{"id":89224,"date":"2024-06-06T14:19:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T11:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/89224\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"polish-soldiers-charged-over-warning-shots-at-border-with-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/89224\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish soldiers charged over warning shots at border with Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n Illustrative photo\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Polish Border Guard)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

June 6, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Polish prosecutors have charged three soldiers with abusing power and endangering the life and health of migrants for firing warning shots at the Polish-Belarusian border, Onet <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report comes amid high tension at the border stormed by hundreds of third-country nationals from Belarus nearly every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident occurred in late March, when servicemen patrolling the border near Dubicze Cerkiewne in the Podlaskie voivodeship fired several warning shots to prevent an illegal border crossing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migrants did not retreat, so the soldiers reportedly shot at the ground in front of the foreigners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 43 shots were fired, migrants abandoned their attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks later, a Polish serviceman was seriously wounded in the same area. The Polish border guard wounded on June 3 remains in serious condition after being diagnosed with a fractured skull and may lose an eye, reports said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late May and early June, Polish authorities recorded three attacks on border patrol officers involving third-country migrants trying to cross from Belarus into the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border started in spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent migrants from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of creating the trouble, while the latter blamed it on the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2024, the EU has thwarted more than 19,743 illegal border crossings on its shared border with Belarus, with at least 17,320 attempts via Poland alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illegal border crossings picked up pace in February, reaching a record high in May, rising 22 percent year on year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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