Andrzej Poczobut let out of solitary confinement, but still in penal colony

Andrzej Poczobut has been in detention since March 25, 2021. On February 8, 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in a high-security penal colony. After his appeal had been dismissed, he was sent to the penal colony in Novopolotsk.

On Monday, November 25, a regular solidarity event for Poczobut was held in Białystok. Marek Zaniewski, one of the organizers of the monthly actions, informed that Poczobut remains in the penal colony but was recently transferred out of solitary confinement.

Zaniewski added that Poczobut occasionally receives letters from family and is allowed to meet with a lawyer. "However, his situation remains just as difficult as it was a month ago," he noted.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Paweł Wroński confirmed to tvn24.pl that the ministry had been aware for some time that Poczobut was moved out of solitary confinement into a general cell and that he has limited access to a state-appointed lawyer.

Andrzej Poczobut, a Belarusian citizen and activist of the Polish minority, was arrested on March 25, 2021, and has been in detention ever since. In a politically motivated trial at the beginning of 2023, the authorities charged Poczobut with "inciting hatred," accusing him of promoting Polishness and publishing articles in the media, which they labeled as "rehabilitating Nazism."

He was also accused of "calling for actions harmful to Belarus." As a result, Poczobut was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony.

Human rights organizations have classified Poczobut as a political prisoner, asserting that the proceedings against him were politically motivated.

The Polish government continuously calls for Poczobut’s release and for the politically motivated and false charges against him to be cleared. In response to the unjust sentencing of the journalist, Poland closed the border crossing in Bobrowniki.