“The consequences of the recent exchange of prisoners between the West and Russia include: banning their entry into various countries,” said Małgorzata Paprocka, head of the KPRP, when asked, among other things, about Andrzej Poczobut, imprisoned in Belarus. She assured that huge efforts are being made to release him.
Paprocka was asked on TOK FM about the situation of Poczobut, a journalist imprisoned in Belarus for political reasons. As reported by “Rzeczpospolita”, the head of the Union of Poles in Belarus, Andżelika Borys, told President Andrzej Duda in April that Poczobut had agreed to leave Belarus. The prisoner exchange between Western countries and Russia, which took place in Turkey on August 1, could have provided an opportunity for this, but the Belarusian regime did not release Poczobut.
I find it very difficult to talk about this topic, because a lot of the information is obviously covered by confidentiality clauses. And here I have to keep this in mind. However, keep in mind that in the case of the exchange that took place a few days ago, we have a situation where the consequences of such an exchange are entry bans for several countries and a very clear status.
– Paprocka replied.
When asked whether Poczobut’s participation in the prisoner exchange could prevent him from returning to Belarus in the future, Paprocka stressed that this issue should be considered.
I put a big question mark here, because I don’t have this knowledge myself. However, would Mr Andrzej Poczobut – with all his extraordinary activities – want to participate in such a situation (prisoner exchange)? As I said, I have a big question mark
she said.
““Huge efforts are being made.”
The head of the presidential office also reiterated her words from last Friday that the case of Poczobut, who is imprisoned in Belarus, is “very close to the president’s heart” and that efforts are being made to free him. As she said then on TVN24, Poczobut “does not want to leave Belarus without the possibility of returning there someday.”
Huge efforts are being made to release Mr Andrzej Poczobut. I hope this will happen as soon as possible
– Added paprocka.
Poczobut is a journalist, activist of the Polish minority in Belarus and political prisoner of the Belarusian regime. Because of his critical statements about the government of Belarus since 1994, Alyaksandr Lukashenko was arrested and tried. As an activist of the Union of Poles in Belarus, which was not recognized by the Belarusian authorities and banned in 2005, Poczobut, a history enthusiast, spent a lot of time researching, among other things, the fate of Poles in present-day Belarus.
Poczobut was arrested in March 2021 after a search of his apartment in Grodno. Belarusian authorities charged him with incitement to hatred and rehabilitation of Nazism, and with calling for actions to the detriment of Belarus. In February 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. In May this year, the Supreme Court rejected Poczobut’s appeal and upheld the maximum security sentence of eight years.
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nt/PAP
Source: wPolityce