DISINFO: Polish soldiers carried out mass executions of migrants at the Belarusian border
SUMMARY
The Polish soldier testified that at the beginning, there were no signs that he and his companions would be forced to kill people. The soldier admitted that between 9 and 18 June 2021, he had been killing 20 persons each day at the border. The Polish soldiers did not talk about the killings between each other. Based on his data, between 200 and 700 people could have been killed in the mass executions. The places for execution were different each time. The soldiers received ammunition for their guns immediately before shooting at the migrants.
RESPONSE
Disinformation related to the migration situation at the EU - Belarus border.
Belarusian and Russian propaganda are using fake statements from a Polish deserter soldier Emil Czeczko, who makes groundless claims about “mass executions” of migrants in Poland.
In 2021, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia faced an influx of irregular migrants arriving via Belarus. Earlier, Belarus had terminated cooperation with the EU to stem illegal migration. This was Lukashenka's answer to the European Union sanctions against the political regime of Belarus (read more about sanctions here).
Belarus consistently accused its neighbouring countries of brutal behaviour toward migrants and violation of human rights. However, these accusations are not supported by facts. It is true that there were several tragic accidents near the border that caused the deaths of some migrants. At the end of 2021, the number of migrants that had died during this crisis ranged from 13 to 21 (see information here and here). In any case, nowhere near the numbers referred to in this article.
There is plenty of evidence that the Belarusian authorities have instigated the ongoing migration crisis in Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. Lukashenka's regime is using migrants from the Middle East as "political and hybrid" tools against Lithuania and the entire EU.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the situation on the EU-Belarusian border is not a bilateral issue of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus but a hybrid attack against the whole EU. The vice-president of the European Commission and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy (HRVP) Josep Borrell stressed that responsibility for the migration crisis falls on the Lukashenka regime.
See related cases of disinformation: Lithuania and Poland should end their mockery of the migrants; A sea of unknown migrants’ graves is located at the Polish border and Polish Border Guards killed thousands of illegal migrants.