He went to visit Bykau’s grave right from the airport.
Former member of the Supreme Council has arrived in Minsk after 20 years of political exile and immediately went to visit the grave of Vasil Bykau.
“I could not come to the funeral but now I can put flowers on the grave,” he told the Radio Liberty where he had worked since 1990.
“Vasil meant a lot to me. On a personal note, he simply changed my destiny. I believe that a good relationship with him was God’s gift. I have always felt his support.”
According to Navumchyk, he came back due to family circumstances: elderly parents find it increasingly difficult to travel to Prague, where he lives.
Navumchyk returned to Belarus with his wife and daughter, who had her citizenship confirmed by the Belarusian Embassy in Prague.
Navumchyk left Belarus in April 1996 – at the same time as the chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front Zyanon Paznyak – after Lukashenka monopolized power. Both politicians received political asylum in America. In 1997 Navumchyk was elected deputy chairman of the BPR Rada.
According to Navumchyk, we should not, however, be expecting the arrival of Paznyak.
“Last year, there were more than three hundred people in September in Minsk vsiting a presentation of my book on the 1995 referendum, the event took place without any hindrance from the authorities,” said Navumchyk and recalled the arrest of the book by Pazniak on the border – a book not about politics, but about the art of photography. According to Navumchyk, it clearly shows today’s attitude to Zyanon Paznyak.
