Dunja Mijatovic welcomed Pachobut’s exemption from imprisonment

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic welcomed the exemption from a prison term of a Belarusian journalist Andrzej Pachobut.

The information comes from Dunja Mijatovic’s statement, spread by OSCE’s press-service, BelaPAN reports.

We would remind that on 23 September the court of Hrodna’s Lenin district exempted Pachobut Andrzej Pachobut from serving a prison term. The criminal charges against the employee of the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza were brought on 28 March 2011, and on 5 July the same year the court found him guilty of “defaming Lukashenka” in a series of articles on different internet media sources.

The journalist was sentenced to three years of imprisonment with the postponement of the execution of the punishment for two years. On 20 September 2011 Hrodna regional court supported the verdict, having refused to satisfy Pachobut’s appeal. On 20 September this year the postponement expired. The court’s decision of 23 September clears Pachobut of the criminal record as well as lifts a number of restrictions, which were in force while the verdict was postponed. “I welcome the court’s decision on lifting all the restrictions regarding Pachobut, - Mijatovic said. – I hope, this was the last case when a journalist faced criminal prosecution in Belarus for his professional activities”.

The statement notes that Mijatovic closely followed Pachobut’s case and brought up this issue at meetings with Belarusian authorities.