Poland’s military affairs department is investigating the death of a soldier who was stabbed while protecting his country’s border. Meanwhile, the foreign ministry has summoned the Belarusian envoy in Warsaw to discuss the case.
The incident took place last week, on May 28th, and the soldier has since died of his injuries.
He was stabbed in the chest with a knife while trying to stop a group of migrants who were attempting to force their way across the Belarus-Poland border. The Polish Border Guard said that other officers had been injured earlier the same day while defending the border, including one who was hit with a broken bottle and another who was attacked with a “tool to which a knife was attached.”
Poland has demanded that Belarus locate and hand over the attacker, who has yet to be identified. The incident, which serves as a grim reminder of the significance of border control in the European elections, prompted Prime Minister Donald Tusk to reintroduce an exclusion zone, from which unauthorised people are barred from entering, on the border with Belarus.
Ahead of the elections, Tusk has announced a 10-billion-zloty (€2.33bn) project to bolster Poland’s borders with Russia and Belarus to ward off possible Russian threats. But critics say his words on the active issue of illegal migration amount to little more than lies.
Following the soldier’s death on Thursday, June 6th, opposition figure Mariusz Błaszczak said: “We are losing one of our modern heroes—a defender of our border.” Poland’s foreign ministry added that it “firmly demands an end to provocations on the Polish-Belarusian border and organised migration.” Belarus, for its part, says it will take part in a unilateral or bilateral investigation if Poland provides “specific information about the circumstances of the tragedy.”
Mateuszu, the deceased soldier whose surname has not been revealed, died “surrounded by the support of his family and soldiers.” The General Command of the Polish Armed Forces said in a statement: “Matthew, Our Brother in Service, you have fulfilled the words of the oath.”
Opposition figures have also responded angrily to military police launching disciplinary charges against three soldiers who fired warning shots close to a group of migrants attempting to force their way across the Belarus-Poland border.
