Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, the 2025 Sakharov prize winner, has been freed after five years in a Belarusian penal colony as part of a US-brokered multi-country swap deal. His release was confirmed by Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who posted a picture on social media with the message: "Andrzej Poczobut is free! Welcome to your Polish home, my friend."
The release is part of broader efforts to bring Belarus closer to the West, following the US securing the release of 123 prisoners, including Nobel peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski and opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, late last year. Some sanctions, including those on Belarusian potash, a key export, were also removed.
Poczobut, a prominent Polish community activist in Belarus and journalist for Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza, was detained in 2021 and sentenced to eight years in a penal colony in a process widely condemned as politically motivated to silence regime critics. Recent warnings about his deteriorating health included a UN-mandated report highlighting "prolonged solitary confinement" and "denial of essential medical care."
The prisoner exchange involved several countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Tusk described it as "the finale of a two-year complicated diplomatic game, full of dramatic twists and turns." US special envoy to Belarus, John Coale, led talks with Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, confirming that three Poles and two Moldovans were released. Coale stated, "Basically an argument with Lukashenko is, what are you getting out of this? It hurts you internationally... If you want to put people into prison for good reason, great, but not for these types of crimes." He plans to return to Belarus for further talks, noting there are "800 to 900 political prisoners left to get out of Belarus."
Poland's President Karol Nawrocki thanked US President Donald Trump for securing Poczobut's release. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski praised the US-Polish relationship, emphasizing the exchange would not have happened without US involvement. Russian state media reported that jailed Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin was released by Poland as part of the swap.
In 2025, Poczobut was awarded the Sakharov prize for freedom of thought. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola hailed him and co-winner Mzia Amaglobeli as "two journalists whose courage shines as a beacon for all who refuse to be silenced." Gazeta Wyborcza celebrated his release, and deputy editor-in-chief Bartosz Wieliński posted a picture captioned: "The first kilometres of freedom. We're heading to Warsaw."
