He has extensively covered the gigantic protests that rocked Belarus for weeks in 2020 following a presidential election that gave Lukashenko, in place since 1994, a new term but widely noted by the opposition and Western countries as fraudulent.
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The trial in the western city of Grodno was closed to independent journalists and Western diplomats, but courtroom footage suggests Poczoyet lost a lot of weight during his detention.
In Poland, a government spokesman, Pyotr Mueller, said that despite “many diplomatic efforts, unfortunately we do not have more teams that can help in this area” of political freedom in Belarus. He said it’s a “scandalous situation. “
Mueller told a news conference in Warsaw that Poland will continue its diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation.
“But we know very well that right now the Belarusian government is connected to Russia and is pursuing a definite policy that frustrates not only Poland but the entire democratic area that regards human rights as the state’s most sensitive priorities,” Mueller said.
Poland’s Foreign Ministry said it received reports of Poczobut’s trial with “disappointment” and said the allegations were “false and politically motivated. “
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The ministry called for Poczobut’s release and said his imprisonment is “another example of the instrumental use of the judicial formula opposed to all democratic norms and component of the anti-Polish crusade undertaken through the Belarusian authorities. “
In the eastern Polish city of Bialystok, about 50 km from the border with Belarus, an organization of protesters representing the Belarusian diaspora and human rights organizations gathered outside the Belarusian consulate to call for the release of Poczobut and other political prisoners.
The 2020 protests in Belarus were the largest and most sustained in the country. The government responded to the protests with a crackdown that led to the arrest of more than 35,000 people, thousands beaten by police, and the closure of dozens of media outlets and nongovernmental organizations.
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This month, Belarus indicted human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, for anti-investment protests. Another lawsuit against two personalities of the independent news portal TUT. BY, now banned, began last week.
About 300,000 of Belarus’ 10 million people are ethnic Poles. The Union of Poles came under pressure from the government after the government accused Poland of trying to foment an uprising against Lukashenko.