August 7, Pozirk. The name of journalist Andrzej Poczobut (Andrej Pačobut) “came up” during negotiations on the recent major US-Russia prisoner swap, Jacek Siewiera, head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, has told TVP Info.
Such talks are never easy, he said, without commenting on details. The official pledged to keep up efforts to free Poczobut from the Belarusian prison.
Negotiations with Minsk on the release of the opposition activist, who criticizes the authoritarian government both as a Belarusian and a Pole, should be conducted “on several fronts,” he noted.
Ongoing talks are accompanied by economic and political pressure as well as pressure from third countries, Siewiera stressed.
In February 2023, a Belarusian judge sentenced Poczobut to eight years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions that harmed the national security of Belarus.
In response, Poland closed the Bobrowniki checkpoint at the shared border with Belarus, linking its reopening to Poczobut’s release.
