In the early hours of 28 February 2022, González was arrested by officers of the Polish Security Service (ABW) while covering the humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Ukrainian border following the Russian full-scale invasion. Specialising in the post-Soviet world, the journalist was a regular contributor to the Spanish daily Público, television channel La Sexta and the Basque publication Gara. He has been held in pre-trial detention in Poland for more than two years.

Just over a month ago, the annual meeting of the EFJ unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the immediate release of journalist Pablo González.

“It is not tolerable that a country of the European Union has a journalist imprisoned, with absolute opacity about the precise charges against him, after 27 months of imprisonment and incommunicado,” said the EFJ resolution, demanding to the judicial authorities of Poland “maximum transparency in the process they are pursuing against Pablo González and – in the shortest possible time – the rapid holding of a fair trial with all the guarantees, in the face of the accusations and alleged evidence that could be provided against him”.

The demonstration to be held in Madrid on 26 June will demand a fair trial and the immediate repatriation of the journalist pending trial. Since his arrest on 28 February 2022, the Polish authorities have not specified the details that would justify his detention, except for a vague accusation of “espionage”. Formally, he is still in “pre-trial detention”, which the Prosecutor’s Office – in agreement with the judge – has extended nine times.

At the time of his arrest, he was on Polish territory reporting on the arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Pablo González is currently being held in Radom prison, about a hundred kilometers from Warsaw.