Among those who met the released political prisoner Andrei Pachobut at the Belarusian-Polish border was Bartosz Wielinski, deputy editor-in-chief of «Gazeta Wyborcza», who had campaigned for Pachobut's release from prison for many years. It was he who accompanied the released journalist in a car of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) on the way to Warsaw and on the way interviewed him about his experiences in prison and his release.
Andrei Pachobut (right) with Bartosz Wielinski, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza. Photo: facebook.com/roman.imielski
Andrei Pachobut recalled how he entered the penal colony in Navapolatsk and immediately upon entering heard the cries of a tortured prisoner.
«The camp capo ordered the newcomers to shout to drown out the moans of the beaten man. Pachobut was the only one who did not shout. From the deputy head of the prison, he heard: «Pachobut, we don't need you dead, we need you alive.» But they didn't care about his health,» Bartosz Wielinski recounts the words of the former political prisoner.
In 2021, he was placed in the part of Volodarka prison designated for those sentenced to death.
«They thought they would immediately intimidate me, break me, but I didn't give in. For two years, I lived with an open window. Winter, summer. And in SHIZA, that is, in solitary confinement [he spent 167 days there], I had nothing. I slept on boards,» he recounts.
In detention, Pachobut lost 20 kg — in 2023, when he was transferred to a penal colony, he weighed 93 kg, and now 74 kg.
Pachobut also shared fresh memories of today's events, when he was woken up at 3 AM.
«They said they were transferring me. Good, I thought I would go to the covered prison in Mahilioŭ, I even rejoiced because the conditions there are better than in Navapolatsk. But I was surprised that they ordered me to take my belongings.
«When the KGB officers said I was going to Poland, I refused. I demanded guarantees that I could return. They brought an official from the presidential administration, they called the Polish chargé d'affaires. I asked if I could return to Belarus. He confirmed it. Belarusian officials also confirmed it,» Pachobut said.
The release of Andrei Pachobut, a journalist and activist of the Polish national minority in Belarus, became known on the afternoon of April 28.
The exchange of prisoners between Poland and Belarus took place in a «five for five» format. It was preceded by a «complex and lengthy negotiation process» between the Belarusian KGB and the Polish Intelligence Agency. The United States of America also participated in the release in the person of US President's Special Representative John Cole.
Andrei Pachobut was arrested on March 25, 2021, and on February 8, 2023, he was sentenced for «activities detrimental to the interests of the state». The sentence was eight years in a maximum-security penal colony. He served his term in a penal colony in Navapolatsk.
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