Poles from Belarus write to President
Members of the Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB) decided to write a letter to Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, asking for support. Polish minority fears repression since the arrest and sentencing of their secretary general Andrzej Poczobut.
Poles in Belarus have been subjected to difficulties since 2005. - Our members have been imprisoned or fined a number of times. We sought help from Polish government on various occasions. – comments Anzelika Orechwo, chairwomen of the UPB. According to her, repressions have intensified recently – After events of the December 19th, 2009, after all the anti-Polish propaganda in the Belarusian news, we expected it will affect situation of the Polish minority. The arrest of Andrzej Poczobut is one of the forms of repressions, which we suspect will be applied soon to the entire UPB. – Orechwo told “Belsat”.
A member of the council of the UPB, Józef Poprzecki, noted that other members of the union have been persecuted too. - In a letter to the President we ask him to take that into consideration“ – added Poprzecki.
Teresa Sobol, head of the regional UPB in Iwieniec and a director of a polish cultural center (Polski Dom) that was overtaken by the government in 2010, stressed the importance of solidarity among the minorities.
Andrzej Poczobut, who is also a journalist of the Polish newspaper „Gazeta Wyborcza“, was sentenced last Friday for 15 days of arrest for his participation in the illegal demonstration in Minsk on December 19th, 2010. That was second trial against him. During the first one he was punished by a fine, but the public persecutor appealed the sentence claiming it was too mild.
Belsat
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