In this episode we speak with Aleksandra from Grupa Granica, a refugee support coalition working at the Poland-Belarus border, and Ola, a member Szpila, an anti-repression feminist collective based in Warsaw. 

 

They are going to tell us about the trial of a man called Bartek, who, in October 2024, provided humanitarian assistance to a young Somali man who wanted to apply for asylum in Poland.

 

However, the border guards pushed the Somali man back to Belarus without lodging his asylum application.

 

When Bartek told the guards that he would file a complaint against them and inform the media of their actions, they accused him of trying to "influence the official duties of the border guard," and even of threatening them. 

 

The court is expected to give its verdict in the case on September 26. We'll try to get an update for you as soon as we can. Keep an eye on The Civil Fleet's blog. 

 

Ola and Aleksandra are going to tell us all about the situation at Poland's border with Belarus for people on the move, and how the government has suspended the right to claim asylum at the Belarus border. 

 

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--- Show notes ---

 

For more on Szpila, see their website here: https://szpila.noblogs.org/english 

For more on Grupa Granica, see their website here: https://www.sklepbezgranic.pl/en_US/index 

Or follow them on Facebook: facebook.com/grupagranica

For more on Grupa Granica, check out episode 64 of The Civil Fleet Podcast

Read Szpila's June 2025 report on the criminalisation of solidarity here: https://szpila.noblogs.org/criminalizing-solidarity-report-on-anti-repression-efforts/ 

Check out episode 33 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Belarus from the Lithuanian side of the border. 

And check out The Civil Fleet's stories on Belarus here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Belarus/

For more on Poland suspending asylum claims for people crossing the border from Belarus, see here: amnesty.org/en/documents/eur37/9322/2025/en/

For more on We Are Monitoring, check them out here: https://wearemonitoring.org.pl/en/home/ 

For more on the US and Hungarian governments designating Antifa as a terrorist organisation, see here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/20/hungary-urges-eu-to-designate-antifa-as-a-terrorist-group