The soldier, who fired 12 rounds of service weapons in the spring of 2024 during the assault on the border with Belarus, was acquitted by the court. The territory Attorney's Office in Warsaw disagrees with this judgement and has filed an appeal. The case returns to court and reopens the dispute over whether the state is on the side of those who defend its borders.
Twelve shots under the temple Dubiches
The event took place on March 25, 2024 in the Dubicz Church area in Podlasie. Charles S., soldier of the 1st Warsaw Mechanized Brigade, then supported the Border defender on this episode. A group of about 10 migrants breached the steel barrier by bending its bays with a car lift, and brought ladders to overcome the wire coils. erstwhile retreating to the Belarusian side, the attackers threw branches and stones into Polish services.
From about sixty to 2 100 metres away, the soldier took a shooting stance respective times and fired 12 shots along the border road, towards a group in which there were besides 2 borderers and 2 soldiers alongside migrants. 3 missiles hit ricochet, the another 9 flew past. Appointed experts assessed that bullets that did not change the track had adequate energy to hurt or kill. Charles S. himself consistently explained that these were alarm and informing shots, placed at an angle in a safe direction to alert neighboring stations, not measured at people.
Charges and acquittal
The territory Attorney's Office in Warsaw accused him of exceeding his rights and exposing people to direct danger of failure of life or serious injury to health. In late May 2026, the Military Garrison Court in Lublin, led by justice Radosław Hunk, acquitted a soldier from both charges.
Judge Radosław Hunku stated explicitly that "the court absolutely disagreed with the indictment", and stressed that the suspect was doing his occupation in accordance with his duties. The court felt that the shots were not directed at the people, and that the border guards and soldiers on the scene were not in danger and did not request prosecution. He besides rejected the accusation that a soldier supporting the Border defender was losing military status. The conviction is invalid.
The D.A. is back on the case.
The ruling didn't close. The territory Attorney's Office in Warsaw filed an appeal, and this 1 was accepted and directed to be examined by the Military territory Court in Warsaw. A spokesperson for the prosecutor Piotr Skiba confirmed that "the appeal was accepted and passed on to be examined". The prosecutors keep that the soldier created a threat to the people pushing the dam and fired in a way that was not safe.
Defendant Karol S., patron of Edyt Skirir, found the appeal to be "the field of the prosecutor with the findings and judgement of the court" and announced waiting for the court's due date. The soldier himself, as the media say, left the army after stopping and all the proceedings.
Broader dispute over border defenders
The case of Charles S. belongs to the same wave of tensions from the spring of 2024, erstwhile the Military Gendarmerie stopped the soldiers firing informing shots during the assault on the border. Stopping caused a political storm. The then Deputy Prime Minister and the head of the MON Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish said that the pursuit of soldiers defending the border was "unacceptable".
In consequence to these events, the Sejm passed fresh rules on the usage of weapons at the border in the summertime of 2024. They have introduced safety for a soldier or an officer who reaches for a weapon even in violation of procedures if operating under immediate threat conditions. The bill was signed by president Andrzej Duda and the regulations entered into force in the autumn of the same year. Critics, including the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation and Amnesty International, warned against the hazard of impunity. However, the event under the Orthodox Dubiches is earlier than this bill, which is why the soldier was judged by old rules.
In the background of the full dispute, there is the price the services paid in this episode. In June 2024, Sergeant Matthew Sitek died after being stabbed by a foreigner by a dam. This is simply a separate matter, but it shows well the conditions under which people are working to defender the east perimeter.
The question that comes back
The appeal makes the question posed in the spring of 2024 return with double force. Can a country that sends troops to a border under attack in a hybrid war later take their side?
Source: One News
