Polish Newspaper Reporter Held In Belarus

Andrzej Poczobut

The correspondent of a Polish newspaper has reportedly been detained by police in Belarus less than a year after serving jail time for slandering President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The Union of Poles of Belarus said Andrzej Poczobut, who works for the Polish daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" and is a prominent Polish-Belarusian minority activist, spent three months in jail last year before receiving a three-year sentence, which was suspended.

Police in Grodno, Poczobut's hometown, where he is being held, could not be reached for comment.

Poczobut was tried for insulting Lukashenka in articles published in "Gazeta Wyborcza" and on Belarusian websites.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP