MINSK, 20 December (BelTA) – Polish soldier Emil Czeczko who asked for political asylum in Belarus said that Polish servicemen drank alcohol before shooting refugees. The Polish defector made the statement on the air of the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.
“The Polish soldier fled to Belarus to stop fulfilling criminal orders of his command. According to him, the servicemen were brainwashed, then pumped up with alcohol and forced to shoot refugees at gunpoint in the forest. At the same time, the Polish authorities treat the military atrocities and violations like drunk driving committed by the soldier as the crimes of the same degree of severity,” said the anchor.
During the interview, Emil Czeczko was asked how those people behaved before the execution, whether they said anything at that moment. “I am sorry, I do not want to talk about it. Some were crying, others were screaming. Some were just standing straight,” he replied.
Another question related to whether they had to finish off the wounded. “I heard that there were people who had to be finished off. And what else could be done, should they have been buried alive? They said: finish them off!” Emil Czeczko said.
Commenting on the information that he was caught drunk driving some time ago, the Polish serviceman said with sarcasm. “Right, I fled through the barbed wire, because my license was taken away. A great story! Well, yes, an ordinary drunkard … As I have said, soldiers were given a huge amount of alcohol every time they were forced to take part in it. And then they said I was driving under the influence of alcohol,” he said.
As BelTA reported, the Polish serviceman said during the interview that at some point cars with border guards began to arrive at his place of service and take his fellow soldiers with them. Emil Czeczko and another serviceman were taken first. On the way, they were offered a drink. When they got there, they saw several people. “One of them asked another border guard whether he should reload the weapon. And when we asked what for, they told us to reload our weapons and pointed their guns at our heads to force us to shoot. We were drunk while patrolling the border for the first time. We caught some man who was by himself, took him to the forest, dug a hole and right in front of our eyes the border guards shot him in the head,” he said.
According to Emil Czeczko, volunteers and migrants were among those who were killed by Polish border guards. He said he witnessed at least two situations when Polish border guards shot a volunteer for asking them where they were taking refugees to. “There was not a single case when the migrants we brought were not killed. We would always kill them. Their bodies were buried or torn to pieces by wolves, but the majority of them were buried in holes. It is hard to say how many burial places are there. The Red Cross should get there and investigate it.”
Emil Czeczko noted that he felt guilty for what he did, though he did it under duress.
BelTA earlier quoted the State Border Committee of Belarus as saying that a Belarusian border patrol stopped a Polish soldier Emil Czeczko, born in 1996, near the Belarusian-Polish border on 16 December. The man said that he is a soldier of the 11th Masurian Artillery Regiment of the 16th Pomeranian Mechanized Division named after King Casimir, which units had been redeployed to guard a section of the Polish-Belarusian border during the state of emergency imposed in Poland's territory near the Belarusian border. The soldier requested political asylum in Belarus due to his disagreement with Poland's policy towards the migrant crisis and the inhumane treatment of refugees.
