"We demand Andrzej Poczobut's release". President Duda urges Belarus to free journalist

A Belarusian court on Monday (January 16) began hearing in a case against Belarusian-Polish journalist Andrzej Poczobut, who is a board member of the Union of Poles in Belarus - an minority organisation banned by the Belarusian regime. Poland's MFA spokesperson Łukasz Jasina informed that Polish charge d’affairs in Minsk Marcin Wojciechowski had not been allowed into the courtroom.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda was asked by reporters on Tuesday (Jan.17) in Davos if the beginning of Poczobut's trial would make Poland's efforts to release him even more difficult, and what Poland was currently doing to have him released.

"We still demand his release, we have been from the beginning. Of course, this is a very difficult case, it was a kind of demonstration by the Lukashenko regime, this arrest, the imprisonment of Mr Andrzej Poczobut," Duda said.

He added that, although Poczobut is a citizen of Belarus, he is of Polish origin and a Polish activist in Belarus. Duda assured that Poland was fighting for his release.

"We fighting for it but, unfortunately, it's clear the Belarusian regime treats him as a certain bargaining chip in this whole situation. The regime has been firmly supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine, from the very start, from the first moments of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. We, on the other hand, stand firmly behind Ukraine and we support Ukraine, and that in a sense additionally makes us enemies. That certainly doesn't make this situation any easier," Duda argued.

"But we constantly demand Andrzej Poczobut's release. His arrest was absolutely illegal and was an example of authoritarianism and terror of the Belarusian regime," the president stressed. In his opinion, everyone should be exerting pressure on the Lukashenko regime regarding release of political prisoners. "I hope this regime breaks soon," he added.

He added that in Davos he had spoken with the leader of Belarusian democratic opposition Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. "I believe the opposition will win, I believe that the free Belarus shall prevail sooner or later," Duda underscored.

Poczobut has been accused of "inciting hate" and "rehabilitation of Nazism", as well as calling for sanctions against Belarus. In October last year, he was placed on Belarus's "list of terrorists". Poczobut is said to have been encouraged to write a pardon plea to president Lukashenko, but he refused to do so. He is currently held in a prison in Grodno.

Apart from Poczobut, the Belarusian authorities had also arrested Andżelika Borys, Irena Biernacka, and Maria Tiszkowska of the Union of Poles in Belarus, as well as a Polish minority activist from Brest, Anna Paniszewa. Borys was released from prison in March, 2022, but is still facing charges and her current status is unclear. According to independent media, she might be under house arrest.

Thanks to efforts by the Polish authorities, Biernacka, Tiszkowska, and Paniszewa were able to leave Belarus last year. However, they cannot return to the country they are citizens of.

On November 14 last year, the Union of Poles in Belarus reported some of its activists - Irena Waluś and Renata Dziemiańczuk among others - had their apartments searched. It is not certain whether the women have been arrested. What is know, however, is that the authorities have launched criminal proceedings against them for "acting on behalf of an unregistered organisation". The General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus informed that a Grodno prosecutor's office had asked a court to liquidate the entity based on which the Union of Poles in Belarus operated.

The Union of Poles in Belarus was banned by the authorites in 2005. Democratic opposition in Belarus recognised Poczobut and Borys as political prisoners.