English

Arrested journalist Poczobut expected to be charged within 10 days

 

Andrzej Poczobut, a Hrodna-based correspondent of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza who was arrested at his home on June 21, is expected to be charged with libeling the head of state within the next 10 days.

Criminal proceedings under Part Two of the Criminal Code's Article 367 against Mr. Poczobut, a Belarusian citizen, have been instituted by the Investigative Committee based on an inquiry carried out by the Hrodna regional office of the Committee for State Security (KGB), Investigative Committee spokesman Pavel Travulka told BelaPAN.

According to the findings of the inquiry, articles written by Mr. Poczobut and posted on the Internet "contained libelous statements concerning the head of state." An examination by linguists found that the articles contained "words, phrases and expressions used with regard to the president of the Republic of Belarus that are libel and discredit the Republic of Belarus," Mr. Travulka said.

Mr. Poczobut, a senior activist of the "unofficial" Union of Poles in Belarus, was working on an article when officers of a prosecutor's office, the Investigative Committee and the police arrived at his house at around 4 p.m. on June 21. They searched the house and arrested Mr. Poczobut in the presence of his family. The man was brought first to a prosecutor's office and then to a pretrial detention center.

The journalist is already under a suspended prison sentence imposed on him on the same charge.

On July 5, 2011, a district judge in Hrodna sentenced Mr. Poczobut to a three-year prison term with two years' probation, finding him guilty of defaming the head of state.

He was accused of insulting and defaming Mr. Lukashenka in his articles.

As Mr. Poczobut told reporters, defamation was largely found in the fact that he had called Mr. Lukashenka a dictator. // BelaPAN