On 11 September, the Ministry of abroad Affairs of Ukraine described the actions of Grzegorz Braun at the UPA monument in the ceremony of Białystok as “honorable and immoral”. The hotel expects a legal assessment of the case and repair of the obelisk. The prosecution secured a recording on which the Euro MP hits a stone monument and the investigation remains pending; no charges have been brought against anyone.
MFA Ukraine demands the reaction of Polish authorities
Ukrainian Ministry of Diplomacy responded to recording of Grzegorz Braun at the UPA monument, published on September 10 on social media. On the film, Euro MPs and accompanying persons hit the stone obelisk with dense tools in the celebration of Białystok, in the municipality of Dołhobycz. Braun justified his action with the memory of Polish victims of Ukrainian nationalism and argued that the monument should be removed.
A day later, the Ministry of abroad Affairs of Ukraine called the behaviour “honorable and immoral”. In the position quoted by the service of Goniec.pl the ministry described the participants of the event as the political margin leading the fight against graves. He called for legal assessment, repairing the obelisk and preventing akin events in the future. Kiev besides referred to the rule of common protection of Ukrainian memorial sites in Poland and Polish memorial sites in Ukraine.
However, this communication does not resolve the fundamental Polish dispute. respect for human remains does not mean an work to accept all monument, its content or the way it is placed. IPN reminds that the CNS and UPA have committed genocide of Poles in Volyn, in east Małopolska and in another lands of the Second Republic. Polish memory of victims cannot be treated as an uncomfortable addition to the relation with Kiev.
The D.A. secured the film.
The proceedings are conducted by the territory Attorney's Office in Hrubieszów. As D.A. Rafał Kawalec of the Zamość territory Attorney's Office reported, investigators are investigating the case in the direction of insulting the Ukrainian nationality group by damaging the resting place. Witnesses were questioned and the video was secured.
No 1 has been charged at this stage. The prosecution shall find the perpetrators and the legal qualification of the act. According to the information provided to the media, up to 5 years of imprisonment may be punishable for the actions concerned. If investigators consider that the charges should be heard by the Euro MPs, a procedure concerning his immunity in the European Parliament may be necessary. Guilty can only be decided by a court.
A grave and a political monument are 2 different things
41 UPA members were buried in the celebration of Białystok, who died in February 1946 in a fight against the NKVD branch. The first commemoration was most likely there between 1996 and 1997. The granite obelisk with the emblem of Ukraine and buried data was set in 2019. The site was damaged earlier, besides in the summertime of 2026.
According to the IPN position, the monument was created without the required permits. Goniec.pl besides stated that the grave does not appear in the records of graves and war cemeteries conducted by the Lublin Voivodeship. These findings must be explained by the Polish institutions. The State must not leave specified a delicate matter, nor the self-remembering, nor the self-regarding individual taking justice into his own hands.
The solution is clear. The burial place should be protected by law and with respect for the dead. At the same time, the legality of the obelisk, its inscription and historical pronunciation require an explicit assessment of Polish authorities and the IPN. Similarly, the rule of reciprocity raised by Kiev must mean the real protection of Polish graves and the right of Poland to commemorate its own victims in Ukraine.
The seriousness of the Polish state is at stake
Poles do not gotta choose between law and national memory. The Republic has tools to defend graves, remove illegal commemorations in a statutory manner, and powerfully reject the cult of formations liable for crimes in our nation. If institutions do not make decisions, they give the field to gestures that exacerbate the conflict and let abroad ministries to instruct Poland.
Our sovereignty in memory policy is at stake. What can be put on Polish dirt and how to defend burial sites must be determined by Polish law, based on historical truth. The hammer won't replace you. Diplomatic pressures, either.
Source: Goniec.pl, Radio Lublin
Source: Banderism / Ukraine (monitor PL)
