{"id":186060,"date":"2026-05-03T20:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/186060\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T20:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:21:12","slug":"nawrocki-awards-polands-order-of-the-white-eagle-to-pacobut","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/186060\/","title":{"rendered":"Nawrocki awards Poland\u2019s Order of the White Eagle to Pa\u010dobut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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May 3, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Polish President Karol Nawrocki has awarded the Order of the White Eagle to recently released journalist Andrej Pa\u010dobut (Andrzej Paczobut), among others, during a ceremony at the Royal Castle in Warsaw on Poland\u2019s Constitution Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Order is the most important Polish civilian and military distinction. Nawrocki\u2019s office made the announcement of the awards on November 11, 2025, which marked Poland\u2019s Independence Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Polish president described Pa\u010dobut as \u201ca hero and a man of unwavering resolve,\u201d according to his Facebook page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja and her team attended the ceremony at Nawrocki’s invitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut has devoted his life to defending the interests of Poles in Belarus, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told TVP Info <\/em>today. \u201cHe risked his life and his freedom, yet spoke with such optimism that I haven\u2019t felt such strong motivation in a long time as I did during my conversation with Pa\u010dobut, a man who spent many years behind bars for his beliefs,\u201d Tusk added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk freed Pa\u010dobut on April 28 and handed him over to Poland. The journalist, also known as a contributor to\u00a0Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, had been held 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 considered him a political prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Minsk also liberated Polish monk Grzegorz Gawe\u0142 and Polish national Tomasz Bieroza as part of a five-for-five exchange at the Belarusian-Polish border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Warsaw 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

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