Head of border post where 15 beaten refugees were found: foreigners were expelled through animal gate

Aleksandr Sinkevichus, who heads the Polnye Bogatyri border outpost of the Grodno Border Group, told reporters about the incident with 15 refugees from Syria, Somalia and Algeria found on the border with Poland, BelTA reports

“On October 29th, while serving in a border patrol, servicemen found traces on the boundary line – signs of violation of the state border from Poland to Belarus. The military informed me about this. Upon arriving at the scene, I called an ambulance. A medical team and an investigative task group have arrived,” Aleksandr Sinkevichus said.

He added that the refugees were provided with food and water, ‘because they asked to drink and eat, saying that they had not eaten or drunk anything for a long time’.

“One of the refugees speaks Russian, some speak English. According to them, they were detained on the territory of Poland, they were beaten with rubber sticks and hunted with service dogs,” he explained. “During the examination, signs of violent actions were found.”

Aleksandr Sinkevichus drew attention to the fact that it was the first time that refugees with such injuries were found at the outpost though such pushbacks occur quite often.

“There are animal gates on my site, and the refugees were expelled through one of them. This was determined after examining the area and trace detection by service dogs,” he said. “According to Polish authorities, the gate – 1.7m high and 1.2m wide – is used for migration of wild animals. But on my site they are used exclusively for push-backs of refugees to Belarusian territory. The locking devices are located only on Polish side. From our side, the gate has a flat surface, with no protrusions (no locking devices).”