Belarus has extended a Polish-Belarusian activist’s imprisonment in a notorious penal colony by six months, days after the fourth anniversary of his arrest.
Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and activist for the Union of Poles—an organization that represents the Polish minority in Belarus—was arrested in 2021.
Two years later, he was sentenced to eight years in a high-security prison camp for allegedly “inciting and instigating hatred” and “calling for actions against Belarus.”
Human rights activists have declared him a political prisoner of President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, and the Polish authorities are demanding his release.
Poczobut is incarcerated in the Novopolotsk penal colony, which has a reputation as one of the worst facilities in Belarus, according to Polish public broadcaster Polskie Radio.
It reported that Poczobut is not allowed to receive packages because he has been listed as a person “connected with terrorist activities.” He is also not allowed to see his relatives.
An appeal against the six-month extension of the prisoner’s sentence was rejected by the Belarusian Supreme Court.
“As far as I know, he is still in a single cell. Every once in a while, he is sent to the so-called shizo [solitary confinement cell],” his wife Oksana Poczobut said in an interview with Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. She added that the conditions were taking a large toll on the activist’s health.
Poczobut’s defense of the Polish minority in Belarus and articles he wrote about the rigged 2020 presidential elections resulted in his conviction for inciting hatred and undermining national security.
Human rights defenders have consistently said that the charges against Poczobut are unfounded and that the case against him is politically motivated.
