Lukashenko
Just days after talking to the Prague Post about his most recent charge of insulting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, journalist Andrzej Poczobut has been arrested for slandering the longtime president and is back in jail.
Poczobut, a Polish-Belarusian living near Minsk and reporting for the Polish Daily Gazeta Wyborcza, already has spent 15 days in prison this year after being arrested in January while covering an unsanctioned demonstration protesting the disputed presidential elections of Dec. 19. The latest charges are in connection to a series of subsequent articles he wrote for both the Gazeta Wyborcza and an opposition website. He could face four years in prison.
In an April 2 interview with The Prague Post Poczobut said he did not insult the president, but has been critical of him – and the elections, which he says were rigged – in articles he has written.
“I am aware that at any moment I could be back behind bars,” he said less than a week before his arrest. “It is not a pleasant feeling.”
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