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Poland: Refugees arrested

01 July 1996

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Twenty refugees from Macedonia who were caught by the German border police while they were trying to cross the Polish-German border have been arrested on their return to the "safe third-country" Poland and sentenced to several months imprisonment. The basis of the sentence is paragraph 288 which was used before the fall of the Iron Curtain to imprison Polish citizen: unauthorized leaving of the country is the name of the offence. Usually, "illegal" refugees were given a stamp in their passport that required them to leave the country within three days or up to two weeks. However, many have tried time and again to cross the German-Polish border. This new practice has been criticized as a sign of the growing influence of Germany on the Polish authorities. The Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration (Berlin) has for some months received information that refugees are being held in prisons in north-west Poland. A further sign of a systematic tightening up is paragraph 276. In force since November 1995, it says that organised criminal conspiracy will be punishable with up to 10 years imprisonment. This includes organised help with "unauthorised leaving of the country". Frankfurter Rundschau, 5.7.96; FFM, 1995 (see new material).

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