Belarus authorities bar Polish diplomats from seeing jailed activists Andzelika Borys, Andrzej Poczobut
Andżelika Borys, the leader of the Union of Poles in Belarus, and Andrzej Poczobut, a Polish minority activist and journalist, have been behind bars since March. They are accused of ‘inciting hostility’.
According to Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz, the Belarusian authorities do not allow consuls and diplomatic officers to meet with the political prisoners, referring to the fact that Poczobut and Borys are not Polish citizens.
“The situation of Andzelika Borys and Andrzej Poczobut is very complicated <…> but we are persistent in our efforts to release them,” Marcin Przydach told the Polish newspaper Gazeta Prawna.
The deputy minister also recalled that five activists of the Union of Poles were detained six months ago, and due to diplomatic and consular activities three of them were freed; the women are now safe in Poland.
Making mention of the Belarusian political prisoners, Przydacz stressed that international pressure exerted on the Belarusian regime was ‘insufficient’. The Polish side hopes international human rights organisations step up pressure on pro-Lukashenka officials, the diplomat added.
Andrzej Poczobut and Andżelika Borys refused to file a pardon petition to Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The Belarusian human rights community recognised them as political prisoners.
In early June, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that three Polish minority activists from Belarus – Irena Biernacka, Maria Tiszkowska and Anna Paniszewa – arrived in Poland on May 25 ‘as a result of efforts by Polish diplomatic and consular services’. According to our information, the Belarusian authorities made the three women’s return to the country impossible by imposing travel restrictions on them before taking the arrestees to the Belarusian-Polish border.
This spring, the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office initiated a criminal case against Andżelika Borys and other members of the Union of Poles in Belarus.
They are charged under Art. 130-3 of the Criminal Code (‘deliberate actions aimed at inciting national and religious hatred according to national, religious, language, other social affiliation, as well as through justifying Nazism, which were committed by a group of persons’). According to them, the Polish activists’ recent aсtivity, i.e. holding some events, is relevant to ‘the rehabilitation of Nazism and justifying the genocide of the Belarusian people’.
On March 25, homes of some members of the Union of Poles in Belarus were raided as part of the criminal case. Belarusian security officers made unexpected visits to Hrodna-based journalist Andrzej Poczobut (he was later arrested and taken to Minsk for interrogation); Maria Tiszkowska, the director of the UPB public school in Vaukavysk; Irena Biernacka, the head of the Lida branch of the Union. The police also came to the Polish public school and the headquarters of the Union of Poles in Hrodna. The search of the office lasted eight hours, from 9 am to 5 pm. Poczobut, Biernacka, Tiszkowska, Borys were taken into custody.
On March 12, Anna Paniszewa, the director of Polish School, was arrested on her way to Belarus from Poland. Shortly before the detention, Paniszewa posted an appeal to the public; she believes that the authorities fabricate the charges, aiming at the liquidation of the school.
