They beat us until we couldn’t feel anything – Samya’s pushback

I’m from Eritrea. I’d stayed in Ethiopia for six years and now I’ve stayed in this country [Belarus] for six months. And I want to apply for asylum in Poland. […] There’s no peace in our country. There’s no freedom in our country. And you can’t work, you can’t function. We can’t exist in that country. That’s why we came here.

First crossing

It was October 2025, around 11 p.m., when Samya and five men began to cross the Polish-Belarusian border near Grodno. 

We cut the wires and we […] crossed the border. […] After the crossing, almost all of us had [injuries]: one guy had a cut on his leg, one guy… His head was hit severely, another person could not move because of the injury they sustained. And another guy also had back pain, like myself, a back, a lower back problem. 

When Samya jumped from the fence, she injured her spine. She was unable to move and was detained by Polish officers just beneath the fence. They were wearing military uniforms in shades of green, brown, and black.

When they first met us, they started pepper spraying us. And there was a woman soldier and that’s who was doing the pepper spray. […] They [the officers] asked for our phones, they took our phones, and then they searched us. […]  I was beaten where I was, lying on the ground.

And the weapons that they used to beat you, they have pepper sprays, they have dogs with them, they have sticks, they have everything. […] They handcuffed the men, but not me.

The soldiers ordered the dogs to bite us. […] The dog bit me, but because I was wearing a jacket, it got my jacket. And also I was wearing gloves and everything, so I didn’t have any injuries from that. 

I didn’t have any blood. I just sustained an injury, but there was no blood coming out of me. But there was a lot of blood coming out of the men. 

I was in severe back pain, but there were a lot of them. I couldn’t count them and [I can’t] give you definitely a definite number, but when they search you and violate you, I experienced sexual assault. […] I was lying on the ground and it was not just one person who searched me. It’s multiple, multiple soldiers, you know, who touched me inappropriately.

I couldn’t see them, unfortunately, because they don’t even allow you to look up to them, to look at them. They wouldn’t allow that. […] if you even try to look up [at] them up slightly, they’ll probably pepper spray you. So, you wouldn’t even, like, dare to do that. […] When they search you, they touch every part of your body. And you know, they touch you into places where they’re not supposed to touch you.

The soldiers were speaking very loudly, but because I was in pain, I didn’t notice what they were saying, but I think they were maybe insulting us. […] I spoke [to] them in my local language, but I was just speaking, but I knew nobody would understand me. 

Samya’s pushback

The officers then ordered Samya and her companions into a car. As she couldn’t move on her own, men from her group carried her inside.

I didn’t see the license plate. But I know it was a white and blue car. […] The guys in my group were the ones who carried me into the car. […] The car was small, and we got in through the back side. […] it had no seat at the back. The only seat there was the two front seats. And everybody outside was sitting on the floor, on the floor of the car. So, basically, there was no place to sit. So I was lying on the ground.

One person, one soldier was driving, the other person was with him, was the police officer or the soldier, I mean. So there were two people.

I was guessing probably around an hour, an hour and a half is the amount of time that we drove. And because I was in pain, I don’t know if I remember exactly the time because I was focused on the pain in my back. […] The way he drove the car was in a way that was kind of painful for me, how he drove it. It was full of bumps and ups and downs. And it was not like a smooth, normal car ride.

When Samya and her companions arrived at the border, the officers pushed back the entire group of six through the same gate. She couldn’t move on her own.

[…] the driver made sure the car was closer to the gate. And my friends, who were at the time in the group, carried me outside of the gate. […] And then that’s how we were pushed back. The soldiers took all their handcuffs. […] Nobody was wearing handcuffs when they were [being] pushed back.

From the time we crossed to the time they pushed us back, it took probably one and a half hours or two hours. […] The only number that I saw when we were getting pushed back was 296.

As far as their injury is concerned, they were better than me. […] but I was in a very bad situation. So they couldn’t leave me because I’m also their friend and I’m also a woman.

There was a lot of cold.

Belarus

When we went back to Belarus, the Belarusian soldiers got us and they also beat us a lot. They beat us until we couldn’t feel anything. And especially they beat the men in our group. […] And they also beat me because they said: “Move!”. And I couldn’t move, because my back hurt and I couldn’t do any movement. But that’s the reason why I was beaten.

There were a lot of them.  […] They have the flag of Russia. That’s how I differentiate them. […] There were people who wore black clothes and there were people who wore, like, normal dark and green military uniforms. […] They had weapons.

Belarusian authorities sent two members of Samya’s group to the camp. The remaining four people, including Samya, were released. 

The ones who were severely injured, like myself, didn’t go to the camp. But for the people who were kind of okay, they sent them to the camp.

They beat us severely. And the ones that were like myself, were severely injured. They put us to the side, and then we got a taxi to go back home. But there were a lot of groups, so at that time we were separated.

We took a taxi to somewhere else, not Minsk. The place where we are sitting, where we are right now, that’s where I took a taxi. […] I’m in a bad place here right now, and my visa is expiring.

I feel on my lower back and I couldn’t move for many days, I couldn’t stand for long and I couldn’t do anything, even food. My friends are serving me food, taking care of me, right now I couldn’t get medical attention while I’m in Belarus.