New York, March 30, 2011--The Committee to Protect
Journalists called on Belarusian authorities today to stop the politically
motivated prosecution of Andrzej Poczobut, a prominent correspondent for Poland's
largest daily, Gazeta Wyborcza.
On Monday, prosecutors in the western city of Grodno filed
criminal charges against Poczobut for allegedly insulting Belarusian President
Aleksandr Lukashenko in articles printed in Gazeta
Wyborcza and the Belarusian news website Belarussky Partizan beginning in October
2010, local
and international
press reported. Poczobut faces up to two years in prison if convicted.