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Prosecutor demands three-year prison term for Poczobut

The public prosecutor in the trial of journalist Andrzej Poczobut on Friday demanded that the correspondent of Poland's newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza be sentenced to three years in prison.

After Prosecutor Alyaksandr Yuzhyk spoke in the Leninski District Court in Hrodna, Judge Vital Lyatsko announced that the next court session would be held on June 28, journalist Andrzej Pisalnik told BelaPAN. The judge is expected to pronounce his judgment on that day.

Mr. Poczobut, a Belarusian citizen and ethnic Pole, is accused of insulting and defaming the president in his articles and may be sentenced to up to four years in prison.

According to Hrodna Regional Prosecutor Viktar Marozaw, 10 insulting articles by Mr. Poczobut about Alyaksandr Lukashenka were published in 2010 and 2011 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."

The closed-door trial opened on June 14. Mr. Poczobut has been held in custody since April 6.