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On Tuesday, the Belarusian authorities released Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and activist of the Polish national minority. The Pole was detained in Grodno in March 2021. He was one of the most famous political prisoners in Belarus. US envoy for Belarus John Coale later said on Platform X that he and his team helped secure the release of three Poles and two Moldovans.
— I am coming straight from the Polish-Belarusian border, where a symmetrical 5-on-5 exchange took place. The aim of this exchange, from the Polish point of view, was to free Poles and those who cooperated with Poland, said Prime Minister Donald Tusk at an afternoon conference.
The head of government confirmed that Father Gaweł and a Belarusian who cooperated with the Polish services were also transferred to the Polish side. – At his request, I will not reveal his name – Tusk said.
— The case of Andrzej Poczobut's release is a long and very complicated, even sensational story. We have repeatedly tried to convince the Belarusian authorities to release him. This story was long and had many twists and turns. It was very difficult to count on reliability from Minsk. During one of the last attempts to exchange prisoners, Belarusians changed their mind and refused, the Prime Minister revealed.
He also noted that Poczobut's release was possible thanks to the fact that in Polish prisons there were “important people from the point of view of Belarus and Russia, detained on charges of sabotage.”
