment or Bel Warriors), formerly the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion until May 2022, is a group of Belarusian opposition volunteers, which was formed du ...

. In January 2023, during the Battle of Bakhmut, he visited the Belarusian fighters of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment on the front line.

Family

Zianon Pazniak's grandfather was Jan Pazniak (1887 (1895 ?) – 1939 ?), a Belarusian publisher, editor, publicist and politician. Jan Pazniak took part in the activity of the Belarusian Christian educational movement and was a member of the Christian Democratic Union since its founding in May 1917 in Petrograd. Jan Pazniak published several newspapers and magazines as “Biełarus”, “Biełaruskaja krynica” (English: ''Belarusian Spring''), “Chryścijanskaja Dumka” (English: ''Christian Thought'') and “Ranica” (English: ''Morning''). In September–October 1939, he was arrested by the

and taken out of

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. According to one version, Jan Pazniak was held in prison in Staraja Vilejka not far from Maladziechna until June 1941. The circumstances and date of his death are still unknown. His father was Stanisłaŭ Janavič Pazniak (1922-1944). Stanisłaŭ Pazniak was recruited into the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in the summer of 1944 and died on the Eastern front in December 1944. His mother was Hanna Jaŭchimaŭna Pazniak (1922-2012). She lived in Subotniki almost all her life. When she died in April 2012, Pazniak didn't come to the funeral, fearing persecution by the authorities. His wife is Halina Pazniak (Vaščanka). She was a deputy of the

Minsk City Council of Deputies Minsk City Council of Deputies (; abbreviated as Minsk City Council (Belarusian: Мінгарсавет) is a representative body, unicameralism, unicameral city council of the Belarusian Capital city, Capital of Minsk. It is composed of 57 deputi ...

. They have been married since 1995. She lives in Warsaw. His step daughter is Nadzieja.

Notes

References

External links

Bielarus.net: Bielaruskaja SalidarnascOfficial Zianon Pazniak website – Pazniak.infoChristian Conservative Party of the BPF"Народная перамога"(People's victory)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pazniak, Zianon 1944 births Living people People from Iwye district Belarusian dissidents Belarusian expatriates in the United States Soviet dissidents BPF Party politicians Conservative Christian Party – BPF politicians Members of the Supreme Council of Belarus Candidates for President of Belarus Belarusian Roman Catholics Anti-Russification activists Belarusian State Academy of Arts alumni Members of the Order of the Pahonia

Biography

Family

See also

Notes

References

External links