The charge d'affaires of Polish diplomacy in Minsk, Marcin Wojciechowski, told AFP that the trial had started in Grodno (west), a city which was part of Poland between 1919 and 1939, where a large Polish minority lives. and which is considered a stronghold of the Belarusian opposition.
Andrzej Poczobut, 49, is notably prosecuted for having called for international sanctions against Belarus and for "incitement to hatred".
He faces twelve years in prison.
Correspondent in Belarus for the renowned Polish media Gazeta Wyborcza and activist for the rights of the Polish minority in Belarus, he was arrested in March 2021.
The charge d'affaires of Polish diplomacy in Minsk said he had not been authorized to enter the courtroom on Monday, and that the trial then began behind closed doors.
On public radio, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk called on Monday for the journalist's release, saying that "the charges against him had no connection with reality".
"Poczobut did not give in. (Belarusian authorities) offered him freedom if he left the country, but he refused," said Belarusian Association of Journalists spokesman Boris Goretsky. , in a press release.
Relations between Warsaw and Minsk have been strained in recent years.
Many Belarusian opponents have obtained political asylum in Poland, from where they continue to actively campaign.
The two countries also oppose each other on the question of the Ukrainian conflict: Minsk supports Moscow in its offensive, while Warsaw is one of kyiv's great allies.
This trial is also part of a permanent climate of repression in Belarus.
After the disputed 2020 presidential election, the Belarusian regime suppressed historic opposition protests with mass arrests, forced exiles and imprisonments of activists and journalists.
According to the Belarusian human rights center Viasna, the country currently has more than 1,400 political prisoners.
© 2023 AFP