Polish soldier’s murder suspect spotted in France, Belgium, general says

November 18, Pozirk. The man suspected of fatally wounding Polish Sergeant Mateusz Sitek at the border with Belarus on May 28 is in the European Union, Polish Gen. Arkadiusz Szkutnik, commander of Operation Safe Podlasie, told Wirtualna Polska.

Investigators have identified the suspect and have his photo. The man has been spotted in France and Belgium, so it is only a matter of time before he is arrested, Szkutnik said.

The general also said that Polish border guards have identified migrants who threw stones at soldiers and fired slingshots. The list of suspected violent offenders currently includes 42 people.

According to the Polish Border Guard, Sitek was attacked by a man trying to illegally cross the border from Belarus with a group of migrants.

Polish officials and Belarusian opposition politicians have accused Minsk of engineering the migration crisis as part of hybrid attacks against the West.

Since the beginning of 2024, Poland has prevented 28,800 attempts by irregular migrants to sneak into the EU from Belarus.

Also read: Warsaw launches Safe Podlasie operation to beef up border security