{
  "title": "Incidents: insult and defamation laws in Belarus, head of government Alexander Lukashenko",
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      "slug": "2023-belarus-poczobut-eight-year-sentence",
      "title": "Belarus: journalist Andrzej Poczobut is sentenced to eight years for inciting hatred",
      "occurred_on": "2023-02-08",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "BY",
      "country_name": "Belarus",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "BY",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
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      "leader_slug": "alexander-lukashenko",
      "leader_name": "Alexander Lukashenko",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Poczobut had been a longtime commentator and producer for programs on the Poland-based independent broadcaster Belsat TV and Polish public broadcaster TVP Polonia, reporting on Belarus for a Polish-speaking audience.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2026-04-28",
      "outcome_note": "Poczobut was freed on April 28, 2026, as part of a prisoner exchange involving eight countries, before completing his eight-year sentence.",
      "stage": "eliminate",
      "ladder_note": "A journalist was imprisoned for about five years on a hatred and sanctions charge, and his release required an eight-country prisoner exchange rather than any domestic legal process.",
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      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "reversed",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A Belarusian court sentenced dual Belarusian-Polish journalist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions, and he was freed three years later as part of a multi-country prisoner exchange.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-belarus-poczobut-eight-year-sentence"
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