Polish border guards have detained six foreign nationals who are charged with aiding illegal crossings into Poland from Belarus. The border was recently placed under a state of emergency following a recent surge in migrants and asylum seekers.
The detainees are citizens of Germany, Finland, Tajikistan, Syria and Iraq. One of the two Iraqis also has a Polish passport, reports RMF24. They could face up to eight years in prison under Poland’s law against organising illegal border crossings.
The suspects are believed to have been involved in “collecting illegal immigrants and transporting them within Poland or to other countries”, border guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
One of those detained works for a large transport company in Warsaw, while the Tajik national has residence in Poland and the Syrian in Germany. The Finnish citizen is originally from Syria, while the Iraqi that does not have a Polish passport is currently applying for asylum in Latvia.
The Polish authorities have initiated proceedings to expel those from outside Europe back to their countries of origin, and to ban them from the Schengen zone for five years, reports RMF24.
Michalska said this morning that, over the previous 24 hours, 191 attempts to enter Polish territory illegally had been prevented, while a further 17 people were detained inside Poland. Nine of them are from Congo, four from Afghanistan, three from Iraq and one from Cameroon.
Two journalists have been charged for reporting from Poland’s border with Belarus, which is under a state of emergency due to a surge in illegal crossings.
Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders have expressed concern at their treatment https://t.co/JVmIHbqZpt
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 5, 2021
Poland has this year experienced an unpreceded number of attempted illegal crossings from Belarus, in particular by Iraqis and Afghans. In August alone, 3,500 such attempts were recorded compared to none in the same month last year.
Latvia and Lithuania have experienced similar issues on their borders with Belarus. They and Poland, with backing from the European Union, have accused Minsk of deliberately facilitating the crossings to undermine neighbouring states.
In response to the crisis, Poland’s president, at the request of the government, last week introduced a state of emergency along the border. That decision was yesterday approved by parliament.
Main image credit: Agnieszka Sadowska / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
