English

Investigator rejects request to release journalist Andrzej Poczobut until trial

Investigator Arseny Nikolski of the Hrodna Regional Prosecutor’s Office has rejected a request to release journalist Andrzej Poczobut until his trial.

The correspondent of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and one of the leaders of the Warsaw-backed "unofficial" Union of Poles in Belarus faces criminal charges of insulting and defaming Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

He was arrested on April 6 for disobeying the authorities' order to stay in his home city of Hrodna. The journalist had planned to travel to Minsk to speak about the criminal case against him at a videoconference with European Parliament members.

More than 40 appeals have been filed with the Hrodna Regional Prosecutor’s Office for releasing Mr. Poczobut against the guarantee that he will not flee from prosecution, say human rights activists.

If found guilty as charged, Mr. Poczobut may be sentenced to up to four years in prison.

According to Hrodna Regional Prosecutor Viktar Marozaw, in 2010 and 2011, Mr. Poczobut’s 10 insulting articles about Mr. Lukashenka were published in the online version of Gazeta Wyborcza, news site charter97.org and social networking site livejournal.com.

The articles included "Time to Tighten Screws," "Lukashenka Finds Another Target," "Belarusian Election without Choice," "This is how Lukashenka Rules," "Lukashenka: Yes, I Rigged Election," "Pre-election Populism, Belarusian Style." //BelaPAN