Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Arkadiusz Mularczyk announced that he had prepared a statement for the Council of Europe, which was supported by nearly 30 parliamentarians from different countries. We will demand that the Secretary General of the Council of Europe strongly address the Belarusian side on the Andrzej Poczobut case.
Actions taken by Poland
On February 8, the Grodno Regional Court sentenced Polish minority activist and journalist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison.
Mularczyk said on Polish Radio 24 on Monday that the Polish state would act very decisively in the case of Andrzej Poczobut.
I think there was a certain reaction here to the issues related to the closure of the border, but we will also have a very intensive impact on the international front
he said.
He announced that he had prepared a statement for the Council of Europe, which was supported by nearly 30 parliamentarians from different countries.
We will demand that the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (Marija Pejchinović Burić) and the Committee of Ministers strongly ask the Belarusian side in this matter
Mularczyk said.
Outrage over the verdict against Andrzej Poczobut was expressed by President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others. In connection with this verdict, Aleksander Czasnouski, the chargé d’affaires of the Belarusian embassy in Poland, was summoned to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
READ ALSO:
— The court of the Belarusian regime has issued a verdict. Andrzej Poczobut sentenced to 8 years in prison with a heavy sentence
– US State Department: Poczobut’s conviction is further evidence of the Belarusian authorities’ utter disregard for human rights
— President: “Governors of Moscow (…) must fall, and justice will prevail”; “Liberate Belarus and her loyal son Andrzej Poczobut will win!”
The trial of Andrzej Poczobut
Andrzej Poczobut, 49, a Polish minority activist, a member of the authorities of the Union of Poles in Belarus and a well-known journalist from Grodno, was detained in March 2021 and has been detained ever since. He couldn’t meet his family.
Poczobut’s trial began on January 16 and took place at the court in Grodno. The hearings were secret, which was decided by Judge Dzmitryj Bubienczyk at the request of the prosecutor. According to the Belarusian court, Poczobut had to “call for actions against Belarus” through publications in the media and on the Internet, and “take deliberate actions aimed at inciting hostility and hatred at national, religious and social grounds”. The verdict of 8 February is not final.
Human rights organizations recognized Poczobut as a political prisoner. The Polish authorities and the international community are calling on the Belarusian authorities to release the activist and end the repression of minority representatives.
ALSO SEE:
— The Prime Minister responds: The punishment of the Belarusian regime for Andrzej Poczobut is inhumane. We will do everything we can to help the Polish journalist
— Mularczyk: We can’t forget Andrzej Poczobut. “Lukashenko must feel that this issue is very important for Poland”
— The government imposes sanctions on Belarus regarding Poczobut. In response, Lukashenko’s regime summoned the Polish diplomat to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
wkt/PAP
Source: wPolityce