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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
A woman who was involved in providing humanitarian aid to migrants who had irregularly crossed the border from Belarus to Poland has been charged with helping at least 15 of them illegally travel onwards to Germany. If convicted, she could face up to eight years in prison.
Since 2021, the Belarusian authorities have encouraged and assisted tens of thousands of migrants – mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – to cross illegally into Poland. While most attempts are foiled, those who do make it across then often head onwards to Germany.
On Wednesday, the Polish border guard revealed that, as part of an investigation being overseen by the military affairs department of the Warsaw district prosecutor’s office, they searched the residence of an unnamed Polish woman who had been involved in providing aid to migrants at the border.
They discovered 62 temporary foreigner identity certificates, which are issued to people who have applied for asylum in Poland, entitling them to remain in the country while their claim is processed.
Zarzut nielegalnego przerzutu do Niemiec 15 cudzoziemców usłyszała kobieta działająca w organizacji niosącej pomoc migrantom na polsko-białoruskim pograniczu. https://t.co/BnpsjgLtD2
— Fakty RMF FM (@RMF24pl) January 14, 2026
While their applications are considered, asylum seekers are not allowed to leave the country. However, the border guard notes that, among the 62 individuals who received those certificates, most had their asylum proceedings discontinued because they had left Poland.
Now, the woman in whose home the documents were found has been charged with helping at least 15 foreigners illegally cross the border from Poland to Germany, a crime punishable by between six months and eight years in prison. She has pleaded not guilty.
The woman’s actions, which took place in 2022, “exceeded the limits of aid”, wrote the border guard, who also noted that this case is “further evidence of the instrumentalisation of the procedure for granting international protection on the territory of Poland”.
The Polish authorities have long argued that the asylum system is being abused by those caught crossing from Belarus, who apply for protection but then travel onwards to Germany illegally.
Poland and the European Union regard the migration crisis orchestrated by Belarus as part of a Minsk and Moscow’s “hybrid war” intended to undermine stability in the EU.
The situation has prompted Germany to reintroduce border controls with Poland in 2023. It has since returned thousands of migrants found to have illegally crossed from Poland.
Amid public anger in Poland over such returns, the Polish government last year introduced its own controls on the German border. It also suspended the right of people who had crossed irregularly from Belarus to claim asylum. Instead, they are sent back over the border.
A court has ruled that Poland's recently introduced partial suspension of the right to asylum is justified and lawful.
It rejected a complaint by a Sudanese man who had been denied the right to claim asylum after crossing irregularly from Belarus https://t.co/jx3s1AxRgG
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 10, 2025
Many activist groups have also sought to provide assistance to migrants who cross irregularly from Belarus. They argue that the situation is a humanitarian crisis, not a security one, and note that dozens of migrants have died, often from cold conditions or drowning in the rivers along the border.
But some of those activists have been charged with violating migration laws. In one widely publicised case, last September a group of five people were found not guilty of enabling the illegal presence in Poland of Middle Eastern migrants whom they provided humanitarian aid to after they had crossed the border.
The ruling was celebrated “as a great victory for justice” by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR), which said “it shows that, contrary to politicians’ narratives, humanitarian aid is and will remain legal”.
A group of five activists have been found not guilty of enabling the illegal presence in Poland of Middle Eastern migrants whom they provided aid to after they had irregularly crossed the border from Belarus.
Prosecutors had been seeking prison sentences https://t.co/RpfhVWL4hY
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 8, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Adam Guz/KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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.
