Sakharov Prize-winning journalist Andrzej Poczobut
Photo: Leonid Sjtjeglov/AP/TT

Sakharov Prize-winning journalist Andrzej Poczobut released by Belarus

Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut has been released in a prisoner exchange, the AP reports.

In a picture posted on X, a smiling Poczobut is seen shaking hands with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“Welcome to your Polish home, my friend,” Tusk writes.

In return, according to state-run Russian media, the Russian archaeologist Aleksandr Butjagin, whom Ukraine has accused of looting and illegal excavations in Russian-occupied Crimea, will be released.

Poczobut was arrested in Belarus in 2021 and sentenced two years later to eight years in prison in a trial that was ruled politically motivated. Last year, he was awarded the EU's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

In the past year, Belarus has - partly after American efforts - released opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel laureate Ales Byalyatski, among others.

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AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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