Pablo González, on the border between Poland and Ukraine. /
The journalist is in prison after being detained near the Ukrainian border and accused by Polish forces of collaborating with Russia.
Basque journalist Pablo González faces a 10-year prison sentence in Poland for allegedly espionage for Russia. González was in the town of Rzeszów, near the border with Ukraine, when he was arrested on February 28. After spending more than 72 hours incommunicado and learning that he has been transferred to prison, the Polish security agency ABW has reported on the situation facing the journalist.
“ABW agents arrested a Spanish citizen of Russian origin (…) He was identified as an agent of the General Information Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” the Polish services said in a statement. “He carried out activities in favor of Russia taking advantage of his status as a journalist,” he adds.
According to Polish services, González was arrested on the night of February 27-28 in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, where he had spent several days. “He was preparing a trip to Ukraine,” said ABW.
According to the Polish prosecutor’s office, the journalist carried out his activities in Przemysl, at the Medyka border post and in Warsaw, but also in other countries. He had in his possession two passports and two Russian bank cards, with two different names. For all this, he can be sentenced to 10 years in prison in Poland.
72 hours incommunicado
“After four days, we have just been informed by the Spanish Consulate in Poland that Pablo González is accused of a crime of espionage under article 130.1 of the Polish Penal Code and that he is in provisional detention in the Rzeswów prison,” he wrote. yesterday the Basque journalist’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, in a message published on the social network Twitter, collected by Europa Press.
Boye asked the Spanish consul in Poland on Wednesday to grant the journalist “diplomatic protection as soon as possible” to promote his release, “with him healthy.”
González was incommunicado, without being able to contact him or his family, and being interrogated without the assistance of a lawyer, which, according to the lawyer, “can only have the purpose of bending his will for unknown purposes” until moment, since no information of any kind is provided.
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