{"id":185444,"date":"2026-04-28T20:45:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/185444\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T21:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:34:18","slug":"minsk-releases-journalist-pacobut-others-in-five-for-five-exchange","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/185444\/","title":{"rendered":"Minsk releases journalist Pa\u010dobut, others in five-for-five exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n (Prime Minister Donald Tusk meets journalist and Polish minority activist Andrej Pa\u010dobut at the border.\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Tusk's X account)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

April 28, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Minsk has released and handed over to Poland journalist and Polish minority activist Andrej Pa\u010dobut (Andrzej Poczobut), as well as Polish monk Grzegorz Gawe\u0142, as part of a five-for-five exchange at the Belarusian-Polish border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus also handed over Tomasz Bieroza, a Polish citizen sentenced to 14 years in prison on spying charges widely viewed by Belarusian human rights defenders as politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In exchange, Poland released Aleksandr Butyagin, a Russian archaeologist arrested at Ukraine\u2019s request over excavations in annexed Crimea. Moldova released Alexandru B\u0103lan, a former deputy chief of Moldova\u2019s Intelligence and Security Service, who had been sentenced earlier this month to 18 months in prison for allegedly leaking secret information related to Romania to officers of Belarus\u2019 KGB. Poland also handed over Nina Popova, a Russian citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland additionally freed U\u0142adzis\u0142a\u016d Nadziejka, a former member of Paspalitaje Ru\u0161enne, an organization that provided weapons-handling and fitness training for exiled Belarusians. He was arrested in Bia\u0142ystok and accused by Polish investigators of spying for Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The identities of the remaining individuals exchanged have not been disclosed. The Polish prime minister described one of them as a Belarusian who had cooperated with Poland\u2019s security services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut, who served five years of his eight-year sentence, told Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> that guards woke him at 3 a.m. to prepare for transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought it would be good if I were transferred to the high-security prison in Mahilo\u016d. I was even happy because the conditions are better there than in Navapo\u0142ack. But I was surprised when they told me to take my things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he initially refused to go to Poland. \u201cI asked for guarantees that I would be allowed to return. They brought in an official from the presidential administration and called the Polish charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires. I asked whether I would be able to return to Belarus. He confirmed it. Belarusian officials also confirmed it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian state media reported that the Committee for State Security (KGB) and Poland\u2019s Intelligence Agency had been negotiating Pa\u010dobut\u2019s release since September 2025, on instructions from Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talks presumably began after Poland almost completely closed its border with Belarus on September 12 and partially reopened it on September 25, in connection with the Belarusian-Russian military exercise Zapad-2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, relations between Minsk and Warsaw\u2014already strained by irregular migration and Belarus\u2019 refusal to release Pa\u010dobut\u2014were further worsened by the arrest of Polish national Grzegorz Gawe\u0142 in Lepel, Viciebsk region, earlier that month; the expulsion of a Belarusian diplomat from Poland; and heightened tensions between Poland and Russia following an unprecedented incursion of military drones into Polish territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to state media, \u0141uka\u0161enka approved the negotiations after appeals \u201cfrom the leaders of certain friendly countries\u201d and was personally involved in the discussions. Intelligence agencies from seven countries reportedly took part in the talks, though the countries were not specified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exchange also resulted in the release of unnamed Belarusian citizens \u201cwho were carrying out especially important tasks in the interests of national security and defense capability of our country,\u201d according to state media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut\u2019s release came after John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, met Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski in Warsaw on April 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A contributor to Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, Pa\u010dobut had been in custody since March 2021. In February 2023, the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced him to eight years in prison after Judge D\u017amitryj Bubien\u010dyk found him guilty of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions. Human rights defenders have recognized him as a political prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut was arrested on March 25, 2021, when masked police raided his home in Hrodna. The same day, the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office announced criminal proceedings against him and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case was opened under Part Three of Article 130 of the Criminal Code, which penalizes incitement to racial, ethnic, religious, or other social hatred, as well as \u201cthe rehabilitation of Nazism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe individuals \u2026 organized and held a number of illegal mass events involving minors in Hrodna and other localities in the region since 2018. These events aimed to honor members of anti-Soviet groups active during and after the [1941\u20131945] Great Patriotic War, who committed robberies, murdered Belarusian civilians, and destroyed property. Their actions were intended to rehabilitate Nazism and justify the genocide of the Belarusian people,\u201d the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors later also accused Pa\u010dobut of calling for sanctions. In 2022, he refused to petition \u0141uka\u0161enka for a pardon. The Committee for State Security (KGB) subsequently placed him on its list of \u201cpersons involved in terrorist activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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