Stsiapan Putsila
Personal information
Born (1998-07-27) 27 July 1998
Minsk, Belarus
EducationBelarusian Humanities Lyceum
University of Silesia in Katowice
Occupations


Websitenexta.tv
YouTube information
Also known asNEXTA
Channels
  • NEXTA (2015–present)
  • NEXTA Live (2014–present)
Years active2015–present
Genres
Subscribers616.000 subscribers
(February 2022)
Total views149 million views
(February 2022)

Stsiapan Aliaksandravich Putsila (Belarusian: Сцяпан Аляксандравіч Пуціла, romanized: Sciapan Alaksandravič Puciła; born 27 July 1998) or Stepan Aleksandrovich Putilo (Russian: Степан Александрович Путило) is a Belarusian journalist, blogger, film director and TV presenter, mostly known as founder of the media outlet Nexta. The Telegram channel NEXTA Live he founded was at times the biggest Russian speaking channel in the world.[1]

He currently lives in exile in Poland.[2]

Life

Putsila is the son of Aliaksandr Putsila, a sports journalist and commentator for Belsat TV. According to his own words, Putsila had been interested in video content since his childhood.[3]

Putsila graduated from the Belarusian Humanities Lyceum in Minsk where he shot his first video clips and where he began to engage in journalism by publishing his own newspaper.[4]

Foundation of NEXTA

In October 2015, Putsila founded the YouTube channel NEXTA, originally as a music channel. The first video that was uploaded was a video clip, "No Way Out", dedicated to the 2015 Belarusian presidential election and massive falsifications. Belarusian KGB immediately demonstrated interest in NEXTA. While Putsila was still attending school, law enforcement made visits to find information about him.[5]

In 2017 the music band broke up and Putilo started using the channel to 'accumulate the trash happening in Lukashenko's Belarus', making weekly reviews of state news. In that time independent media with video were scarce and Nexta soon became popular.[6]

From 2016 to 2019, Putsila attended the University of Silesia in Katowice to study the production of film and television content.[3][7]

Political persecution and role in the 2020 protest movement

In autumn 2018, he created the Telegram channel NEXTA Live which was subscribed by 2,000 people on the first day. In the same year, Putsila was charged with "insulting the president" because of two YouTube videos. His mother's house was searched, but a few months later, the case was dismissed.[3]

In October 2019, Putsila published his documentary film "Lukashenko. Criminal records", which gained around 3 million views. In December of the same year, the film was included in the list of extremist materials of the Belarusian Ministry of Information.[3]

During the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, his Telegram channel NEXTA became the leading platform covering and coordinating the opposition demonstrations. The media outlet quickly transformed from a reporting tool into a de facto coordinator of the protests. The channel content included calls for help, police maps, as well as contacts between lawyers and human rights activists.[1] In August 2020, the main criminal investigation department of criminal police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus initiated a criminal case against Putsila. He faces up to 15 years in jail for organizing "mass riots, accompanied by violence against an individual, arson, destruction of property or armed resistance to representatives of the authorities" and other accusations.[8]

On 5 November 2020, the Investigative Committee of Belarus put Putsila along with Roman Protasevich, the former editor-in-chief of NEXTA on the international wanted list.[9] On 19 November 2020, the Belarus KGB included Putsila and Protasevich in the list of persons involved in terrorist activities.[10]

In November 2020, Belarus applied to Poland for the extradition of Stsiapan Putsila. In January 2022, the Warsaw district court declared that Putsila's extradition would be "legally impermissible". Judge Dariusz Łubowski commented on the demands of the Belarusian government, by saying: "This country demands the extradition of a completely innocent citizen just because he has different views than the psychopathic dictator - a dictator who isn't recognised by any civilised state".[11] As a result of that, the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus initiated criminal proceedings against Łubowski.[12]

Trial in absentia

In February 2023, a trial opened in a Minsk court against Putsila, Jan Rudik (both in absentia), and detained blogger and journalist Roman Protasevich. On 21 April 2023, prosecutor Nataliya Sokolova asked for a sentence of 20 years in prison for Putsila on charges related to his role in Nexta.[13]

On 3 May 2023, Putsila was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[14]

Filmography

Awards and recognitions

Stsiapan Putsila at the award ceremony of the Sakharov Prize in 2020
  • 2019: National Victar Ivashkevich Human Rights Prize by Charter 97[15]
  • 2020: Award "Profession — Journalist" by the initiative Open Russia (was awarded to the collective NEXTA as a whole)[16]
  • 2020: Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament (one of the awarded representatives of the democratic opposition in Belarus)[17]
  • 2020: Among the Top-5 nominees of the Polish Grand Press Award[18]
  • 2021: Nominee for the "30 Most Promising Russians Under 30" according to Forbes magazine in the category "New Media"[19]

References

  1. 1 2 Hurska, Alla (23 September 2020). "What Is Belarusian Telegram Channel NEXTA?". Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  2. ↑ Mikhno, Irina (22 May 2019). ""90% людей хотят остаться анонимами. Все боятся, но многие даже не знают, чего". Большое интервью с создателем Telegram-канала NEXTA". kyky.org (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Yuzbekova, Irina (16 August 2020). "Как четыре человека создали главный Telegram-канал белорусского протеста с аудиторией 2 млн подписчиков". Forbes (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  4. ↑ "Колосовскому лицею – 29. Блогер NEXTA и другие выпускники – о своей альма-матер". Belsat TV (in Russian). 14 January 2019. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  5. ↑ Kishinevsky, D. (16 August 2020). "Эксклюзивное интервью с основателем NEXTA: мы – голос революции в Беларуси, но стали им поневоле" [Exclusive Interview with Nexta Founder: We Became Voice of Revolution Against Our Wills] (in Russian). Delfi.it. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  6. ↑ Kuandikova, J. (25 May 2021). "NEXTA Live — самый популярный Telegram-канал о протестах в Беларуси, который читают более миллиона человек. Откуда он взялся и кто его делает?" (in Russian). Esquire. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  7. ↑ Stsiapan Putsila on LinkedIn
  8. ↑ "Criminal case launched against NEXTA. He faces up to 15 years in prison". Belsat TV. 14 August 2020. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  9. ↑ "NEXTA TG channel creators accused of organizing riots and put on wanted list". Belsat TV. 5 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  10. ↑ "NEXTA journalists now on terrorist wanted list". Belsat TV. 20 November 2020. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  11. ↑ "Poland won't extradite Belarusian dissident, court says". Polskie Radio. 26 January 2022. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  12. ↑ "Mińsk ściga polskiego sędziego. Nie wydał Łukaszence założyciela kanału Nexta". Telewizja Polska (in Polish). 1 February 2022. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  13. ↑ "Беларус иска до 20 години затвор за основателите на опозиционна медия" [Belarus wants up to 20 years in prison for the founders of an opposition media]. fakti.bg (in Russian). 21 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  14. ↑ "Суд в Минске дал восемь лет Роману Протасевичу. Он был редактором главного оппозиционного телеграм-канала Nexta, а потом раскаялся". BBC News (in Russian). BBC Russian Edition. 3 May 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  15. ↑ "NEXTA: There Is a Desire to Accumulate All Trash of Lukashenka's Belarus". Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  16. ↑ Названы лауреаты премии «Профессия — журналист» Archived 30 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine // Colta.ru
  17. ↑ "Belarusian opposition receives 2020 Sakharov Prize". European Parliament. 16 December 2020. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  18. ↑ "Białoruski bloger NEXTA w TOP-5 konkursu Dziennikarz Roku Grand Press 2020". Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  19. ↑ "Степан Путило (NEXTA)". Forbes (in Russian). Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
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