Soldier Emil Czeczko buried at Polish military cemetery in Belarus

Soldier Emil Czeczko buried at Polish military cemetery in Belarus 

Emil Czeczko fled his country because he could no longer remain silent about the atrocities that took place on the Polish border. Today, the Polish serviceman was given the last respects. It was he who voiced to the whole world how refugees from the Middle East were mercilessly killed under the guidance of the Polish authorities. On March 17, Czeczko was found hanged. 

Learn all the details in the material of Ksenia Lebedeva.  

A farewell ceremony for Emil Czeczko, a Polish soldier and a true patriot of his country, took place today here, at the Polish military cemetery in the town of Dolginovo in Belarus. Emil constantly remembered his homeland and, probably, somewhere deep in his soul dreamed of returning to Poland, to the country whose authorities called him enemy number one after the publication of the terrible crimes of the Polish government.

Unfortunately, he could not return to his homeland even after his death - the Polish authorities refused to accept Emil's body. We can only hope that his soul will find peace at least here, at the military cemetery in the town of Dolginovo, Vileika District, where other Polish soldiers are buried.

Dmitry Belyakov, Director of the Center of "Systemic Human Rights Protection": Poles from different historical epochs are buried here. This is 1919, and 1939, and the common grave of soldiers. Why in Belarus? Unfortunately, we made unsuccessful attempts to contact the Polish leadership, officials to transfer the body, to find relatives so that they could come to resolve this issue in a more civilized way. But we failed to do that.

Emil Czeczko is buried on the Belarusian land, which became his second home. This happened after Emil's appeal to the Polish military regarding the implementation of criminal orders and after our conference, when he answered the questions from the media. This was followed by numerous threats against him. Polish generals even spoke impartially about him and what should be done with him. We decided to create the Emil Czeczko Foundation, a prize that will be awarded specifically to Poles, Polish citizens, Poles of Belarus who stand on human rights issues, on solving those issues that our comrade Emil Czeczko highlighted.

The last time I saw Emil was at a press conference in February. We talked on the sidelines, it was noticeable that he turned gray. He said that he does not sleep well, there is no appetite. He was very worried about what was happening to him in Poland. But when asked if he was ready to take the case to The Hague Tribunal so that the perpetrators of the border shootings could be punished, Emil answered in the affirmative.

Emil Czeczko, Polish soldier (1996-2022):

I hope that the people responsible for what happened at the border will be punished. And I'm ready to go all the way, ready to talk about it. I feel responsible for what I do.

Journalist Ksenia Lebedeva asks:  When we first met, you reacted very painfully to questions about the murders, have you now come to terms with the fact that you participated in the genocide? 

Emil Czeczko: Those people I shot at, who were killed by me, they stood live in front of my eyes. I saw them, I thought about it all the time. For me, the emotions were quite acute. And then, when I had an opportunity to explain to people what had happened to me, and it wasn't just my willingness. People wanted to listen to me. Listen to the problems I'm talking about. Psychologists worked with me, there came a phase of awareness of what happened to me, what was happening at the border.

During the shootings, between 200 and 700 people were killed with Emil's direct involvement alone. Polish soldiers on the Polish-Belarusian border were forced to carry out criminal orders, threatened with weapons. 

The people who managed the process were identified thanks to Emil Czeczko. Their names are known and facial composites have been constructed. Thanks to the Polish deserter, a lot of other information about the crimes of the Polish authorities against humanity has been collected. The Hague Tribunal accepted them in January. And the world community is waiting for an answer. Human rights activists have formulated the term "Czeczko case", which will be included not only in history textbooks, but also in political science and international law.

Rasul Jafarov, official representative of the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre in Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey:

In this case of Emil Czeczko, we can see how much human rights organizations are ready to fight for fundamental human rights. And if the agenda of the organizations is ignored, this agenda is dictated from the outside.

Indeed, international legal organizations are either silent or silenced. Take, for example, Polish human rights activists from the organization "Border". Long before the appearance of Czeczko in Belarus, they published materials about fresh pits in large quantities on the border Polish territory, about the fact that volunteers find human bodies torn apart by wild animals. But still, none of the major international organizations are concerned about this. In the UK, for example, there are fines for the media for voicing the story of Czeczko and any mention of it. In Poland, his name is forbidden to voice, as well as to show his face. Is this not a compliment to the work he did while in Belarus? If Emil Czeczko is so feared, then he told about real things indeed. Emil did a lot to tell about the atrocities of the Polish authorities against humanity. That's his courage. And his case will be continued and finished. Rest in peace, Emil.