Criminal liability for destruction of border facilities (in humanitarian perspective)

Abstract

The refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border related to the appearance on the border of a significant number of people who were brought to the territory of Belarus and then directed to the territory of Poland in an organized manner by Belarusian services led to a number of actions by, among others, Polish authorities, the legal aspects of which required urgent elaboration. This article addresses the issue of criminal liability for destruction of border facilities (in humanitarian perspective). The brutality of Belarusian officers in such situations covers the entire spectrum of actions far beyond the act of exceeding their authority. In order to force people to cross over to the Polish side, they beat people with batons, kick them, break their ribs, legs, threaten them with knives, cut them with knives, put a rifle to their heads, shoot at their feet or in the air, rat out dogs, treat them with stun guns, burn them with cigarettes, throw them on concertina (barbed) wire. In addition, they take away passports, charge high fees for water or the ability to meet basic needs if placed in detention, and take away clothing and items to facilitate survival in the forest. In this analysis, the catalog of crimes and offenses involving incidents bearing the hallmarks of destruction of border facilities should be juxtaposed with specific incidents identified in reports by the Grupa Granica, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and in newspaper articles.