Warsaw has denied that Minsk offered to release a Polish-Belarusian journalist jailed on trumped-up charges.
Andrzej Poczobut was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2021. He recently returned to the spotlight when he wasn’t included in the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
As part of the exchange, 16 people were released by Russia and Belarus on August 1, among them the journalist Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
While Poland was praised by its NATO allies for its role in the negotiations, Warsaw has faced flak internally for releasing its biggest Russian asset, Pavel Rubtsov (a.k.a. Spanish journalist Pablo González), while failing to secure the release of Poczobut.
Polish government officials have said that they are negotiating directly with Belarus.
However, the waters have been muddied by Minsk. On Friday, Belarusian propagandist Yury Vaskrasensky claimed that authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko had wanted to hand over Poczobut to Poland in “a gesture of goodwill” during the swap, but that the “government in Warsaw” had rejected the offer.
Poland’s interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, rejected the idea that Belarus had offered to release Poczobut “either directly or as part of a large international and bilateral exchange.”
Siemoniak told Poland’s Rzeczpospolita daily that efforts to free Poczobut were ongoing. “For months we have been insisting, asking, and pressing [Belarus] in every possible way,” he said.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed rumors have circulated that Poczobut did not want to leave Belarus.
These claims have been strongly refuted by Andżelika Borys, the head of the Union of Poles in Belarus.
Speaking to Rzeczpospolita, Borys, who herself was imprisoned for a year by Lukashenko’s regime, revealed she had been allowed to visit Poczobut in April.
“I talked to Andrzej for two-and-a-half hours. Our conversation concerned the situation of the Union of Poles. Both Andrzej and I care about Polishness surviving here, so that we can teach Polish,” she said.
However, despite his attachment to the ethnic Polish minority living in Belarus, she emphasized that Poczobut was prepared to leave the country. “I asked him to consider the possibility of leaving the country... He told me: ‘If you think that this is the right thing to do, then that is what I will do.’ At my request, he agreed to leave the country.”
Borys added that Poczobut looked “very bad” when she met him and that she had met the Polish President, Andrzej Duda, after her visit to relay her findings.
Poczobut’s wife, Oksana, has also denied speculation that her husband has refused to leave Belarus. “This is nonsense,” she wrote on Facebook.
As part of the exchange, 16 people were released by Russia and Belarus on August 1, among them the journalist Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
While Poland was praised by its NATO allies for its role in the negotiations, Warsaw has faced flak internally for releasing its biggest Russian asset, Pavel Rubtsov (a.k.a. Spanish journalist Pablo González), while failing to secure the release of Poczobut.
Polish government officials have said that they are negotiating directly with Belarus.
However, the waters have been muddied by Minsk. On Friday, Belarusian propagandist Yury Vaskrasensky claimed that authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko had wanted to hand over Poczobut to Poland in “a gesture of goodwill” during the swap, but that the “government in Warsaw” had rejected the offer.
Poland’s interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, rejected the idea that Belarus had offered to release Poczobut “either directly or as part of a large international and bilateral exchange.”
Siemoniak told Poland’s Rzeczpospolita daily that efforts to free Poczobut were ongoing. “For months we have been insisting, asking, and pressing [Belarus] in every possible way,” he said.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed rumors have circulated that Poczobut did not want to leave Belarus.
These claims have been strongly refuted by Andżelika Borys, the head of the Union of Poles in Belarus.
Speaking to Rzeczpospolita, Borys, who herself was imprisoned for a year by Lukashenko’s regime, revealed she had been allowed to visit Poczobut in April.
“I talked to Andrzej for two-and-a-half hours. Our conversation concerned the situation of the Union of Poles. Both Andrzej and I care about Polishness surviving here, so that we can teach Polish,” she said.
However, despite his attachment to the ethnic Polish minority living in Belarus, she emphasized that Poczobut was prepared to leave the country. “I asked him to consider the possibility of leaving the country... He told me: ‘If you think that this is the right thing to do, then that is what I will do.’ At my request, he agreed to leave the country.”
Borys added that Poczobut looked “very bad” when she met him and that she had met the Polish President, Andrzej Duda, after her visit to relay her findings.
Poczobut’s wife, Oksana, has also denied speculation that her husband has refused to leave Belarus. “This is nonsense,” she wrote on Facebook.
Source: Rzeczpospolita
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