Polish House in Ivyanets waiting for attack

The authorities organize provocations against the Union of Poles and try to appoint more comfortable officials to managing posts.

After a criminal case against head of the Polish House in Ivyanets (the Hrodna region) Tereza Sobal had been instigated, the authorities called the Ivyaents Union of Poles branch for a meeting and announced elections of a new head of the Polish House.

Teraza Sobal, an activist of the unrecognized by the authorities Union of Poles, is accused a=of committing a crime allegedly taken place in 2004, when the Polish House in Ivyanets received material aid from head of the Union of Poles Tadeusz Kruczkowski in 2004. Though the limitation period had expired long ago, the criminal case against Tereza Sobal was instigated.

Tereza Sobal was expelled from the organization on a decision of the pro-governmental union of Poles. As “Belorusski Partizan” reports, they authorities pasted advertisements all around the town calling for a meeting of the Ivyanets organization and elections in the Polish House at 5:00 p.m. January 21.

The leadership of the unrecognized Union of Poles headed by Andzelika Borys is to arrive in Ivyanets on January 21 to support Tereza Sobal.

Activists of the independent Union of Poles are sure the authorities are going to “solve the problem” with the Polish House in Ivyanets by appointing obedient officials to managing posts.

“The situation with the Union of Poles has aggravated,” journalist Andrzej Poczobut, an activist of the Union of Poles, said. “In 2005, Hrodna riot militia put a period to a similar story by taking the office of the Union of Poles by storm and leading the pro-governmental “leadership” to the office. In this connection I had to change my residence – I moved to Ivyanets yesterday. Some union members and I live in the Polish House waiting for an attack...”

We remind that the Union of Poles in Belarus was split by Belarusian authorities a few years ago. The part of the organisation controlled by the authorities is officially recognized. The UPB headed by Andzelika Borys and supported by the government of Poland is repressed in Belarus.

Belarusian authorities have difficult relations with official Warsaw because of the Union of Poles. In the beginning of the Belarusian-Polish conflict in 2005 Alyaksandr Lukashenka charged Poland with “brainwashing” Belarusian Poles through this Union.

“Belarusian Poles do not want to live in Poland. We won’t allow making our citizens someone’s marionettes,” Lukashenka said then. In 2005 the conflict was accompanied by mutual banishing of diplomats.

At the same time, Polish authorities many times stated that one of the conditions of normalization of Belarusian-Polish relations is recognition by Belarusian government of the Union of Poles headed by A. Borys.