On Sunday, during the celebrations of the National May 3rd Constitution Day at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Andrzej Poczobut received the Order of the White Eagle from the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki.
On Tuesday, April 28, a prisoner exchange took place on the Polish–Belarusian border on a “five for five” basis, under which authorities in Minsk released three Polish citizens and two Moldovan nationals. One of those freed was Poczobut, a journalist and activist of the Polish minority in Belarus, who had been imprisoned since 2021.
In February 2023, the regime of Alexander Lukashenko sentenced Poczobut to eight years in a high-security penal colony. He was found guilty of allegedly “inciting hatred” and “calling for actions against state security.” He served his sentence, among other places, in the harsh prison in Navapolatsk.
Polish–American cooperation
The U.S. envoy for Belarus, John Coale, emphasized that “Andrzej was always at the top of the list of people he sought to secure the release of.”
In September last year, the Polish president appealed to the U.S. president: “Could you help?” The American president pressed me to get him out. It took some time, but in the end, it succeeded – the diplomat revealed.
Order of the White Eagle for Andrzej Poczobut
On Sunday morning, a Holy Mass for the Homeland was celebrated at the Archcathedral Basilica of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist in Warsaw, attended by the Presidential Couple.
Following the Mass—during the Constitution Day celebrations at the Royal Castle in Warsaw—Poczobut received the Order of the White Eagle from President Nawrocki. He had been awarded the decoration in November 2025.
The Order of the White Eagle was also conferred on:
• Agnieszka Duczmal-Jaroszewska
• Lech Majewski
• Hanna Łukowska-Karina
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Jakub Nowakowski “Tomek” was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
The Order of the White Eagle is the highest decoration of the Republic of Poland, established in 1705 and reinstated in 1921. It is awarded for outstanding civil and military merits to Poland, both in peacetime and wartime. It has no classes and is bestowed upon the most distinguished Poles as well as the highest-ranking representatives of foreign states.