{"id":155133,"date":"2025-09-12T13:17:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/155133\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"tusk-poczobuts-release-remains-priority-for-poland","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/155133\/","title":{"rendered":"Tusk: Poczobut\u2019s release remains priority for Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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September 12, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> The release of Polish minority activist and journalist Andrzej Poczobut remains a priority for Warsaw as it negotiates with allies and the Belarusian authorities, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told journalists yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poczobut tops the list of Polish demands, which may be the reason why Minsk prefers to hold him behind bars, TVN24<\/em> reported, citing him as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warsaw welcomes every release of Polish nationals from Belarusian prisons, especially those jailed on politically-motivated charges, yet the negotiations with Minsk are at an extremely poor level currently, he admitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tusk added that he could not say when Poczobut would be released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka pardoned more than 50 prisoners, including two Poles, after meeting with John Coale, US deputy special envoy to Ukraine. Polish foreign ministry expressed hope that Poczobut could be in the next group of pardoned prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All released people were immediately taken to Lithuania, except for opposition politician Mika\u0142aj Statkievi\u010d, who reportedly refused to leave Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> contributor Poczobut has been in custody since March 2021. In February 2023, authorities sentenced him 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\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Poland has also closed the remaining two border crossings at its border with Belarus in connection with the major Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2025 military drill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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