Andžej Pačobut says he will return to Belarus for good in December

Journalist and Union of Poles in Belarus activist Andžej Pačobut plans to return to Belarus for permanent residence in December. He said this in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

He said the same at a meeting with students of the University of Łódź. According to the Belarusian Service of Polish Radio, he spoke there about repression, state propaganda and the Belarusian authorities' manipulation of history.

Pačobut also told Rzeczpospolita about his trip to Belarus in September. He stresses that the decision to return was made from the very beginning: "That was the decision from the start. I keep saying it. In December I'm going back to Belarus." His family, he says, would prefer that he stay in Poland, but they understand his motives.

In Hrodna, a police officer with a dashcam switched on came to his home and insistently invited him to the station "for a talk." The next day the security officials themselves cancelled the visit.

He was allowed to move around the country freely. Using a mobile phone did not work out: because the authorities have put Pačobut on their lists of "extremists" and "terrorists," his old number was cut off almost immediately. A week later he left Belarus, and no obstacles were put in his way.

Pačobut was released in April 2026, after more than five years in prison and tense negotiations with Poland. On 23 October, Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) published video of the prisoner exchange that led to his release.

On the phone, Pačobut said: "I'm not allowed to have a mobile phone. As an extremist and a terrorist, I can't have one." According to him, he first went to re-register his old number, which was in his wife's name. This was done, but after three calls the number stopped working, and in response to his inquiry he was told he had no right to it.