Police investigate shooting of migrant at Polish-Belarusian border

1 year ago 43

The Military Police are investigating the shooting of an irregular migrant at the Belarusian border, which was first reported on social media by human rights groups before being confirmed by the local prosecutor’s office.

“According to the information provided to me, (the shooting) was the result of an unfortunate accident, with the shot being fired when the soldier tripped,” Col. Radosław Wiszenko, the Bialystok Prosecutor’s deputy for military affairs, told Polish Press Agency.

The injured man was taken to a nearby hospital in Hajnowka. The documents and evidence regarding the circumstances of the incident will be delivered to the prosecutor’s office on Monday, the police say.

The prosecutor’s office will investigate the incident under the military chapter of the Penal Code towards careless handling of weapons and unintentionally causing injury to another person, which means a scenario involving intentional shooting to migrants is not taken seriously for now.

If found guilty, the soldier may face up to three years in prison or even up to eight years in the case of severe injuries or the death of the migrant.

Poland has been facing a major migration crisis since late summer 2021, which both Warsaw and the EU believe was orchestrated by Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko regime to destabilise the situation in the EU border country.

Since the first months of the crisis, the Polish government faced accusations from human rights NGOs, including Grupa Granica (the Border Group) of the army and border guards illegally pushing back migrants, often using force.

The treatment of migrants from the Middle East at the Polish-Belarussian border is the topic of the newest film, The Green Border, directed by Agnieszka Holland. The film has already won several international awards, including the Golden Lion award for the best film at the Venice Film Festival.

Still, it met with criticism and sparked a wave of attacks against Holland for allegedly slandering the country and Polish border services, including from the ruling conservative camp. The choir of critics were even joined by President Andrzej Duda, who recalled the slogan “only pigs sit at the cinema”, popular under the German occupation of Poland during WWII, and referring to the Poles gullible enough to swallow Nazi propaganda.

“The dehumanisation and stigmatisation of refugees have led to us not seeing them as humans anymore, which may ultimately even lead to genocide,” Holland said at the debate organised by Warsaw University students, adding that the attacks have only contributed to the promotion of the film.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)