{"id":156054,"date":"2025-09-17T23:41:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T20:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/156054\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"lukasenka-makes-excuses-for-not-releasing-pacobut","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/156054\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka makes excuses for not releasing Pa\u010dobut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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September 17, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka seems to have shifted responsibility for his reluctance to release journalist and Polish minority activist Andrej Pa\u010dobut to a special government commission set up two years ago to handle requests from political emigrants for return to Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in Minsk, \u0141uka\u0161enka said he would gradually release prisoners. However, he advised officials to reach out to the commission even regarding cases where he could grant a pardon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if [commission member and propagandist Andrej] Mukavoz\u010dyk says that he is a real bastard? Well, we\u2019ll back off and say no, just like with Pa\u010dobut and others,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2023, the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced the Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> journalist to eight years in prison for allegedly inciting hatred. Human rights activists declared him a political prisoner. Recently, the Polish media was disappointed to learn that Pa\u010dobut was not one of the prisoners released by \u0141uka\u0161enka under a deal with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus’ refusal to release the journalist has long been a source of tension in relation with Poland. Poland closed all checkpoints on the shared border with Belarus on September 12, citing risks posed by the Belarusian-Russian military exercise Zapad-2025, which began the same day and concluded on September 16. Observers believe that Pa\u010dobut’s imprisonment factored in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwi\u0144ski said that Warsaw would reopen the border only once officials were fully confident that Belarus does not pose a direct threat to Poland or its citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian State Customs Committee\u00a0said on September 17 that 1,453 Polish-registered trucks stranded in Belarus, noting that the vehicles can exit only via the Belarusian-Polish section of the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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