Remembering BelaPAN founder Aleś Lipaj on his birthday

April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Aleś Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency.

Born in the village of Androsaŭščyna in the Kapyl district, Minsk region, Lipaj became the first journalist for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service to be based in the country in 1988, following his graduation from the Faculty of Journalism at Belarusian State University.

He also worked for the newspaper Znamya Yunosti. On November 19, 1991, Lipaj and Vital Cyhankoŭ founded BelaPAN, the country’s first independent news agency.

Lipaj was the author of three poetry collections.

He died of cancer in 2018 and is survived by three children.

BelaPAN was forced to suspend operations in Minsk in November 2021 after the Committee for State Security (KGB) declared it an extremist organization.

Some of its employees relocated abroad, where they went on to found BPN and later Pozirk.

Three BelaPAN employees were arrested in 2021; two remain in prison, serving sentences handed down on politically motivated charges.

Lipaj speaking at a Freedom Day rally in Minsk on March 25, 2018