Businessman and publisher of Baranavichy newspaper Shag evacuated from Belarus

Ana­tol Vait­si­ak­hous­ki, busi­ness­man and pub­lish­er of the news­pa­per Shag from Baranavichy had to flee the coun­try urgent­ly due to crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion.

Anatol’s evac­u­a­tion was the result of the quick reac­tion and proven prac­tice of the BYSOL Foundation’s evac­u­a­tion ser­vice.

The man was arrest­ed in April 2023. He was accused of com­ment­ing on the war in Ukraine and par­tic­i­pat­ing in protests.

Ana­tol Vait­si­ak­hous­ki was one of the founders of the Baranavichy news­pa­per Shag, which was first pub­lished in 1996. Accord­ing to Nasha Niva, it was one of the first pri­vate news­pa­pers in the city and once one of the most pop­u­lar, with a cir­cu­la­tion of 11,000 copies. In 2001, the pub­lish­er left the media and launched a new edi­tion called Shag Mest­naya Gaze­ta. In 2003, the Belaru­sian author­i­ties first banned the news­pa­per in the coun­try and then closed it down com­plete­ly.

After that, the jour­nal­ist left the media sec­tor and went into busi­ness.

Read more:

Belarusian Blogger Raman Pratasevich, Sentenced To Eight Years In Prison, Says He Was Pardoned

The authorities are trying to destroy independent journalism in Belarus. Support the Solidarity Marathon!

“I stay so that those who have been imprisoned or forced to leave have a place to return to”. Motivations of journalists who choose to stay in Belarus