English

Polish media editors condemn criminal charges against journalist Andrzej Poczobut

The editors in chief of more than 40 Polish media outlets have signed a petition condemning the criminal prosecution of Andrzej Poczobut, a Hrodna-based correspondent of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

Mr. Poczobut should be immediately released and all charges against him should be dropped, the petition says, describing the journalist as a prisoner of conscience.

The situation of Mr. Poczobut was among the issues discussed by US President Barack Obama and his Polish counterpart, Bronislaw Komorowski, during their meeting in Warsaw on May 28.

Last week, the criminal case against Mr. Poczobut was referred to the Leninski District Court in Hrodna.

Mr. Poczobut is charged with insulting the president under the Criminal Code’s Article 368 and with defaming the president under Article 367. The articles provide for up to two years and up to four years in prison, respectively.

Mr. Poczobut was arrested on April 6 on his way from Hrodna to Minsk and accused of disobeying authorities' order to stay in his home city during the investigation of the criminal case against him. The journalist had planned to visit Minsk to speak about his criminal prosecution at a video conference with members of the European Parliament.

According to Hrodna Regional Prosecutor Viktar Marozaw, in 2010 and 2011, Mr. Poczobut's 10 insulting articles about Alyaksandr Lukashenka were published in the online version of Gazeta Wyborcza, news site belaruspartisan.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."

"In my opinion, I haven't insulted Alyaksandr Lukashenka," Mr. Poczobut said in an interview with BelaPAN in late March. "The articles were critical of Lukashenka and even harsh, but not insulting."

In February, Mr. Poczobut, chairman of the Warsaw-backed "unofficial" Union of Poles in Belarus, served a 15-day jail term for allegedly participating in an unsanctioned post-election protest in Minsk on December 19, 2010. Mr. Poczobut insists that he attended the protest as a journalist.

In 2002, the Leninski District Court in Hrodna sentenced Mikalay Markevich, editor in chief of the Hrodna-based private newspaper Pahonya, to a "restricted freedom" term of two and a half years, and staff writer Pavel Mazheyka to a restricted freedom term of two years, finding them guilty of defaming the president. In 2004, the court imposed two-year prison sentences on small business leaders Valery Levanewski and Alyaksandr Vasilyew for allegedly insulting the president in public.