Poczobut was found guilty in February 2023 of “intentional actions aimed at inciting hostility and hatred on national, religious, and social grounds” in a trial widely regarded as fraudulent.
On May 26, 2023, the
Belarussian Supreme Court rejected Andrzej Poczobut's appeal against his eight-year prison sentence handed down three months earlier by a court in Minsk.
“The Senate of the Republic of Poland appeals to the European Parliament, parliaments, and governments of the countries of the democratic world and international human rights protection institutions to take joint action to release Andrzej Poczobut and all prisoners of conscience in Belarus,” it was stated in the resolution adopted by the Senate on Wednesday.
“March 25, 2024, will mark three years since the
imprisonment of Andrzej Poczobut, one of the leaders of the Polish minority in Belarus... For his actions in defence of Polishness and free speech, Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime sentenced him to eight years in a high-security penal colony.
The conditions of serving the sentence are torture, which may lead to the execution of Andrzej Poczobut without a death sentence,” the resolution reads.
“From the day of his imprisonment... Poczobut has been deprived of the opportunity to see his family... of the right to receive food parcels and access to necessary medicines... [f]or the last half a year,...has been kept in an isolated prison cell, and has spent over 20 days in inhumane conditions in a solitary cell.”
In the document, the Senate strongly condemned “this shameful act of violation of human rights and the elementary rights of national minorities” and demanded that the Belarusian authorities immediately release Poczobut.
The activist’s conviction has
darkened Warsaw’s relationship with Minsk and led to tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between the two countries and the imposition of border restrictions.
A day after Poczobut's sentence was announced, Poland
closed the vital Bobrowniki crossing with Belarus and followed up with further transport restrictions, saying they would be lifted if Poczobut was released.
After the rejection of the appeal by the Belarusian Supreme Court, Poland closed its border with Belarus to Belarusian and Russian freight vehicles until further notice.
Warsaw has also
sanctioned 365 members of the Belarusian regime, as well as 20 entities and 16 companies linked to Russian capital.
