Belarus dictatorship condemns journalist critical of Lukachenko and increases tension with Poland

The Polish government rejected this Thursday (9) the conviction of Polish and Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, 49, after he had reported critical of the regime in Belarus. The case strained the diplomatic relationship between the countries, which have opposing positions regarding the Ukrainian War.

Poczobut was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was found guilty of engaging in “actions that harm national security” and of “incitement to hatred”. The journalist, who has been imprisoned since 2021, worked as a correspondent for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, one of the most important in the country.

According to Warsaw, the sentence is unfair and politically motivated. “It is an inhuman verdict by the Belarus regime and yet another act of persecution of the Polish people in the country,” Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on social media, adding that the government will do everything to help the journalist.

Later, the Polish government announced that it will close from this Friday (10) an important border crossing with Belarus in the Bobrowniki region – one of the main crossing points between the countries. In a statement, the interior minister, Mariusz Kaminski, limited himself to saying that the decision was motivated by “state security interests”, without mentioning the Poczobut case.

Regarding the condemnation of the journalist, Kaminski informed that he will ask for more sanctions against people linked to the dictator of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukachenko. The sentence was also criticized by human rights activists. Belarusian opposition leader-in-exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaia said the verdict was a “personal revenge” for the leader.

Belarus has close ties with Russia. The two nations have stepped up their joint military drills amid speculation that Moscow is likely to use the neighboring dictatorship as a launching point for a new attack on Ukraine from the north.

Last month, Lukashenko personally accompanied the arrival of a train with Russian armor and soldiers at a base near the Ukrainian border. On that occasion, the dictator heard from a Russian commander that the forces “were ready for their tasks”.

So far, the Belarusians have provided their territory for moving forces, deploying missiles, and operating planes and helicopters by the Russians. The failed Russian advance against Kiev at the beginning of the war, which seemed to decide the conflict in a few days, came out of there. Minsk, however, denies it will enter the war.

Poland, for its part, has some of the most vocal leaders against Vladimir Putin’s action in Ukraine. In June last year, the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, even compared the Russian leader to the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945).

In November, two people were killed in an explosion in the small town of Przewodow in eastern Poland, six kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The hypothesis of an attack by Russia against the country, which is a member of NATO, has increased tension and the possibility of more serious developments in the conflict that has been unfolding in Eastern Europe for more than eight months. Later investigations pointed out that the explosion was probably caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.