664 days behind bars: The trial of Andrzej Poczobut starts in Hrodna

On 25 March 2021, Andrzej Poczobut’s home was searched and the jour­nal­ist was arrest­ed in the so-called “Pol­ish case.” Of the five defen­dants, Andrzej is the only one remain­ing behind bars. He is accused of “incit­ing nation­al hatred” and “reha­bil­i­tat­ing Nazism.” The first accu­sa­tion is relat­ed to his arti­cle about the Sovi­et attack on Poland in Sep­tem­ber 1939, which he called an act of aggres­sion.

The case file includes the journalist’s state­ments in defense of the Pol­ish minor­i­ty in Belarus, an arti­cle in the Pol­ish Gaze­ta Wybor­cza about the sup­pres­sion of the Belaru­sian protests in 2020, and a text in Mag­a­zyn Pol­s­ki dat­ed 2006 focused on a com­man­der of the Pol­ish anti-com­mu­nist under­ground in Hrod­na. The jour­nal­ist faces up to 12 years of impris­on­ment for this crime. He is also accused of encour­ag­ing sanc­tions against Belarus.

Poc­zobut was offered a release on con­di­tion that he leaves Belarus and writes a peti­tion for par­don to Lukashen­ka, but the jour­nal­ist refused.

In Octo­ber 2022, the KGB put Andrzej Poc­zobut on the list of ter­ror­ists. Belaru­sian human rights com­mu­ni­ty, the Pol­ish author­i­ties, and inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions have rec­og­nized crim­i­nal cas­es against mem­bers of the Pol­ish minor­i­ty, includ­ing Andrzej Poc­zobut, as “polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed,” refer­ring to the repres­sion of civ­il soci­ety in Belarus and civ­il lib­er­ties.

“I think about those who stayed in these walls in the 40s and 50s await­ing tri­al. It was more dif­fi­cult for them, it was a liv­ing hell back then. Their exam­ple gives me strength. We don’t choose the time we live in, we choose how we live that time. I have nev­er imag­ined that my present would sud­den­ly become so dan­ger­ous, but real­i­ty always sur­pris­es me. That’s its rich­ness,” Andrzej Poc­zobut wrote in a let­ter.

In 2011, Andrzej Poc­zobut became a polit­i­cal pris­on­er for the first time. He was charged with insult­ing and libel­ing the pres­i­dent. The jour­nal­ist received a three-year prison sen­tence sus­pend­ed for two years under the libel charges and was acquit­ted under the insult accu­sa­tions. He was released in the court­room.