Crimes of Polish and Lithuanian border guards will not go unnoticed

Border guards of the ‘democratic European Union’ have again distinguished themselves – though not from the best side. A couple of days ago, Polish security services cynically forced a group of refugees out into the Belarusian territory: through a gate for the passage of animals – as if those people were cattle. Actually, such words are not a figurative expression: Polish guards left the refugees in the snow – to be killed by frost. Their Lithuanian colleagues acted in a similar way: on December 12th, representatives of Belarus’ State Border Committee came across a group of foreigners who told them about ‘a warm European welcome’, about physical violence with the use of stun guns, and about how they had been forced to slander Belarusian border guards (in case of refusal, they had been threatened to be thrown into a cold river). In order to hide these crimes, neither journalists nor doctors are allowed to enter the European border area. However, these atrocities will not go unpunished: Belarus is tracking each of them.

Last November, a large-scale investigation of crimes against refugees committed on the Polish and Lithuanian borders was launched in Belarus – initiated by the Belarusian Union of Journalists, the Republican Znanie Belarusian Society and the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House. Belarusian journalists took photos and videos at the scene of the events. They feature Polish security forces poisoning refugees with gas and chemicals, using water cannons and stun grenades against them. Since criminal prosecution is a long and difficult process, especially at the international level, a decision was made to include all the atrocities against refugees committed by the state authorities of Poland and Lithuania and representatives of various services of these states on the sections of the state border adjacent to Belarus, starting from the H2 2021, into the so-called White Book. As a result, the Crimes of Poland and Lithuania against Refugees: Facts and Evidence book was published, and it is now available at all Belarusian bookstores and libraries. In addition, a relevant Internet project has been launched: www.whitebook.by. So Belarusians urge all those who are not indifferent to read these texts, distribute links in personal Telegram channels – so that the world would know the true face of ‘civilised Europe’, which no border fences are able to hide.

“Polish and Lithuanian border guards continue to kill refugees. There have been found so many corpses already at the border – thrown into the Belarusian territory. Actually, the topic has merely left the front pages of newspapers, but refugees continue to migrate along the Belarusian route. Actually, this was not happening while the European Union had agreements with Belarus in the field of border security, from which it [the EU] withdrew on its own initiative. Of course, the route has always existed,” political expert Aleksandr Shpakovsky noted in his talk with Alfa Radio. “Several dozen refugees have already been killed (or actions of border guards have led to this). They were forced out into the Belarusian territory, but there is not the slightest hint that someone is going to investigate the situation. Actually, no one will pay attention to a new murder. I absolutely share the opinion that the website telling about the crimes of Polish and Lithuanian border guards should be translated at least into English, and also into the languages of Africa and the Middle East. This will be a help, of course.”

In its Telegram channel, the State Border Committee reported, “The inhumane policy pursued by the Polish authorities towards vulnerable groups of people is still ignored by the European Union. Polish security forces do not let volunteers, doctors and media representatives into a 200m zone on the border with Belarus in order to hide their illegal actions from the public. Similarly, in order to conceal its illegal actions from the public, Lithuania constantly extends the ban on the stay of volunteers, doctors and media representatives in the border area."