Belarus hands 8-year term to journalist for top Polish paper
Washington PostFeb 08, 2023
Poland's Interior Ministry on Thursday announced the indefinite closure of the main Bobrowniki-Bierestowica border checkpoint with Belarus starting on Friday at noon, reportedly leaving only two crossing points open along the whole border.
Warsaw also stated that it's considering imposing further sanctions against Belarusian officials allegedly responsible for crackdowns on Poles in the neighboring country.
The Lukashenko regime is cracking down on the dissent ripping through Belarus, and the conviction of Andrzej Poczobut — only guilty of fighting for the truth — is just one demonstration of this. More than 35K people have been arrested, many have been beaten, and tens of thousands of others have fled in fear for their lives. Poland, and the West, can't stand by idly amid this repression.
Ripple effects from the Western-sponsored migration crisis are fueling unrest in Belarus, and the closure of the Bobrowniki-Bierestowica border will only worsen this. In an attempt to thrust its vision of democracy on other nations, the West, particularly the US, has instigated a succession of regional conflicts in the Middle East and Northern Africa, resulting in massive migration flows. Rather than imposing further sanctions, constructive dialogue — as advocated for by Minsk — is the way forward.
Poland — which touts an open-door policy to Ukrainian refugees — has a history of unlawfully and violently throwing Belarusian migrants back across the border into the hands of an oppressive and cruel regime. This inhumane policy has exacerbated the migrant crisis at the border and is unacceptable for an EU country.
There's a 50% chance that Pres. Lukashenko will leave power in Belarus by December 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.