Siarhei Navumchyk Flew In To Minsk For A Few Days

The former MP and journalist has spent 20 years in political exile.

On May 24, deputy chairman of the BNR Rada, member of the Belarusian PEN Center Siarhei Navumchyk arrived in Minsk from Prague by plane.

Siarhei Navumchyk is 55 years. In 1990-96 he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, the coordinator of the parliamentary opposition – the Belarusian Popular Front, he was a member of the Constitutional Commission and the parliamentary committee on the media and human rights. In April 1995, he participated in the hunger strike of the Belarusian Popular Front opposition deputies, that was held right in the hall of the Supreme Council in protest against the referendum on changing the state symbols and the Belarusian language's status as the only state one, initiated by Lukashenka. On the night of April 12, 1995, the participants of the hunger strike were beaten by special forces of the KGB and thrown into the street, BelaPAN reminds.

At the end of April 1996, Siarhei Navumchyk together with BPF leader Zenon Poznyak secretly traveled from Belarus to Ukraine, and later emigrated to the United States. In May 1996, the independent newspaper “Svaboda” announced the Belarusian border troops commander’s order to detain them in case they entred into the country. In August 1996, Poznyak and Navumchyk received political asylum in the United States.

It is known that Navumchyk will spend in Belarus a few days before returning to Prague, where he lives and works in the Belarusian service of Radio Svaboda.