Belarus v. Poland for ‘mistreatment of migrants’

Belarusian authorities have accused Poland of abusing four migrants on the border between the two countries, where a migrant crisis is unfolding, a source of great tension between Minsk and the West.

“We saw a lot of injuries on the bodies of the migrants, the Polish forces of their order behaved violently and drove them out of the barbed wire on the border with Belarus,” the Belarusian border guard service said.

In a statement to her Telegram account, she said the four men, of Kurdish origin, were located Tuesday night in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side of the border.

Images broadcast from Minsk show several scenes near the barbed wire separating Belarus from Poland. Three men, with blood on their hands and face, are shown in the video.

Thousands of migrants seeking to cross into Poland are stranded on the border with Belarus amid the cold, and the presence of troops on both sides raises fears of a conflict.

For months, Europeans have been accusing Minsk of deliberately issuing visas to migrants, mainly from the Middle East, to cross the border and then enter the EU to avenge sanctions imposed on Belarus over human rights abuses. the suppression of the opposition movement that erupted after Lukashenko’s controversial August 2020 victory.

Also on Tuesday, the Polish Prime Minister accused Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of Minsk, of being the “brain” behind this wave of immigrants.

Source: AMPE