President of EU Parliament urges Belarusian authorities to release Andrei Pachobut

The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, called on the Belarusian authorities to free Andrei Pachobut, a Gazeta Wyborcza correspondent and a member of the Union of Poles in Belarus.

'I demand that the authorities in Minsk release Andrzej Poczobut from custody immediately,' he said. As Buzek thinks, the 15-day detention order for Poczobut was 'a sign of the continued pressure on citizens who have the courage to think differently and talk about it openly'.

'The European Union strongly condemns the harassment of members of the Union of Poles in Belarus and other civil society organizations and national minorities. Europe is with you, Andrzej', the EP President said, wyborcza.pl reports.

As information agency REGNUM reported earlier, Andrzej Poczobut, a Gazeta Wyborcza correspondent and a member of the unrecognized Union of Poles in Belarus, was arrested for 15 days on a decision of the Minsk city court on 11 February. He was charged with 'active participating in mass riot and shouting anti-governmental slogans' in Minsk on 19 December.

Poczobut himself notes he couldn't shout any slogans as he was working and covering the events in Minsk for the newspaper.