Andrzej Poczobut, a Belarusian with Polish roots, is a correspondent for ‘s left-liberal newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. For many years he has been an outspoken critic of the Belarusian leader and his regime.
Poczobut was arrested twice in 2010 and 2011 after reporting on protest rallies. In 2020, during the that followed a fraudulent election, the regime’s hostility towards the journalist intensified.
Members of the Belarusian intelligence service, the KGB, raided his apartment in Grodno on March 25, 2021. They arrested Poczobut and confiscated his computer, documents and Polish books.
Lukashenko himself commented publicly on the arrest. “An illegal organization in Grodno openly glorified bandits and Nazis,” the dictator thundered. For Poczobut, this was the start of a long odyssey through a series of Belarusian jails.
‘Knows his life is in danger’
One of these was a prison in the capital Minsk, where Polish insurgents were incarcerated in the 19th century. In an attempt to break Poczobut’s resistance, he was transferred to death row.
He was given a show trial and sentenced in 2023 to eight years in prison on charges of attempting to “harm national security,” “incite national or religious hatred” and “rehabilitate Nazism.” Poczobut was sent to the infamous Penal Colony No. 1 — a camp in the north of the country, not far from the border with Russia, where conditions are particularly harsh. His first few months there were in solitary confinement.
“Andrzej knows that his life is in danger. He took the path [Czech writer Vaclav] Havel, [Nelson] Mandela, and [Polish union leader Lech] Walesa followed. He is sticking to this path,” wrote Adam Michnik, the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, who was himself an anti-Communist dissident. Michnik testified to the journalist’s “heroic stance.”
Dangerous combination: Polish, and regime-critical
Poczobut is a member of the Polish minority in Belarus, which estimates put at between 300,000 and 1 million people in a country with a total population of 9.1 million. The 52-year-old journalist, who only has a Belarusian passport, was also active in the Union of Poles in Belarus, a group that represents the Polish minority in Belarus. Two female activists from the organization were arrested alongside him, but have since been released.
Poczobut has worked for the renowned Gazeta Wyborcza for almost 20 years. He constantly found himself in the firing line of the Belarusian authorities, but usually managed to get off lightly. He was put on trial in 2011 for describing Lukashenko as a dictator in one of his articles and calling for the EU to impose sanctions on Belarus. He was given a prison sentence but released just a few months later. At the time, Brussels was trying to persuade Lukashenko not to and the dictator wanted to suggest he was ready to compromise.
Since 2023, the Polish media have occasionally reported that secret negotiations were taking place to secure Poczobut’s release. But the journalist was not freed as part of any deal that has taken place, nor in the brokered by the US.
Not begging for mercy
“The Belarusian regime wanted to break Poczobut’s resistance, but it failed. The only thing Lukashenko has left is revenge,” said Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader, who lives in exile abroad. Her husband, , who ran against Lukashenko as a presidential candidate in 2020, was released in June after five years in prison in Belarus.
Bartosz Wielinski, Poczobut’s colleague at the Gazeta Wyborcza, believes Lukashenko feels personally offended by the accusation that he is a dictator. Wielinski told DW that Poczobut doesn’t just represent principled, conscientious journalism — he also symbolizes Poland, which the Belarusian dictator sees as the epitome of the West he detests.
Poczobut could have been freed long ago if he would submit to Lukashenko, beg the dictator for mercy, and leave Belarus. The offer was first made to him soon after his arrest but he has consistently rejected it.
Now his courage and conscientiousness have moved the European Parliament to award him the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. He shares the prize with the Georgian journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, who was arrested in January of this year and sentenced in August to two years in prison.
The Sakharov Prize was established by the European Parliament in 1988 and named after the Russian physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. The annual award honors people, groups or organizations for outstanding advocacy for human rights and freedom of speech.
It is far from certain, however, whether the award will actually help the imprisoned journalist. In the past, Lukashenko has responded to international pressure by doubling down on autocracy.
This article has been translated from German.
The post Belarus: Sakharov Prize for imprisoned journalist appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
