Amadi’s pushback. June 2024

All quotes are a result of a consecutive translation.

Amadi crossed the Belarus-Poland border in a group of three men, all  from Ethiopia at border post […]. After crossing, they moved about five to six kilometers from the border line to a place where they found telephone coverage and were able to call one of the organizations providing legal and humanitarian assistance in the area with the intention of applying for international protection in Poland. 

Upon arrival, the aid workers notified the Border Guard of the men’s whereabouts. Amadi, along with the others, was then to be transported to a Border Guard outpost, located, in his estimation, four or five kilometers from Hajnówka. Amadi remembers the inscriptions on the guards’ uniforms. 

I’m sure it was border guards because there is, it’s written on their  shirt. On their clothes. One in their language and one in English. 

Amadi reports that he and his companions were told by guards that they would be transported to the ‘camp’ after signing documents at the facility. The documents were translated into many languages and Amadi says that he understood their content.

[…] we signed some papers with the border guards, they translated for us, and we signed a paper. And we were expecting to go to the camp and they even told us that. We were going to the camps, and then later they drive to the border and they say [something] like: “Go back to Belarus, you are pushed back.” That was it. That’s how it was the last time.

[…]

I don’t remember it like word by word of everything that’s written there, but the content of it is like “I am seeking asylum, I want to live under Poland’s government and I want to apply for asylum in Poland, but I didn’t come here to the country legally and nobody’s forcing me to provide, legal identification or anything.” That’s the content of what’s written, but I don’t remember every word that was written there.

Amadi recalls that he and the others – he doesn’t specify whether this refers to the group he crossed the border with or everyone – were responsible for keeping the room clean. 

[..]  it [the room] is similar to a prison, because it was in the underground. And even to go to the toilet you have to ask their [border guards] permission and there are [?] restrictions and limits, and there are a lot of also refugees. So, a lot of people in there. It’s like a prison. […] And there is no  bed or a mattress to sleep in. Like you’re [inaudible] to sleep in plastic and some cartons to sleep on. And it’s not a comfortable place and there were a lot of people cramped up in a room, in one room, and there’s not a lot of sunlight because it’s underground, and even to go to the toilet, the toilet is near their office. So it was not a good place or a comfortable place to be in.

Amadi describes that the facility had three rooms where migrants were held, two designated for men and one for women. According to the interviewee, there may have been as many as 120 people on the move at the facility, but he stresses that he is guessing, as he only stayed in one of the rooms. He points out that he does not know why he spent so much time there, as he did not get any information regarding his situation from the officers.

They [border guards] don’t have any conversations with them [interpreter paraphrasing the interlocutor]. They don’t talk to them or anything. Where they are, they tag a number on our hand and then they call us based on that number to take us to a different place, we don’t know, they’re not talking to us. Based on that number they say [something] like this person now stand up and you should leave, and sometimes they’ll call you and they just say sit there and wait here. So they don’t know why, they don’t tell them why they’re there or why they’re being kept there.

On the fifth day of his stay at the post […], Amadi and nine others were transported to the border barrier by the Border Guard. According to him, a journey to the border line took about fifteen minutes. As he describes, him, and others thought until the last moment that they had applied for international protection and that they were being taken to the ‘camps’.

[…], the fifth night, at the fifth day that they [border guards] sent them to Belarus,. They even say: “Say bye to the people who help you.” they say “You’ll go to camp.” and “You’re accepted”. And they tell them all these things and then they drive to some place and it was a forest, and they reach a fence. When they turn around and ask them “What’s wrong?” “Why are we near the fence?” and they thought it was a different road or something. And they [border guards] said like “This is Belarus, you have to go back” and they pushed them back and they throw [explained later] them in a river. River reaches around their stomach, and then they pushed them there with all their stuff and belongings. And they closed the door, they closed the fence and they just left them there. 

[…]  

they point their guns towards them and say:, “Get into the water”, because, they don’t want to be beaten, they jump and get into the water and he [border guard] throw their stuff and their belongings and their phones into the water.

Amadi believes that the Border Guards deliberately chose the location where they carried out the deportation, exposing people on the way to getting wet and cold, with the aim of discouraging further attempts to cross the border.

[…] they [border guards] were purposefully pushing to the water, they enjoy their suffering and for you to quit and stuff, so they do that on purpose. And we don’t go to the Belarusian side because the Belarusians, if they caught you they beat you up and you know, abuse you and stuff. So we just follow the path on the water like to go to a safe destination. But yeah, they do that on purpose, to push people on the water. They could have not pushed people to the water but they choose to push them.

After the pushback, Amadi was beaten by Belarusian officers. He stresses that people on the move  experience cruel violence regardless of their gender, age and health condition.

when staying in the border zone on Belarusian territory.

I was beaten a lot by the Belarusian soldiers. And there was no one not beaten by them.[…]

Yeah, he said that everybody’s beaten by the Belarusians, everyone who stayed, who tried to cross the border he’s beaten by the Belarusian soldiers. And, you know, even some people are bitten by a dog in a very vulnerable place, in your private parts or in your [unclear]. And he said he even has a photo of himself, like he was really beaten and everybody is abused by the Belarusians. He said the Belarusians are the worst.

During the interview, Amadi also mentions previous pushbacks from Poland to Belarus and the violence he experienced during them. At a Border Guard post during one of his previous times in Poland [location and date unknown], he was reportedly forced to sign documents he did not understand and give his fingerprints. As a result of the violence used to force these actions he suffered a broken hand. As he relates, the health consequences accompany him to this day.

[…] they [border guards]  told him “come here to sign the paper”, it was at the border guard station, “come inside to this paper” and he said “No”. And they say [something] like “Give your fingerprints” and they say “no”, and he said “no”. And then after a lot of altercation, he said there were a lot of police, I mean border guard officers there. And they beat him up and they break his hand and they make him give fingerprints by force.

[…] they say “you are illegal, now sign here and there”. “Unless it’s translated, and something that I understand, I cannot sign any paper”. And then they’re all laughing and said “Oh, you’re not going to sign? Okay.” And then they used force and then they were ten people and more than ten people. And then they, one hold him on his neck, one holds his legs, and the other one breaks his fingers and get the fingerprints and make him sign.