Mourners invited to pay respects to journalist Miełkazioraŭ in Warsaw on December 30

December 25, Pozirk. Mourners have been invited to pay their respects to journalist Mikita Miełkazioraŭ in Warsaw from noon to 3 p.m. on December 30, his friend Alaksandar Ivulin announced on the social media.

The exact location will be made public later. Ivulin said that relatives have asked the mourners not to take pictures or film in the hall.

Polish prosecutors are investigating the journalist’s death. Investigators say the death is believed to be non-violent. Still, a case has nevertheless been opened under the Criminal Code’s article on involuntary manslaughter, as required by law in cases when the cause of death is unknown.

Further procedural steps will depend on the results of the autopsy, expected within two weeks. Miełkazioraŭ died on December 21 at the age of 37. The journalist lived in Warsaw, where he moved fearing politically-motivated persecution in Belarus after the crackdown on 2020 postelection protests. His Zhizn-Malina YouTube channel, with nearly 100,000 followers featured interviews with prominent Belarusians. Minsk blacklisted it as extremist content.

Polish prosecutors investigating death of Belarusian journalist Miełkazioraŭ