Mariusz Maszkiewicz

Mariusz Maszkiewicz (born in Iława on May 31, 1959), is a doctor of human sciences, a diplomat, publicist, sociologist and economist. He has authored many articles covering diverse sociological issues, as well as studies into religions and international relations.

He read sciences from 1981 to 1989 in the Jagiellonian University of Kraków. During his time there, he became involved in the underground freedom movement that flourished in Poland at that time, and led the Wolność i Pokój (Freedom and Peace) organisation between 1986 and 1990. Unlike many 'underground' pro-democracy groups, who kept out of public scrutiny to avoid repercussions from the government, members of Wolność i Pokój had an open strategy and strove to make themselves—- and their opposition to totalitarian rule— unavoidably visible: they climbed up rooftops, went on hunger strikes, and openly spurned the military, sending back their draft papers [1].

Mariusz continued to play a role in the public domain after the first free elections were instated in Poland in 1991. Between 1991 and 1994, he served as an aide-de-camp for the first government, and also served as an advisor on Lithuanian matters. Thereafter, he founded the first Polish consular office in Belarus, located in the city of Hrodno. From 1998 to 2002 he was also Polish ambassador to Belarus.

Mariusz was arrested on March 24, 2006, alongside hundreds of others, for protesting against the re-election of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, a vote that Western observers claim was fraudulent. Mariusz was hospitalised soon after his arrest, with heart problems, and claims that he was subjected to 'unmerciful' beatings [2] whilst being transported to his isolation cell.

Since 2007 Maszkiewicz works for the government, now vice-director of the Eastern Policy Department in the Polish MFA.