We just came here to claim asylum, and to live in a peaceful country – Hiyab’s pushback

This testimony is supplemented with data provided by a group of volunteers who attempted to provide humanitarian aid to detained individuals. During the intervention, the aid group was not allowed to sign a power of attorney with detained individuals who expressed their willingness to apply for international protection in Poland.

Hiyab doesn’t remember the exact date he crossed the border. He was traveling in a group of four people, a woman and a man from Ethiopia and a woman and a man from Eritrea. Hiyab says that he himself suffered from a leg injury, while one of the women suffered from abdominal pain.

After crossing the border, Hiyab and his fellow travelers walked for two days until they reached a larger city [according to the aid group, the people were at the Orthodox cemetery in Hajnówka when they were arrested]. Hiyab reports that the group met some people with whom they tried to call for humanitarian assistance. At one point, a man in civilian clothes approached the group, took Hiyab’s phone and smashed it, then called the police. A police patrol arrived on site 10 minutes later. Hiyab emphasizes that during the pushback, group members constantly declared that they wanted to apply for international protection in Poland.

We asked them that we want asylum, we don’t want to be pushed back, we don’t want to go back to Belarus, we want asylum here, and we cried a lot and we begged a lot. […] We were almost naked, we just had our boxers, and they pushed us into the river. We were pushed back with our boxers on, and nothing else, we were naked.

Hiyab recalls that volunteers tried to give the group bottles of water but were stopped by officers.

The humanitarians gave us water, but the police took away the water from us.

The incident was confirmed by the aid team present at the scene:

After some time [we observed the intervention of the services] the police patrol changed. The officers only agreed to hand over bottles of water. They did not even agree to give everyone their own bottle, according to them one was enough for two people. They did not allow us to approach or sign powers of attorney with the detainees, despite people’s clear requests that they wanted asylum – they said that it all depended on the Border Guard and that we had to wait for their arrival. They were accompanied by a man, probably a civilian from the Border Guard, who notified the services. [Information provided by volunteers trying to provide humanitarian aid on site]

The detained people were then cuffed with cable ties and searched by the border guard patrol that arrived at the site. According to the aid team, the officers were masked. Hiyab recalls that he and the others were taken to a border guard station, where they were not provided with water or food and were stripped naked during the search.

They came and they searched us, and we told them we are not here to harm anyone, we are not here to cause any threat to anyone. We just came here to claim asylum, and to live in a peaceful country […]  After they came, and they put us in handcuffs, they searched us and took us to a Border Guards station, and in the border guards station we asked to give us food and water, but they refused and said that you [need] to be checked. They made us naked, and we were literally naked, they searched us, everything. And then after two hours, they took us to a car and they pushed us back.

Hiyab does not know where they were taken, but the team that tried to provide humanitarian and legal support reported that the group was transported to the border guard post in Białowieża.

When I protested that people had expressed willingness to apply for asylum and we were supposed to sign powers of attorney, I was told that if people expressed such a desire, it would be possible at the facility. Of course, when we later arrived at the Border Guard facility in Białowieża, they refused to even leave our personal details and did not let us enter the facility. We saw a prisoner van there that took the group away. [Information provided by volunteers trying to provide humanitarian aid on site]

The sick woman was taken to the facility along with everyone else; according to Hiyab and the aid team, she was very weak.

The Eritrean woman M.¹1 The initial was changed. couldn’t get up – only then we saw that she was even weaker than we thought. We demanded to call an ambulance, but they told us that it was the doctor’s decision and that she would be examined at the facility. M. dragged her feet on the ground.²2 Information provided by volunteers trying to provide humanitarian aid on site

 

The one woman, because she was sick, she was lying on the bed, and nothing happened. But for the other woman it wasn’t like this. The other female officer took her to a different room and maybe she searched her, I didn’t ask.

Hiyab notes that he was not given any documents to sign at the facility. When he asked for international protection, the officers laughed.

I was even crying and… Because I and all of us have seen a lot of suffering and a lot of… Down the road we have seen a lot of things, so I was asking but they were laughing at us. And we asked for asylum but they didn’t give that to us.

Throughout their time at the border guard station, Hiyab’s group (excluding the sick woman) were handcuffed, initially with cable ties that were removed for the search and then replaced with metal handcuffs. Hiyab recalls being forced to kneel on the ground for about three hours at the station.

– It’s like a jail [the room where Hiyab had been held], and we were kneeling down for like 3 hours with our hands tied, and they didn’t even give us food. They pushed us back with empty stomachs, and it’s so sad.

– So you were on your knees and handcuffed the whole time?

– At first it was plastic handcuffs, and they removed those plastic handcuffs to search us, and after they searched us, they put us in handcuffs, like normal ones, metal handcuffs. […] After they searched us naked, they said put on your clothes and we did.

Hiyab and two others from his group were then taken from the facility to a car and driven towards the border. According to Hiyab, the drive took about 30 to 45 minutes. The sick woman from Eritrea stayed at the facility. The aid team said the woman was taken to a hospital, where she received medical care and volunteers provided her with legal assistance. The officers first ordered Hiyab to strip down to his underwear and then forced him and the others to cross the border barrier by using a stun gun and pushing them.

After they took us from the station, there is like a door that you can open in order to get in at the fence, and before getting us into the door they said: “Take off your clothes”, and we took off our clothes. And I think they didn’t want us to return, so they did that so that we don’t return again. So we don’t try to do it again. So we were naked and they pushed us back. I was in boxers.[…]

Even when we were close to the gate, we were holding to the gate and begging them not to push us back, but they used this electrical shock, and they forced us to let [go of] the fence and push us back to the water. […]

– And then they pushed [you] inside the river?

– Yes, they pushed us inside the river, like physically by their hands.

Hiyab was unable to determine the exact location of the deportation. As he recalls, during the transport to the border line, officers forbade the detainees from raising their heads.

Even they don’t want us to see the road, They said put your head down so we don’t see the road or anything.

Towards the end of the interview, Hiyab recalls that during his first attempt to cross the border he saw a dead body.

Like you know…When we were trying the first time, we saw a dead body, we found a dead body and we told the humanitarian that. I understand there is nothing they could do but please, just help the people so they don’t run out of food or water. That’s all.