Andrzej Poczobut, writer and activist of the Polish number in Belarus, was arrested 4 years ago, and in 2023 sentenced to 8 years for alleged “inciting hatred”. Human rights defenders found him a political prisoner. The Polish authorities request his release.
The chochobut was stopped on March 25, 2021. The anniversary of his arrest was reminded by the Marshal of the legislature of the Republic of Poland, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, who attended the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments in Strasbourg on 20 March.
March 25 will be 4 years from his unlawful imprisonment. About his release, as well as all another persons illegally imprisoned in Belarus, the legislature of the Republic of Poland is constantly reproving
“the marshal said.
In 2024 the Belarusian authorities released a group of political prisoners from prison, but Andrzej Pochobut was not among them. The Belarusian commentators previously estimated that the writer was a "undercover of the regime" and a "special prisoner" of Belarusian leader Alaksandra Lukashenka. It is known that negotiations on the release of Pochobut were underway between Minsk and Warsaw, and are most likely inactive ongoing. The Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs has repeatedly ensured that it is constantly taking action for this purpose.
Since being detained, a siding that is simply a citizen of Belarus has been behind bars. The Belarusian authorities accused him of “inciting hatred” and his actions, consisting in cultivating Polishness and publishing articles in the media, were attributed to the “rehabilitation of Nazism”. The trial began on 16 January 2023, and on 8 February 2023 the conviction of 8 years of a penal colony with increased safety was passed. Pochobut was imprisoned in a penal colony in Nowopolock, which has the reputation of 1 of the worst prisons in Belarus. The appeal was rejected by the Belarusian ultimate Court.
According to the information available, even before the Pochobut trial, he refused to accept the condition of the authorities to leave the country of which he is simply a citizen in exchange for release.
Human rights organizations respect Pochobut as a political prisoner. The Polish authorities request that the activist be released and cleared of politically motivated, false allegations.
For many years he worked with Polish media, including “Gazeta Wyborcza” and TVP Polonia, reporting the situation in Belarus. For critical statements about Lukashenka he was put in jail and faced trial (he received a suspended conviction in 2011). As an activist not recognized by the Belarusian authorities and banned in 2005 the Union of Poles in Belarus Poczobut, a past enthusiast, devoted quite a few time, among others, to the survey of the destiny of Poles in today's Belarus.
After the conviction was announced in 2023, Poland closed the border crossing with Belarus in Bobrowniki, saying that it would open it immediately after the Minsk authorities gave up the political persecution of Pochobut. For his part, Lukashenko made it clear that he was treating Pochobut as a political bargaining card, for example, by saying publically that he could be listed on activists of the Belarusian opposition who fled the country before his revenge.
In January this year, MFA spokesperson Paweł Wroński told PAP that Poland has repeatedly talked to the Belarusian authorities about Pochobut. I think everyone in Poland knows what Lukashenko should do: just let an innocent man out of prison," said the spokesman.
kk/PAP
