Saturday 20th November 2021
Allegations against Belarus and Poland
Migrants accuse police officers of torture
The Iraqi government is using a special flight to bring back more than 400 of its citizens who were stranded on the Belarusian-Polish border. They were mistreated, some say after their return. Warsaw, for its part, is raising new allegations against Minsk in the course of the refugee crisis.
Migrants stranded on Poland’s external EU border and returning to Iraq from Belarus report severe abuse. The people were beaten and tortured by Polish and Belarusian police officers, several victims from the Kurdish autonomous regions in Iraq told the German press agency.
A 38-year-old from Dohuk said he was mistreated and later forcibly deported from Belarus. In addition, he and other migrants had neither water nor food. The Iraqi wants to try again to get there, despite his disappointment with the countries of Europe.
“We were treated inhumanely,” said a 71-year-old Yezidi, who says she no longer feels safe in Iraq and therefore wants to see relatives in Germany. The terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) abducted several of their children. A 41-year-old man from Erbil also said he was tortured by officers from Belarus and Poland. He also says: “The Belarusian authorities have betrayed us.”
For days, thousands of people have been staying at the Belarusian-Polish border in the cold to get into the EU. Among them are reportedly Syrians and Afghans as well as many people from the autonomous Kurdish regions in northern Iraq. The region is considered to be comparatively stable, but like the rest of the country is suffering from an economic crisis. The government in Baghdad brought 430 Iraqi migrants back to their homeland on a special flight on Thursday.
The European Union accuses Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of organizing migrants from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in order to put pressure on the West. Warsaw reacts with harshness and a law that, according to critics, violates EU law because it suspends the right to asylum. However, the EU is holding back from criticizing Poland.
Poland: Small groups try to cross border
In the meantime, Poland accused the leadership in Belarus of changing strategies on the common border. “Smaller groups of people are trying to cross the border in many places,” Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told RMF FM. There is “no question that these attacks are being controlled by the Belarusian authorities”. He spoke of “a new method”.
Polish border guards also reported attempts by several small groups to cross the border. A few dozen people were involved in each case. However, the security forces also reported a larger group of around 200 people who were armed with tear gas, fireworks and stones.
According to their own statements, the Polish authorities registered a total of 195 attempts at illegal border crossings on Friday. “82 foreigners were asked to leave Polish territory. Two Ukrainian citizens and one German citizen were arrested for aiding and abetting,” said the border guards on Twitter.
“We have to be prepared for the fact that this problem will continue for months. I have no doubt that this will be the case,” said Blaszczak. The EU accuses Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately smuggling refugees into the border area with the EU – in retaliation for sanctions against his country. Minsk rejects the allegations.
Lukashenko told the BBC on Friday that it was “absolutely possible” that Belarusian armed forces would have helped migrants enter the EU, but denied having organized the operation. “We are Slavs. We have a heart. Our troops know that the migrants want to come to Germany. Maybe someone helped them,” he said. “But I didn’t invite you here.”
Criticism of Merkel’s phone call with Lukashenko
This week, Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Lukashenko twice about the refugee crisis. Because of this, criticism came from many quarters, including from the Belarusian opposition. “The Chancellor spoke to a terrorist. She shouldn’t have done that,” said Michael Rubin, coordinator of the Belarusian “People’s Embassy”, the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
The opposition politician Pawel Latuschka criticized the fact that Lukashenko was recognized as president. The migration crisis is an “example of international terrorism”. Merkel was the first Western head of government to have spoken to Lukashenko on the phone since the controversial re-election of Lukashenko last year.