Zianon Pazniak

Zianon Stanislavavich Pazniak (born 24 April 1944) is a Belarusian nationalist politician, archaeologist, and pro-democracy activist. He was a founding figure of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) and served as the chairman of its parliamentary fraction in the Supreme Soviet of Belarus from 1990 to 1995. He rose to prominence in politics in 1988 after revealing the NKVD's mass executions during the Great Purge in Kurapaty, which galvanized the Belarusian independence movement and anti-Soviet sentiment. He was a candidate in the 1994 election, the first presidential election of Belarus following its independence, in which Pazniak placed fourth. Since then, he has remained a vocal critic of President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian influence in Belarus, and after the BPF's split in 1999 became Chairman of the Conservative Christian Party – BPF.

Before entering politics, Pazniak graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts and worked on preserving Minsk's historical architecture in the Trinity Suburb and Nyamiha (or Nemiga). Eventually, he became an archaeologist at the History Institute of the Belarusian Science Academy. During his time there, in 1988, he made public his research on the NKVD's executions in the forest of Kurapaty alongside colleague Yauhen Shmygalev, which he called a genocide. This led to independence sentiments, and so he founded the BPF in response and became a part of the Supreme Soviet. As a parliamentarian, he led efforts to restore Belarusian national symbols and declare independence from the USSR. He was a prominent critic of the 1995 Belarusian referendum, which brought forth the proposal to grant the Russian language an equal status alongside the Belarusian language and reintroduced Soviet-era symbols, so he started a hunger strike. After the start of Minsk Spring in 1996, Pazniak stated he was being hunted by security forces, but returned for Chernobyl Way where he stated he had to escape from special forces trying to capture him. Following this, he fled Belarus and claimed political asylum in the United States.

Since his time in exile, he continued to lead the BPF before it splintered due to internal factions in 1999. He then founded the Conservative Christian Party – BPF. He has continued to advocate for Belarusian sovereignty and democracy, and has been a prominent critic of what he states is Russian imperialism. He has criticized both the current Belarusian government and many members of the Belarusian opposition for being "agents" of Russia. He has also led a boycott of every presidential election since 1996 with his party, which he states is because by participating, it only legitimizes Lukashenko. However, due to this, he has been controversial, with some stating that he has only hurt the opposition since the 2000s. Critics accuse him of isolating himself ideologically by refusing to cooperate with broader coalitions, which they state weakens the opposition's unity against Lukashenko's regime. His repeated calls for election boycotts and denouncing many members of the opposition have made some analysts argue that he has only fragmented dissent.