Being charged with libelling against the President (art. 367-2 of the Criminal Code) the journalist has been released on his own recognisance. In his articles Andrzej Poczobut offered an opinion that Aliaksandr Lukashenka influenced on death sentencing to Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavaliou who were accused of committing terroristic attack in Minsk metro on April 11, 2011.
Andrzej Poczobut has been under arrest since June 21, 2012. Now he is facing jail sentence of up to four years. It is not the first time that the journalist has been accused of insulting Aliaksandr Lukashenka: last year he stood trial started which was held behind the closed doors. Having spent three months in jail Poczobut was given a suspended sentence of three years of imprisonment.
According to the evidence provided by the regional KGB department, a number of articles written by Poczobut and placed on news web sites “contained libels against the Head of the state”. As part of the KGB investigation several linguistic evaluations were conducted. ”The publications given contain words, sentences and expressions concerning the President of the Republic of Belarus that are actionable libel discrediting the Republic of Belarus,” the “experts” stated.
Not being a “cooperative” defendant Andrzej Poczobut declined to give evidence.
Belsat
