Spain urges action in Poland case against jailed reporter
Spain's foreign minister on Wednesday demanded that Poland bring its case against a Spanish reporter who was arrested exactly two years ago on charges of spying for Russia to court.
Pablo González, a freelancer working for Spain's online news site Público and La Sexta television, was arrested by Polish intelligence agents near the Ukraine border on February 28, 2022, just four days after Russia's invasion.
"I want there to be a public trial in a courtroom as soon as possible and that is what I have repeatedly asked" Warsaw to do, José Manuel Albares told the Spanish parliament.
"I will continue to demand a courtroom trial as soon as possible" so that "once and for all, they can present any evidence that might exist" against him, said Albares.
Now 42, Gánzalez was arrested in the border town of Przemysl, with Poland's ABW internal security agency accused him of being "an agent for the GRU", Russia's military intelligence service.
Born in Moscow, he moved to Spain at the age of nine with his mother after his parents divorced.
At the time, he had a passport under the name Pavel Aleksevich Rubtsov, featuring his father's name, but on obtaining Spanish nationality, he took a Spanish name using his mother's surname: Pablo González Yague.
"Pablo González, two years in isolation and incommunicado and now they are penalising us for giving him -- through legal channels -- press cuttings about his case," wrote his lawyer Gonzalo Boye on X.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also demanded the journalist's release in a statement published on X.
"In a European Union country, it is highly unusual to keep a journalist in detention for two years without a trial and on secret charges," it said, calling on the Polish judicial authorities to "substantiate the evidence against him".
It called for his release as he awaits his trial, which must be organised "as soon as possible".
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Pablo González, a freelancer working for Spain's online news site Público and La Sexta television, was arrested by Polish intelligence agents near the Ukraine border on February 28, 2022, just four days after Russia's invasion.
"I want there to be a public trial in a courtroom as soon as possible and that is what I have repeatedly asked" Warsaw to do, José Manuel Albares told the Spanish parliament.
"I will continue to demand a courtroom trial as soon as possible" so that "once and for all, they can present any evidence that might exist" against him, said Albares.
Now 42, Gánzalez was arrested in the border town of Przemysl, with Poland's ABW internal security agency accused him of being "an agent for the GRU", Russia's military intelligence service.
Born in Moscow, he moved to Spain at the age of nine with his mother after his parents divorced.
At the time, he had a passport under the name Pavel Aleksevich Rubtsov, featuring his father's name, but on obtaining Spanish nationality, he took a Spanish name using his mother's surname: Pablo González Yague.
"Pablo González, two years in isolation and incommunicado and now they are penalising us for giving him -- through legal channels -- press cuttings about his case," wrote his lawyer Gonzalo Boye on X.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also demanded the journalist's release in a statement published on X.
"In a European Union country, it is highly unusual to keep a journalist in detention for two years without a trial and on secret charges," it said, calling on the Polish judicial authorities to "substantiate the evidence against him".
It called for his release as he awaits his trial, which must be organised "as soon as possible".
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