Andrzej Poczobut, a correspondent for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza who was handed over to the Polish side in an April prisoner exchange, crossed the Polish-Belarusian border on the morning of September 8, Gazeta Wyborcza reported, as cited by the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Poczobut later posted a photo from Grodno on his X account with the caption in Polish, "On the Neman."
According to the Polish newspaper, Poczobut plans to stay in Belarus for about a week, meet with family and colleagues from the Union of Poles in Belarus, and then travel abroad, including visits to the United States and Canada. Poland's PAP news agency, citing security services, reported that the journalist crossed the border accompanied by a woman. Gazeta Wyborcza described the trip as "purely personal" in nature.
Before the trip, Poczobut was asked whether he feared repeating the fate of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was arrested immediately after returning to Russia in 2021 and later died in a penal colony. Poczobut said he had spent five years behind bars in Belarus and "nothing happened to him," adding that it would currently be disadvantageous for the country's authorities to arrest him again.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya said she was glad Poczobut had returned but advised other Belarusian emigrants facing prosecution at home not to follow his example.
Poczobut is an activist of the Union of Poles in Belarus, which is not recognized by the Belarusian authorities. He was arrested in March 2021 and sentenced in 2023 to eight years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and undermining Belarus's security. The case included episodes involving "discussions about Soviet aggression against Poland," an article about the crackdown on protests in 2020, and a 2006 piece about a commander of the Polish anti-communist underground. Poland called the charges politically motivated. As part of the exchange that freed Poczobut, Polish authorities released, among others, Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, whose extradition Ukraine had sought.