Posted: 30.12.2022 12:49:00

Volunteers: Polish military violated Polish, international and European law 47,000 times

Activists of the Polish organisation Grupa Granica, who provide assistance to refugees in the Polish border forests, continue to report facts of cruel and illegal treatment of people in need of international protection – as reported by the State Border Committee of Belarus in its Telegram channel

Aleksandra Łoboda from Grupa Granica claims that from September to November 2022 alone, volunteers recorded 200 illegal attempts to oust refugees by the Polish military, and another 20 foreigners are reported missing. According to her, people are taken to the border in groups without a real assessment of their individual situation. Applications for asylum are ignored and the threat to their life and safety is not considered.

According to the Belarusian border department, Polish lawyers are making efforts and challenging this practice in international courts, with the actions of the Polish military being declared illegal in many cases. Volunteers are confident that it is the appeals to the courts and publicity that can bring the Polish security forces to justice and prevent similar crimes on their part in the future.

Grupa Granica activists reported that the Polish military grossly violated Polish, international and European laws 47,000 times by taking refugees to the border and leaving them to actually die.

“No one knows how many such cases were in reality, how many refugees went missing in the Polish forests, how many people became victims of the inhuman and cruel treatment of the Polish authorities,” the State Border Committee said in a statement.