July 5, Leninski district court passed sentence on Andrzej Poczobut, the journalist of Polish Gazety Wyborczej. The reporter was released in the courtroom. The event was attended by seven people - his wife, some relatives and the leadership of the informal Union of Poles in Belarus, according to Telegraf correspondent.
The court acquitted the journalist of the article "insulting the President of Belarus," but found him guilty of libel against the head of state. The defendant himself pleaded not guilty and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment with a two-year respite of the sentence. The prosecutor asked to sentence Andrzej Poczobut to three years in jail without any suspension.
Andrzej Poczobut was arrested the night of April 6-7 on charges of insulting Lukashenko (Part 1 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Belarus) and slandering him on (Part 1 Article 367 CC). Prior to that, the journalist had been kept under house arrest. The charges were filed for publication in Gazecie Wyborczej, "Belarusian partisan" and the reporter's personal blog.
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A district judge in Hrodna on July 5 sentenced journalist Andrzej Poczobut, one of the leaders of the Warsaw-backed Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB), to three years in prison with two years’ suspension, BelaPAN said.
As defense lawyer Alyaksandr Birylaw told reporters, Judge Vital Lyatsko cleared the accused of the charge of insulting the president but found him guilty of defaming the president.
The 38-year-old Poczobut, who had been held in custody since April 6, was immediately released after the sentence was handed down. Mr. Poczobut left the courthouse and picked up his little son in his arms. Dozens of supporters greeted him, singing "Sto Lat" (One Hundred Years), a traditional Polish song sung to express good wishes, good health and long life to a person.
Only seven people – Mr. Poczobut’s wife Aksana, other relatives, and UPB leaders – were let into the courtroom to attend the pronouncement of the judgment. Andrzej Chodkiewicz, Poland’s consul general in Hrodna, was barred from entering the courthouse.
The closed-door trial of the Hrodna-based correspondent of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza began in the Leninski District Court in Hrodna on June 14. He was accused of insulting and defaming Alyaksandr Lukashenka in his articles published by the online version of Gazeta Wyborcza, news site belaruspartisan.org, and social networking site livejournal.com.
The articles included "Time to Tighten Screws," "Lukashenka Finds Another Target," "Belarusian Election without Choice," "This is how Lukashenka Rules," "Lukashenka: Yes, I Rigged Election," and others.
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