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Brussels, 14 February 2023
Dear Madam President,
A court in Grodno has sentenced Andrzej Poczobut, a prominent journalist and activist for the Polish minority in Belarus, to eight years in a high-security penal colony. The trial was conducted in a closed session by Dzmitry Bubenchyk in the Hrodna regional court and the verdict has nothing to do with justice.
From the very beginning, Poczobut’s case looked like a reprisal for his dissent and long-standing public position. Andrzej Poczobut was arrested on 25 March 2021 and has since been incarcerated in a Belarusian prison. The charges stem from his 2020 coverage of anti-government protests, statements he made defending the Polish minority in Belarus, and his description of the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland as an aggression. Poczobut’s arrest is an attack on press freedom, another act of persecution of Poles in Belarus, and a revenge on Poland for supporting democracy in Belarus. It is clear that Poczobut’s trial is politically motivated and that he is innocent.
We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, call on the European Commission to propose sanctions against all people involved in the unjust case and trial of Poczobut. This will serve to increase diplomatic pressure against the Belarusian leadership and all agents of repression in Belarus.
Sincerely,
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Marek Belka
Leszek Miller
Łukasz Kohut
Petras Austrevicius
Jouzas Olekas
Sylwia Spurek
Robert Biedroń
Tomas Zdechovsky
Roza Maria Graefin von Thun und Hohenstein
Vladimir Bilcik
Rasa Jukneviciene
Rene Repasi
Isabel Santos
Marketa Gregorova
Ivan Stefanec
Danuta Huebner
Bronis Rope
Krzysztof Hetman
Janina Ochojska
Andrzej Witold Halicki
Bernard Guetta
Magdalena Adamowicz
Jan Olbrycht
Karen Melchior
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