Border guards says they discovered body at Belarus-Poland border

June 7, BPN. Late on June 6, Belarusian border patrol found a body of an “African-looking man” on the bank of the Svisłač River near the Polish border, the State Border Committee reported.

Investigators are currently working on the site, it added. The deceased reportedly carried a bag with personal belongings.

The body is of a 20-year citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo was found in the Bierastavica district, Hrodna region, the Investigative Committee said.

Belarusian border guards said they have found the bodies of 16 illegal migrants at the Belarus-EU border since the start of 2023, including seven near the Polish border.

Neighboring EU countries deny illegal migrants the right of asylum and protection forcing them to opt for dangerous border crossing routes and causing their deaths, the Belarusian border authority said.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border dates back to the spring of 2021. It escalated on November 8, 2021, when thousands of migrants set up a camp near the Polish border. The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.

Migration figures had dropped significantly by the time Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but have risen more recently.