{"id":203814,"date":"2026-09-15T17:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/203814\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T18:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:37:11","slug":"pacobut-leaves-for-poland-unhindered","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/203814\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa\u010dobut leaves for Poland unhindered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 15, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Belarusian dissident journalist and prominent Polish minority activist Andrej Pa\u010dobut (Andrzej Poczobut) has safely left for Poland after a week-long stay in Belarus, defying predictions that he would be re-arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut entered Poland through the Bruzhi-Ku\u017anica Bia\u0142ostocka crossing on Tuesday morning, Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut\u2019s departure from Belarus coincided with the arrival of US Special Envoy John Coale for talks with Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka. Coale\u2019s previous visits were followed by the release of large groups of political prisoners, many of whom were forcibly taken out of Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law-enforcement agencies did not bother Pa\u010dobut during his visit but probably kept him under close scrutiny, Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut is expected to travel to the United States and Canada soon to meet with politicians and Polish immigrants. He is writing a book about his years in prison that will be published by Polish-based Agora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had entered Belarus from Poland on September 8. Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> reported that the stay would last one week. While in Belarus, he reportedly visited his home city of Hrodna and met with Polish minority activists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of September, Pa\u010dobut had a meeting with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, announcing afterward that he had asked for the pontiff\u2019s blessing and would soon visit Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrej Pa\u010dobut, known as a contributor to Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, was arrested in March 2021 as part of a crackdown on the \u201cunofficial\u201d Union of Poles in Belarus, whose representatives were accused of \u201crehabilitating Nazism\u201d and \u201cjustifying the genocide of the Belarusian people.\u201d In February 2023, Judge D\u017amitryj Bubien\u010dyk of the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced him to eight years in prison after finding him guilty of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions. Human rights defenders recognized him as a political prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the five defendants in the case, including the Union\u2019s head, An\u017ealika Borys (Pol. And\u017celika Borys), Pa\u010dobut, a defiant critic of Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, was the last one to be released. Authorities freed Pa\u010dobut on April 28 and deported him to Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The release came after Coale met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski in Warsaw on April 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 3, Nawrocki presented Pa\u010dobut with Poland\u2019s highest state award, the Order of the White Eagle. In 2025, the European Parliament granted him the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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