Belarus upholds 8-year prison sentence for journalist of top Polish newspaper

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarus’ Supreme Court on Friday upheld an eight-year prison sentence that was handed to a journalist and prominent member of the country’s sizable Polish minority. The Court on Friday rejected the appeal of Andrzej Poczobut, a 50-year-old reporter with Gazeta Wyborcza, an influential Polish newspaper. Poczobut has been found guilty of inflicting harm on Belarus’ national security and “sowing discord.” He has remained behind bars ever since his arrest in March 2021. Poczobut has extensively covered mass protests that engulfed Belarus in 2020 in the wake of the disputed presidential election that handed authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko his sixth term in office. Both the Belarusian opposition and the West have denounced the vote as rigged.