Belarus frees prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut in a 10-person prisoner swap

ABC NewsLiveVideoShowsShopInterest Successfully AddedWe'll notify you here with news aboutTurn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? OffOnStream onBelarus frees prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut in a 10-person prisoner swapOfficials say prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut has been released from jail in Belarus in a swap with Poland that also saw a total of 10 people freed as the authoritarian leader of Belarus seeks improved relations with the WestByCLAUDIA CIOBANU Associated Press and YURAS KARMANAU Associated PressApril 28, 2026, 7:23 AM1:52FILE - Journalist Andrzej Poczobut stands in a defendants' cage in court in Grodno, Belarus, on Jan. 16, 2023. (Leonid Shcheglov/Pool via AP, File)The Associated PressWARSAW, Poland -- WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut has been released from jail in Belarus in a swap with Poland that saw a total of 10 people freed as the authoritarian leader of Belarus seeks improved relations with the West, officials in both countries said Tuesday.Poczobut, a correspondent for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and a leading figure among Belarus’ Polish minority, was serving eight years in prison in a case condemned as politically motivated.His 2021 arrest after covering pro-democracy rallies in Belarus drew widespread criticism. He later was awarded the Sakharov Prize, the European Union’s most prestigious human rights award.Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski described Poczobut as a symbol of the fight for freedom in Belarus but also of the effectiveness of the Polish state in leaving no one behind.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who welcomed Poczobut on the border with Belarus around midday Tuesday, posted on X that the journalist was “unwavering.” Poczobut’s first words to him were about his chances of returning to his home in Belarus, Tusk wrote, and said he replied: “Only you decide. You’re a free man now.”The swap is the latest in a series of U.S.-negotiated prisoner releases that have marked stronger relations between Minsk and the West during U.S. President Donald Trump's second term.A Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman said three of the five prisoners released by Belarus came to Poland in exchange for three sent by Poland to Belarus, with a total of 10 involving other countries.Belarus’ presidential press service said the negotiations had involved intelligence services from seven countries. It described some of the prisoners who returned to Minsk as having "carried out particularly important missions in the interests of ensuring the national security and defense capability of our country.”The Russian state news agency Tass identified one of those released as Alexander Butyagin, a Russian national due be extradited from Poland to Ukraine on allegations he conducted excavations involving artifacts at a site in Crimea that Ukraine considers part of its cultural heritage.In March, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the release of 250 political prisoners as part of a deal with Washington that lifted some U.S. sanctions. A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced isolation for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been sanctioned repeatedly by Western countries — both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Writing on X, Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John…

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