Lukashenko with an envoy of Donald Trump's administration, John Coal, was scheduled to meet on Friday, and present the talks continued. Their aim was, among others, to release political prisoners.
Among the people released by the Lukashenko government are Aleś Bialacki, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Kalesnikawa, Belarusian activist and musician and Polish citizen Roman Galuza. Andrzej Pochobut was missing.
Constricted for over 4 years
Information about the absence of Pochobut among the prisoners released by the Belarusian regime, was provided by TVN 24 Maciej Wewiór, spokesperson for the Ministry of abroad Affairs.
He besides reported that Pochobut had been offered to compose a request to Lukashenko for release from the camp, but he did not accept it. – He disagreed, which does not mean that we are not inactive working together to release him – said the MFA spokesman, adding that he cannot talk about the details of the negotiations.
Andrzej Poczobut was detained on March 25, 2021 after a search at his flat in Grodno. Belarusian authorities accused him of inciting hatred and rehabilitation of Nazism and calling for action to the detriment of Belarus.
His "criminal" activity was to consist, among another things, of the fact that the USSR's attack on Poland in 1939 called it "aggression", he was curious in the past of Poles in Grodayszczyń and described the actions of the Polish opposition movement conducted after the USSR occupied these areas. As with many another journalists, his work, in which he provided information from Belarus, was besides a crime.
The postobut was sentenced to 8 years of maximum safety penal colony. He was held in a camp in Nowopolock, which is celebrated for its highly dense conditions.
Andrzej Poczobut was born on 16 April 1973 to a Polish family, in Brzostowice Wielkiej close Grodna. In 1998 he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Janka Kupała State University. He wanted to become an attorney, but the increasingly repressive government of Alexander Lukashenko liquidated an independent barrister in Belarus. The chochobut worked in the Union of Poles in Belarus, which was issued by, among others, the weekly Polish weekly “The Voice from above Niemna”. He started writing for this weekly.
"It is known that journalists' salaries cannot be compared to lawyers' salaries, but on the another hand you are inactive where something is going, and you can be free," said Andrzej Poczobut in “Press” magazine article from 2011 “Kaskader” presenting its figure. He worked, among others, in the Grodno newspapers ‘Pahonia’, ‘Dien’, ‘Wriemia Cities’, ‘Voice from Niemna’ or the national independent diary ‘Narodnaja Wola’. He besides wrote to the websites “Belorusskij Partizan” and “Karta’97”. Since 2006, he has been a correspondent for “Gazeta Wyborcza”.
Two writer of the Year
In his articles Pochobut criticized the Lukashenko regime. For this reason, he was repeatedly detained and arrested. In 2011, he was sentenced to 3 years incarcerated for 2 years for insulting Alexander Lukashenko.
Andrzej Poczobut was twice elected writer of the Year – in 2011 and 2021. In addition, he has won many another awards and awards. In late October, he was awarded the Prize. Andrei Sakharov 2025 for Freedom of Thought, which is granted by the European Parliament, and a fewer days ago the Marshal of the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship awarded him a Human Rights Award.
11 November president Karol Nawrocki He marked Pochobut with the Order of the White Eagle, while saying that this is simply a "clear signal that Poland will always appeal for its sons, for those who live for Poland, who fight for their native language and for whom the value of Polishness is besides worth suffering in the Belarusian prison". Nawrocki then assured that Poland would effort to get Pochobut to regain his freedom.
Andrzej Poczobut had already been arrested for his journalistic activity and activity in the Union of Poles in Belarus. His figure was presented in “Press” in 2011 and 2022 in the texts “Kaskader” and “Hondrous”. The first can be read full at this linkand the another 1 – at this link.
