Provocation on Press Freedom Day

Insulting posters were pasted to walls of the tower block he lives in.

“Nasha Niva” newspaper reports Hrodna-based journalist Andrzej Poczobut saw “congratulations” on the World Press Freedom Day on May 3. Posters with a black-and-white photo of him and text “Beware of a pedophile!” appeared on walls of the block of flats he lives in.

Andrzej Poczobut brought one of the leaflets to police and filed a complaint over the incident.

He thinks it was a revenge for his citizenship and journalistic activity. The journalist does not rule out the KGB may stand behind the provocation.

Andrzej Poczobut was given a three-year sentence suspended for two years over the criminal article “libel against the president”. He is banned from travelling abroad. The court found the journalist guilty of violating part 1 of article 367 of the Criminal Code for a number of newspaper articles criticizing the  authorities. Trial was held behind closed doors. The journalist spent three months behind bars.