MINSK. May 26 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist working for the Polonia international TV channel and activist of the Union of Poles in Belarus, the court's press service said on Friday.
"The Belarusian Supreme Court's Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases passed a judgment on May 26, 2023, to uphold the sentence pronounced on Poczobut by the Grodno Region Court on February 8, 2023, and to dismiss the appeals," the press service said.
"The sentence has taken effect," it said.
Poczobut was sentenced to eight years in a high-security penitentiary for calling for actions harmful to Belarusian national security and inciting enmity. He has been in custody since March 25, 2021.
Poland indefinitely suspended operations at the Bobrowniki-Berestovica border checkpoint in February. The Polish authorities linked the decision to Poczobut's sentencing.