Andrzej Pisalnik and Iness Todryk-Pisalnik, journalists and activists of the Union of Poles in Belarus, have been released, their relatives told Belsat. The journalists were detained on April 14. In the morning, the police came to their apartment. Then Andrzej and Iness were taken to Minsk. In a few hours, they were brought back to Hrodna. At about 10 p.m., they were already at home.
In Minsk, they were questioned as witnesses in the “Polish case.” However, there was no search in their house, i.e., the previous information was not confirmed.
In the morning of 14 April, the General Prosecutor’s Office said that Andrzej Pisalnik, Hrodna journalist and press-secretary of the Union of Poles in Belarus, was officially warned for having expressed some opinions on the Polish radio stations “Radio 24” and “Radio 4” at the beginning of April 2021. Then, Andrzej Pisalnik stated that the Belarusian media started large-scale propaganda against Poland. This is done to “create an image of Poles as people of the second category,” to smear them in the eyes of society and make Poles the enemies of the people, “as it was in Stalin’s time.”
Hrodna Prosecutor’s Office believes these statements contradict the Republic of Belarus’s legislation on national minorities and counteraction to extremism.
