Poland detains activists accused of smuggling migrants over Belarus border
Four activists were detained in Poland on 23 March for aiding migrants crossing the Belarusian border. They currently face three months of pre-trial arrest.
“When they helped refugees from Ukraine they were heroes, now for providing that same help in Podlasie, they are criminals,” said Grupa Granica, an organisation helping migrants and refugees, to which the detained activists belong.
The organisation said the activists were providing humanitarian aid to a family with seven children who had been stuck at the border for three months.
Prosecutor Jan Andrejczuk, from the regional prosecution office in Hajnówka, in eastern Poland, has told Polish media that the activists were arrested on suspicion of illegally smuggling people over the border, a crime punishable by up to eight years in prison. He added that he will petition the court for pre-trial detention of the suspects. Grupa Granica denies that their activists aided the migrants in crossing the border, arguing that they simply provided help to people who had already entered Poland.
“The family had been in the forest for many days, without water, food or shelter. The activists saved their lives by providing transport in their cars,” the organisation said, “The accusations are absurd because none of the activists helped anyone cross the border. The aid they provided prevented exhausted people from dying on Polish territory.”
Jakub Boruta, a lawyer representing the activists, told Polish press that he hopes his clients will not face pretrial detention, a measure he believes is unnecessary at this point.
Grupa Granica said that the refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, engineered by Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko, has worsened in recent days as all the migrants staying in a camp in Bruzgi, Belarus, have been forced out. The most vulnerable, including families with children and those who are ill or have disabilities, are now trying to survive in the surrounding forest, according to the organisation.