Małgorzata Gosiewska: Andrzej Poczobut Is A Real Symbol Of The Struggle Of Belarusians For Their Rights

• 25.09.2025, 10:17

The MEP called for the Sakharov Prize to be awarded to the political prisoner.

Head of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Belarus, Polish MEP Małgorzata Gosiewska called for awarding the Andrei Sakharov Prize to journalist Andrzej Poczobut.

The website Charter97.org publishes Małgorzata Gosiewska's speech to the European Parliament:

- The Sakharov Award promotes freedom of speech, minority rights and international law, the development of democracy and the rule of law. Andrzej Poczobut proved with his life that he deserves this award by dedicating his life to these values. He is a true symbol of the struggle of Belarusians for their rights. This is an indomitable man. Andrzej could have left Belarus to avoid arrest, but he did not do it. Then he was repeatedly offered to admit guilt and ask Lukashenko for a pardon in order to get freedom. He did not agree.

I repeat: this is an indomitable man. His life is in your hands. We are fighting for the Sakharov award for a great personality, but we are also fighting for his life. Belarusian prison is not a prison in our understanding, but a modern Soviet camp. I put Andrzej Poczobut's life in your hands.

Andrzej Poczobut is a well-known Hrodna journalist and one of the leaders of the Union of Poles in Belarus. He was detained on March 25, 2021, sentenced to 8 years in a reinforced regime colony for "calls for sanctions" and "incitement to hostility".

In March 2024, the Polish edition of the American edition of Newsweek awarded Poczobut with the Teresa Taranska Prize in the nomination "Figure of the Decade".