Andrzej Poczobut, jailed Belarusian journalist released in a prisoner swap; Polish-Belarusian activist and Sakharov Prize laureate. Bio: born 1973, longtime Belarusian press critic.
Belarus has released a handful of prisoners as part of a multi-country exchange brokered by the United States, with Poland, Moldova and Romania among those involved. Polish journalist Andrzej Poczobut is among the detainees freed, returning home after years in a Belarusian penal colony. The swap also involves Moldovan and Russian detainees and is framed by ongoing efforts to normalize Minsk’s relations with Western partners.