{"id":209138,"date":"2026-10-27T12:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T09:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/209138\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T12:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T09:48:27","slug":"pacobut-plans-to-return-to-belarus-in-december","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/209138\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa\u010dobut plans to return to Belarus in December"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (tvp.pl)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 27, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Belarusian dissident journalist and prominent Polish minority activist Andrej Pa\u010dobut (Andrzej Poczobut) has told Poland\u2019s Rzeczpospolita<\/em> that he plans to return to Belarus in December and settle there permanently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, my family would like me to stay in Poland. My parents, too. At the same time, they understand my motives and know what kind of person I am,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, Pa\u010dobut spent a week in his hometown of Hrodna. He was allowed to return to Poland, defying predictions that he would be re-arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian security officers visited his apartment in Hrodna shortly after his arrival, Pa\u010dobut told Rzeczpospolita<\/em>. A police officer carrying a video camera reportedly asked him about his work and plans in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut also said he could not own a cell phone in Belarus because he had been designated an \u201cextremist\u201d and a \u201cterrorist.\u201d He added that his old number, registered in his wife\u2019s name, stopped working after he tried to recover it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on Polish-Belarusian relations, Pa\u010dobut said a thaw was currently impossible but that the principle of \u201cquid pro quo\u201d could work in dealings with Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut, a contributor to Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, was arrested in March 2021 as part of a crackdown on the unofficial Union of Poles in Belarus. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for allegedly inciting hatred and calling for sanctions in a case widely seen as politically motivated. On April 28, authorities transferred him to Poland as part of a five-for-five prisoner exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dissident has repeatedly said that the ability to return to Belarus was one of the key conditions he set when agreeing to leave the country after his release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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