Union of Poles in Belarus and Gazeta Wyborcza launch campaigns for release of Andrei Pachobut

The “opposition” Union of Poles in Belarus started a campaign for change of restraint to the Chair of the Main Council of the UPB, a journalist with the Polish weekly Gazeta Wyborcza Andrei Pachobut.

Mr. Pachobut is kept in custody in the pre-trial prison of Hrodna on charges in “defamation of President” (Article 368 of the Criminal Code) and “libel against President” (Article 367) in a number of articles in Gazeta Wyborcza, his private blog and the website Belorusskiy Partisan.

According to the acting Chair of the UPB, Anzhalika Arekhva, the organization members started collecting signatures under the appropriate address to the Hrodna Region Procuracy. Another campaign in his support has also been launched by Gazeta Wyborcza.