{"id":22399,"date":"2026-05-07T12:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/?p=22399"},"modified":"2026-05-07T14:02:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:02:54","slug":"freedom-for-andrzej-poczobut-must-lead-to-more-releases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2026\/05\/07\/freedom-for-andrzej-poczobut-must-lead-to-more-releases.html","title":{"rendered":"Freedom for Andrzej Poczobut must lead to more releases"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Andrzej Poczobut spent\u00a0over\u00a0five years in prison in Belarus simply for daring to speak truth to power.\u00a0That he was released as part of a prisoner exchange\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0once again that the Belarusian authorities are using detainees\u00a0as\u00a0political\u00a0pawns. As we warmly celebrate Poczobut\u2019s freedom, we call upon Belarus\u00a0to free all those still unjustly jailed\u00a0and end their relentless crackdown on dissent\u2019<\/em>\u00a0said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International\u2019s Writers in Prison Committee.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

06 May 2026: The Belarusian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all those still imprisoned for their peaceful expression, PEN International, PEN Belarus and Polish PEN said today, after Belarusian-Polish writer and journalist Andrzej Poczobut was freed from Belarusian prison and sent to Poland. At the time of writing,<\/strong> 24\u00a0writers<\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 remain behind bars or under house arrest in Belarus on politically motivated grounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0On\u00a028 April 2026,\u00a0writer,\u00a0journalist\u00a0and minority activist\u00a0Andrzej Poczobut\u00a0was\u00a0freed<\/u><\/a>\u00a0from jail in Belarus as part of a prisoner swap\u00a0with Poland.\u00a0He was\u00a0welcomed<\/u><\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk\u00a0at the\u00a0Polish-Belarusian\u00a0border, after Poland spent years\u00a0advocating for\u00a0his release.\u00a0Poczobut\u00a0had\u00a0been\u00a0serving\u00a0an eight-year prison term in connection with his coverage of 2020 anti-government protests in Belarus, statements he made in support of the Polish minority in Belarus, and his\u00a0labelling<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 as an act of \u2018aggression\u2019. He\u00a0was repeatedly\u00a0denied access to\u00a0his family and lawyers, preventing them from receiving information about his life-threatening heart condition for which he was previously reportedly denied\u00a0medication.\u00a0The PEN movement actively campaigned on his behalf and notably honoured him as\u00a0Empty Chair<\/u><\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a091st\u00a0PEN International Congress in Krak\u00f3w, Poland,\u00a0in September 2025.<\/p>\n

PEN International, PEN Belarus and Polish PEN\u00a0welcome\u00a0Andrzej Poczobut\u2019s long awaited freedom and reiterate calls on the Belarusian authorities to\u00a0immediately\u00a0end their crackdown on dissent and to release all those still imprisoned on politically motivated grounds.\u00a0Scores of Belarusian writers have been\u00a0released into exile<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in Poland in recent months\u00a0following\u00a0negotiations\u00a0between Belarus and\u00a0the United States\u00a0over\u00a0lifting economic sanctions.\u00a0PEN International, PEN Belarus and Polish PEN further call on the Polish authorities to ensure these individuals have the possibility to travel to the country of their choice and are provided with clear and accessible information, as well as comprehensive assistance, including\u00a0full\u00a0support in\u00a0legalization\u00a0processes, ensuring that these procedures are as swift as possible and enable timely access to documents and legal status.<\/p>\n

Following his release, Andrzej Poczobut\u00a0underwent medical examinations in Warsaw\u00a0and\u00a0spoke<\/u><\/a>\u00a0about the ill-treatment he suffered in prison, including being placed in prolonged\u00a0solitary\u00a0confinement and detained in freezing conditions.\u00a0PEN International, PEN Belarus and Polish PEN\u00a0call upon the international community to\u00a0redouble efforts to address gross human rights violations in Belarus and hold those responsible to account.<\/p>\n

Additional\u00a0information\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born on 16 April 1973,\u00a0Andrzej Poczobut<\/u><\/a>\u00a0is an essayist, journalist, columnist, blogger, poet, and musician. He\u00a0worked for\u00a0Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 a Polish daily newspaper \u2013 and several Belarusian media outlets. His book\u00a0System\u00a0Bia\u0142oru\u015b<\/em>\u00a0(System Belarus<\/em>), published in 2013, explores Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka\u2019s grip on Belarus.\u00a0Detained\u00a0on 25 March 2021 in\u00a0Hrodna,\u00a0Western Belarus,\u00a0Poczobut\u00a0was\u00a0charged with\u00a0\u2018incitement to racial, national or religious hatred or discord\u2019\u00a0under Article 130.3 of the Belarusian Criminal Code.\u00a0He\u00a0was\u00a0subsequently\u00a0also charged with\u00a0\u2018incitement of measures of a restrictive nature (sanctions) and other actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of Belarus\u2019\u00a0(Article 361.3 of the\u00a0Belarusian\u00a0Criminal Code). Found guilty and\u00a0sentenced to eight years\u00a0in a medium-security penal colony on 8 February 2023,\u00a0his sentence was\u00a0upheld\u00a0on appeal on 26 May 2023.\u00a0Poczobut was awarded the European Parliament\u2019s 2025\u00a0Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought<\/u><\/a>\u00a0alongside imprisoned Georgian journalist and PEN case Mzia Amaglobeli,\u00a0as\u00a0well as\u00a0the\u00a0Order of the White Eagle<\/u><\/a>,\u00a0Poland\u2019s highest\u00a0honour.<\/p>\n

For more information about PEN International\u2019s campaign for\u00a0Andrzej Poczobut,\u00a0please see\u00a0Writers Under Siege: Defying Silence<\/em><\/u><\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0its\u00a0Case List 2026.<\/p>\n

PEN Belarus\u2019s\u00a0monitoring of\u00a0cultural and human rights violations against cultural workers\u00a0is available\u00a0here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note to editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For further details, contact\u202fAur\u00e9lia Dondo,<\/strong>\u202fHead of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International:\u00a0aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

For media queries, please contact\u202f Sabrina Tucci<\/strong>, Communications and Campaigns Manager at PEN International:\u00a0sabrina.tucci@pen-international.org<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Andrzej Poczobut spent\u00a0over\u00a0five years in prison in Belarus simply for daring to speak truth to power.\u00a0That he was released as part of a prisoner exchange\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0once again that the Belarusian authorities are using detainees\u00a0as\u00a0political\u00a0pawns. As we warmly celebrate Poczobut\u2019s freedom, we call upon Belarus\u00a0to free all those still unjustly jailed\u00a0and end their relentless crackdown on dissent\u2019\u00a0said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":22400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statement","category-cultural-right"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22399"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22406,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22399\/revisions\/22406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}