Andrzej Poczobut Received Poland's Highest State Award - The Order Of The White Eagle

(Updated) The award ceremony was held at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

During today's Constitution Day celebrations on May 3 at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, recently released from a Belarusian prison, journalist Andrzej Poczobut received the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state award, from the hands of Polish President Karol Nawrocki.

According to the website Charter97.org

The decision to award Andrzej Poczobut with the Order of the White Eagle was made by Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Independence Day, November 11, 2025. Speaking at the award ceremony, he expressed hope that he would be able to personally present the order to the Belarusian journalist and activist of the Polish minority in Belarus.

Andrzej Poczobut was awarded this highest state honor "for his fight for human rights and unyielding stance against the manifestations of resurgent totalitarian regimes," the Polish president said in a solemn speech.

The mention of Andrzej Poczobut's name by the President of Poland brought an ovation from the audience.

- I want to say it bluntly, and you know very well that before I became president, I was chairman of the Institute of National Remembrance. I know what heroism and resilience is. I've been involved in this subject for many years. I realize the responsibility of saying those things. And I do not hesitate, as a historian and former head of the INP, to say that Andrzej Poczobut is a hero and a man of indomitable courage," said the Polish President.

- This is a man of indomitable courage, who for the sake of Polish identity, commitment to historical truth, for the fight for human rights and democracy in the Lukashenko regime was ready to go to prison. He spent years in prison and came back victorious. As someone who shows that often the suffering you endure has deep meaning and strengthens the strength of the national community," Karol Nawrocki added.

On Tuesday, a five-for-five prisoner exchange took place on the border between Poland and Belarus, with authorities in Minsk releasing three Poles and two Moldovan citizens. One of the released was Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and activist of the Polish minority in Belarus, who had been imprisoned since 2021.

In his response, Andrzej Poczobut emphasized that the high award belonged not only to him.

- Receiving such a high state award, I feel embarrassed," he said. - I am not a hero.

For me, the heroes are the soldiers of the Armia Krajowa, for whose glorification I was accused.

He added that these are people who defended independence until the last moment of their lives, and their memory is desecrated today.

- Against their background, I am an ordinary person who, living in "unworthy" times, tries to behave with dignity," Andrzej Poczobut said.

Reminder, Andrzej Poczobut was released as a result of the exchange at the Belarusian-Polish border on the basis of the "five by five" formula.

In February 2023, a court in Hrodna sentenced Andrzej Poczobut to 8 years in prison for incitement to hatred (part 3 of article 130 of the Criminal Code) and calls for actions aimed at harming national security (article 361-3 of the Criminal Code).

Andrzej was placed several times in the penal colony in Novopolotsk. In detention, he lost a lot of weight and underwent surgery to remove skin ulcers. In October 2025, he received the Sakharov Prize in absentia, and in November he received Poland's highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle.

In 2024, Andrzej Poczobut became an honorary citizen of Warsaw.

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