Early this month, a nun was attacked at a bus stop by a 26-year-old Ukrainian citizen in Bielsk Podlaski, eastern Poland. The perpetrator was arrested by police and has already been charged.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, May 5, around 1:30 p.m. at a bus stop on Mickiewicza Street, reports Do Rzeczy. Sister Krystyna was waiting for a bus when a young man suddenly ran up to her. According to police reports quoted by Fakt.pl, the attacker “began insulting her, tugging at the cross around her neck, ripping it off and throwing it onto the road.”
According to local media reports, the attacker later attempted to flee on a city bus. However, a nun allegedly prevented him from boarding the vehicle, after which he tried to flee on foot.
“At one point, I bent down to grab my phone from my bag. Suddenly, I felt a strong tug. I was in shock. At first, I didn’t realize what had happened. When I looked up, I saw a man standing a few meters away from me. He was holding the cross I had been wearing around my neck until recently,” Sister Krystyna told the Bielsk.eu website.
The perpetrator also threw the cross into the street.
According to the nun, the man was behaving strangely and only gave a “crooked smile” when she asked him why he did it. After she told him she was calling the police, her attacker simply continued to prowl the bus stop.
Officers from the Bielsk Podlaski County Police Headquarters quickly arrived at the scene, obtained a description of the perpetrator, and began a search. Later that same day, a 26-year-old Ukrainian citizen was arrested in a residential area.
“The 26-year-old Ukrainian citizen was charged with insulting a Catholic nun because of her religious affiliation by calling her offensive words and violating her bodily integrity,” Chief Inspector Agnieszka Dąbrowska from the Bielsk Podlaski County Police Headquarters told Fakt.pl.
Investigators say the accused was sober and classified his behavior as hooliganism, which could result in aggravated criminal liability. He faces up to three years in prison for his actions.
Several years ago, Remix News reported on the rise of physical aggression towards priests, the destruction of places of religious worship, and encouraging hatred based on differences in faith. Just last year, IKEA lost a major case, with a Supreme Court ruling that backed “the right of Christians to defend their values, especially in Poland, where they make up a significant part of society,” as noted by Ordo Iuris Center’s Paweł Szafraniec.
An Open Doors’ study from 2023 detailed how of the 760 million Christians residing in 50 countries, a total of 360 million are suffering serious and continuous persecution. In one year, a total of 5,621 Christians were killed just for practicing their faith in those same countries.
