The Polish Border Guard recently lost two legal cases brought by migrants who were injured during their attempts to enter Polish territory illegally from Belarus. The rulings are controversial considering the extreme violence Polish soldiers and officers routinely face while protecting the border, including the recent stabbing murder of Polish border officer, 21-year-old Sgt Mateusz Sitek.
In the first case, the Polish Administrative Court in Białystok ruled in favor of an Afghan man who fell while trying to breach a border barrier on the night of April 3, 2023, resulting in a broken foot. After receiving medical treatment in a Polish hospital, he was taken back to the border with Belarus. Upon completing his treatment, Polish activists informed him of his right to file a complaint against the actions of the Polish officials.
The second case involved an Ethiopian man who broke his lower leg after falling from a ladder he was using to cross into Poland.
“He is from Ethiopia and is homosexual. In Ethiopia, homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment ranging from 1 to 15 years. He arrived in Moscow on April 12, 2023, and in the early morning of May 6, 2023, he and some others attempted to cross into Poland using a ladder,” the court’s judgment read.
The court sided with his account, stating that after his accident, he was not taken to a hospital but left on the Belarus side. He managed to write a note in English under the fence stating his desire for asylum in Poland. He spent a day under the fence before being transported to a hospital in the town of Siemiatychy.
Meanwhile, another case continues in Polish court involving three Afghans who are seeking 240,000 zlotys (€56,000) in compensation from Polish taxpayers. Two of them have since moved to other countries and are expected to be questioned by local services there.
In related developments, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksym Ryzhenkov recently stated that Belarus is ready to discuss the border situation with Poland — a shift in stance by the Lukashenko regime potentially linked to the stringent border controls Poland implemented, which have disrupted the transit of goods from China through Belarus.
The border crisis between Poland and Belarus began in the spring of 2021 when the Lukashenko regime brought thousands of migrants from Asia and Africa and facilitated their transfer across the border as part of a strategy to reach Western Europe.
