Member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), a member of the Union of Poles in Belarus.
He is the author of the book System Belarus (2013), which was commissioned by a Polish publishing house and raises issues specific not only to Belarus but also to other post-Soviet countries.
In the 1990s, Andrzej Poczobut, together with his younger brother Stanisław Poczobut, founded Deviation. The band keeps an anarchic tone and performs songs such as Kill Me, Militiaman and Your Father is a Fascist. The band sang mainly in Belarusian.
Aleś Dzianisaŭ from Dzieciuki wrote a song based on Andrzej Poczobut’s poem Zbroja.
He worked for many newspapers from Hrodno: Pahonia, Dzień, Miascovy čas, Hłos z-nad Niemna and was a correspondent of the newspaper Narodnaja Vola. He held the position of editor-in-chief of Magazyn Polski na uchodźstwie. Since 2006, he has been a correspondent of Gazeta Wyborcza. He faced multiple detentions, fines, and administrative arrests for his social, political, and journalistic activities.
In 2011, he was awarded the Andrzej Wojciechowski Prize, which has been awarded since 2005 for the best journalistic material that had a significant impact on the consciousness of Poles.
In 2013, he received the Sviatłana Navumava Award in the Journalism category.
In 2013, he won the Civil Society Champions Award, founded by the Assembly of NGO’s, in the Public Leader of the Year category.
In 2021, at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, he received the Freedom of Speech Award, given by the Polish Journalists Association.
In September 2021, he was awarded the prize of the Economic Forum in Karpacha.
The persecution of Andrzej Poczobut is one of the numerous examples of pressure put on the Polish minority in Belarus. He was previously a political prisoner. In 2011, the Hrodna Regional Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case against him for insulting and slandering the President of Belarus. The trial was closed. On July 5 of the same year, the judge of the Lenin District Court of Hrodna, Vital Lacko, sentenced him to 3 years of imprisonment with a 2-year suspension for defamation. The journalist was acquitted and released in the courtroom under the article regarding insulting the president.
On March 25, 2021, Andrzej Poczobut was searched in Hrodna, arrested, and taken to the Investigative Committee in Minsk for questioning. He is a suspect in a criminal case under part 3 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code (committing intentional acts by a group of persons on the grounds of national, religious, linguistic affiliation, and supporting Nazism) he was to Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1 in Minsk. On March 31, 2021, he was recognized as a political prisoner.
In the middle of August 2022, Andrzej began to familiarize himself with the case, which would soon be brought to court. It became known that he was also charged under Art. 361 of the Criminal Code (inciting restrictive measures (sanctions) aimed at harming national security).
On February 8, 2023, the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced Andrzej Poczobut to 8 years in a penal colony, finding him guilty under part 3 of Art. 361 of the Criminal Code (inciting restrictive measures (sanctions) aimed at harming national security), part 3 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code (inciting national, religious, and other social enmity).
On May 26, 2023, the Supreme Court considered Andrzej Poczobut’s appeal, dismissed it, and left the verdict unchanged.
On June 23, 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added Andrzej Poczobut to the “List of Belarusian citizens, foreign citizens or stateless persons involved in extremist activities.”
Andrzej Poczobut was sent from Prison No. 1 to colony No. 1 in Navapolack to serve his sentence.
Mail address: Andrzej Poczobut, PC. No. 1, 211440, Navapolack, vulica Techničnaya 8.