MINSK, 20 September (BelTA) – Haydar Kaman Abdul Hussein, an Iraqi citizen and the husband of the woman, who died at the Belarusian-Polish border, revealed details of the tragic incident on the air of the Belarusian TV channel STV, BelTA has learned.
The man said his wife was 39 years old. He, his wife, and kids had fled Iraq in search for a better life. They wanted to find it in the European Union. They were heading to Germany and were about to reach a Polish village. The wife and the kids were tired. They tried to warm up near a campfire, dry their clothes and footwear. They needed something to drink. The husband asked a Polish resident for some water but the resident reported the migrants to the border service. The border service personnel turned up right away. Without allowing the migrants to put on clothes and shoes, the border service officers drove them towards the Belarusian border. The migrants were walking barefoot.
The husband said: “My wife was not feeling very well, she had blood pressure problems. She was very tired and was walking very slowly. And one Polish soldier put on gloves. There was metal on them. And he pushed her very hard. She fell. When I looked at the wife, she was in shock and couldn't move. Her eyes were open and she couldn't even breathe.”
Representatives of the State Border Committee of Belarus told BelTA that the dead body of a woman with non-Slavonic appearance was found one meter from the Belarusian-Polish border line near the village of Lesnoye, Grodno District on 19 September. There were signs on the ground indicating the body had been dragged across the border from Poland to Belarus. There were three kids, a man, and an elderly woman near the border. With assistance of interpreters they provided explanations of what had happened.
An investigation team arrived at the location to carry out the necessary procedures in order to clarify all the circumstances of the incident.
“The woman had no footwear when she was found. After the initial examination the investigation team cannot rule out the possibility that she had died of hypothermia,” said Yevgeny Shcherbak, Deputy Head of the Grodno Oblast branch of the Investigative Committee of Belarus.
Belarusian investigators and forensic specialists are working at the site now. Forensic studies will be carried out to find out all the circumstances of the incident.
In order to ensure the transparency of the investigation and access to information, including for international organizations, the State Border Committee of Belarus has notified and invited representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee in Belarus and the International Organization for Migration to the site of the incident.
