A Polish soldier prosecuted for firing 12 shots during a confrontation with illegal migrants on the Belarus border has been acquitted after a military court ruled that he had not committed a crime.
Karol S., a former 25-year-old private from the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade, had been accused of exceeding his authority and exposing others to the risk of death or serious injury after the incident near Dubicze Cerkiewne in March 2024.
The Garrison Military Court in Lublin cleared him on Wednesday, as reported by WP Wiadomosci.
The case centered on a group of migrants who, prosecutors said, had crossed into Poland after using a car jack to force apart sections of the steel border barrier. Polskie Radio reported that they were also carrying ladders to get past coils of razor wire.
According to the indictment filed by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, Karol S. fired 12 rounds from his service weapon along a border road where 10 migrants, two Border Guard officers, and two soldiers were present. Prosecutors claimed three bullets ricocheted after striking a concrete post and the ground, while the remaining nine passed near the group, Polskie Radio reported.
The soldier denied wrongdoing throughout the investigation and trial. He said he first shouted, “Polish Army, stop!” and then, “Polish Army, stop, or I’ll shoot!” before opening fire. He maintained that the rounds were warning and alarm shots, fired slightly upward and in a safe direction to alert nearby posts.
The court sided firmly with the soldier. Judge Radoslaw Hunek said the court “absolutely did not agree with the indictment” and found no criminal act in the private’s conduct.
“The court does not find any signs of any act contained in the Penal Code in the private’s behavior,” Hunek said.
The judge stressed that one of a soldier’s basic duties is to defend the integrity of the state border. He said troops may receive some Border Guard powers, such as checking documents or searching luggage, but that does not strip them of their authority as soldiers to use weapons when the situation requires it.
“In the court’s view, the prosecutor’s position was entirely misguided,” Hunek said.
The court also rejected the claim that the shots had been aimed at the migrants, Border Guard officers, or other soldiers. Hunek noted that Karol S. was a well-trained soldier with strong shooting skills. “As the accused rightly explained, if he had wanted someone to die, someone would have died,” he said.
The people formally listed as injured parties also did not support the prosecution’s case. Border Guard officers and soldiers told the court they had not felt endangered and had not sought prosecution.
The court also noted the wider context of increasing aggression by people illegally crossing the border at the time of the incident, noting that one month later, a Polish soldier was stabbed to death in the same location, as cited by Gazeta Prawna.
“The law cannot give way to lawlessness,” Hunek said. “A person defending his country is not expected in such a situation to flee or call for support. A soldier was sent to the border to protect its inviolability, and that is what he did.”
After the verdict, Karol S. told reporters that he had left the military but hoped to return to the Polish army next year or join the Foreign Legion.
