The ASF warmly welcomes the release by the Belarusian regime of Andrzej Poczobut, journalist and laureate of the Sakharov Prize.
Poczobut is a journalist, essayist, blogger, and activist from Belarus’s Polish minority — and, in a former life, a punk musician with the Belarusian group Deviation. Known for his fearless criticism of the Lukashenka regime and his writings on history and human rights, he has been arrested many times over the years. Detained since 2021, he was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony.
Andrzej Poczobut, together with another journalist – Mzia Amaglobeli imprisoned in Georgia – was awarded the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament on 16 December 2025.
Released on 28 April, he was met at the border by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. On 3 May — Poland’s Constitution Day — he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state decoration for outstanding merit.
