{"id":182956,"date":"2026-04-09T17:16:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:18:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:18:30","slug":"remembering-belapan-founder-ales-lipaj-on-his-birthday","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n \"\"\n
\n
\n\n Lipaj speaking at a Freedom Day rally in Minsk on March 25, 2018\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (BelaPAN)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

April 9, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN<\/em> news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in the village of Androsa\u016d\u0161\u010dyna in the Kapyl district, Minsk region, Lipaj became the first journalist for RFE\/RL\u2019s<\/em> Belarus Service to be based in the country in 1988, following his graduation from the Faculty of Journalism at Belarusian State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also worked for the newspaper Znamya Yunosti<\/em>. On November 19, 1991, Lipaj and Vital Cyhanko\u016d founded BelaPAN<\/em>, the country\u2019s first independent news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n \"\"\n
\n
\n\n A 1991 handwritten note by Lipaj as he prepared to open the news agency.\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (BelaPAN)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lipaj was the author of three poetry collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He died of cancer in 2018 and is survived by three children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BelaPAN<\/em> was forced to suspend operations in Minsk in November 2021 after the Committee for State Security (KGB) declared it an extremist organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of its employees relocated abroad, where they went on to found BPN<\/em> and later Pozirk<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three BelaPAN <\/em>employees were arrested in 2021; two remain in prison, serving sentences handed down on politically motivated charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lipaj speaking at a Freedom Day rally in Minsk on March 25, 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency. Born in the village of Androsa\u016d\u0161\u010dyna in the Kapyl district, Minsk region, Lipaj became the first journalist for RFE\/RL\u2019s Belarus Service to be based in the country in 1988, following his graduation from the Faculty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":131580,"template":"","rubric":[15],"class_list":["post-182956","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency. Born in the village of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency. Born in the village of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-09T14:18:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/\"},\"headline\":\"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-09T14:16:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-09T14:18:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/\"},\"wordCount\":179,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/\",\"name\":\"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-09T14:16:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-09T14:18:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency. Born in the village of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":534},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Pozirk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday | Pozirk","description":"April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency. Born in the village of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday | Pozirk","og_description":"April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency. Born in the village of","og_url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/","og_site_name":"Pozirk","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","article_modified_time":"2026-04-09T14:18:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":534,"url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Pozirk_online","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/"},"headline":"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday","datePublished":"2026-04-09T14:16:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-09T14:18:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/"},"wordCount":179,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/","name":"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday | Pozirk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-09T14:16:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-09T14:18:30+00:00","description":"April 9, Pozirk. Today marks the birthday of the late Belarusian journalist Ale\u015b Lipaj, founder of the BelaPAN news agency. Born in the village of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/lipay-2018-POZ.jpg","width":800,"height":534},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/182956\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Remembering BelaPAN founder Ale\u015b Lipaj on his birthday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","name":"Pozirk","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization","name":"Pozirk","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Pozirk"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/182956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rubric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rubric?post=182956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}