According to runaway soldier, killings happened amidst influx of migrants on EU’s frontier with Belarus
A soldier who left his post and defected to Minsk over Warsaw’s maltreatment of refugees amid the migrant crisis on the Belarusian border has claimed that hundreds of would-be asylum seekers were massacred by Polish guards.
In a statement published on the website of the Belarusian Investigative Committee on Wednesday, Emil Czeczko said that he, alongside his colleagues, “took part in organized killings in the border area and near the settlement of Siemianówka” since early June last year in Poland.
The soldier, who served in Poland’s 16th Pomeranian Mechanized Division, claimed that he regularly witnessed such events, and that he is aware of the murder of more than 240 people. However, he presented no evidence to substantiate the allegations, and no similar reports have been provided even by Polish organizations helping those along the frontier.
“Among those killed were refugees traveling across the Polish border to Germany, including women and children, as well as two volunteers helping foreigners,” the message on the website reads.
According to the statement, the bodies of the deceased were piled up en masse in specially prepared pits in heavily wooded areas by Polish security forces. Again, no evidence has emerged to support the claims. However, Poland has banned journalists from the border region.
In what is described as an attempt to establish objective evidence, Belarusian officials have filed a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the relevant international structures and authorized bodies of the Middle East and Afghanistan through diplomatic channels, the notice reads.
In December last year, the Belarusian Border Committee announced that Czeczko had defected. Officials in Minsk said he had fled Poland because he disagreed with Warsaw’s “policy regarding the migration crisis and the … inhuman treatment of refugees.”
Shortly after he crossed over into the former Soviet Republic, Czeczko made an appearance on the Belarusian state TV channel ATN and alleged that, during his time serving on the demarcation line, he saw two Polish volunteers get shot and killed after coming to the region to help would-be asylum seekers. However, the runaway soldier again failed to provide evidence to substantiate his claims, and there have been no reports of missing humanitarian workers.
Following Czeczko’s defection, Polish media outlets said that his story, including the two purported deaths, is part of the narrative that Belarus has been pushing throughout the migrant crisis. Tadeusz Giczan, a lobbyist at the NATO and US military contractor-funded Center for European Policy Analysis pressure group, accused officials of using the soldier for propaganda purposes.
Minsk has previously pointed the finger at Warsaw for mistreating the thousands of would-be asylum seekers, mainly from the Middle East, who have gathered at the border in recent months. The United Nation’s refugee agency also expressed concern over reports that Warsaw was turning away desperate people looking for safety in the country, insisting that seeking asylum is a fundamental human right enshrined in both EU and international refugee law.
Meanwhile, Polish authorities have cited reports of violence they allege have been carried out on the Belarusian side, and accused the country’s government of purposefully orchestrating the crisis to wage a “hybrid war” by laying on flights from troubled nations and bringing refugees to the frontier.
Belarus’ embattled president, Alexander Lukashenko, has denied the allegations, insisting that Minsk is no longer able to prevent the surges of people attempting to cross over due to the effect of sanctions imposed on the state by Brussels. In an interview in November, the leader acknowledged, however, it was possible some of his officials were helping refugees cross over into Poland illegally. He nonetheless argued that it was not worth investigating.
https://ift.tt/3rlS9zq 14, 2022 at 08:14PM
from RT – Daily news