{"id":201574,"date":"2026-08-28T13:34:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201574\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T13:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:34:08","slug":"pacobut-vows-to-return-to-belarus-despite-re-arrest-threat","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201574\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa\u010dobut\u00a0vows to return to Belarus despite re-arrest threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n Andrej Pa\u010dobut in Olsztyn on August 16\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (radioolsztyn.pl)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

August 28, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian journalist and prominent Polish minority activist Andrej Pa\u010dobut (Andrzej Poczobut) confirmed on Thursday, four months after his early release from prison, that he plans to return to Belarus despite the risk of politically motivated persecution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo one will give me any guarantees as to how Belarusian authorities will respond,\u201d the 53-year-old Pa\u010dobut was quoted as saying by TVN24 <\/em>during Campus Polska Przysz\u0142o\u015bci, an annual youth forum in Olsztyn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut said that he intends to go back to \u201cexpand the space of freedom\u201d of expression. Referring to another recently released political prisoner Mika\u0142aj Statkievi\u010d, who comments on political developments despite staying in Belarus, Pa\u010dobut said that the country still has \u201cfree space,\u201d although this is not \u201c100-percent freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in Poland\u2019s Senate on May 20, Pa\u010dobut said that he would return to Belarus no later than September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journalist, known as a contributor to Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, was arrested in March 2021. In February 2023, Judge D\u017amitryj Bubien\u010dyk of the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced Pa\u010dobut to eight years in prison, finding him guilty of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions. Human rights defenders recognized him as a political prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian authorities freed Pa\u010dobut on April 28, 2026, deporting him to Poland. The release came after John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, met with Polish President Karol 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

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

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