Investigation into the destruction of the UPA monument. Grzegorz Braun published a recording of the devastation

The preparatory proceedings concern "insulting a group of Ukrainian nationality by damaging the resting place of people who died in a fight with NKVD officers" in the town of Białystok in the Dołhobyczów commune.

The proceedings are conducted by the District Prosecutor's Office in Hrubieszów. Searches for perpetrators and determines whether a crime has occurred.

As it was determined, on Sunday, unknown perpetrators "due to the nationality of the fallen people" destroyed the coat of arms and inscriptions carved on the monument in a way that made them impossible to read. This is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Recording published by Grzegorz Braun

On Thursday, MEP Grzegorz Braun published a video on Facebook in which he and other people hit a stone obelisk with a heavy tool, crushing it and damaging it. The information provided shows that it is a monument to UPA soldiers, which is located in the commune. Dołhobyczów.

"The obelisk insulting the memory of the victims of the Ukrainian Genocide against Poles should be removed with professional tools immediately after documenting the crime of Banderism!" – wrote the leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown.

The spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Zamość, Prosecutor Rafał Kawalec, said that investigators secured a recording documenting the event and interviewed witnesses.

The spokesman added that no charges have been brought against anyone. He did not rule out that, if necessary, the procedure for lifting immunity would be implemented.

The monument commemorates 41 soldiers

The damaged monument is located in the Białystok nature reserve near the town of Liski in the Hrubieszów district (Lublin Voivodeship). 41 soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army who died in battles with the NKVD unit near Liska in February 1946 are buried there.

The first monument was probably built in this place in 1996-1997. In 2019, a large granite stone with the emblem of Ukraine was placed on the grave, under which there was an inscription and details of the buried people (name, surname, age and probably place of residence).

The obelisk has been destroyed before

The stone obelisk had been destroyed before. A few weeks ago it was spray painted and the arch decorating the monument was cut out.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Poland condemned this act of vandalism. In her opinion, any damage to memorial sites is unacceptable. "Regardless of the difficult and tragic pages of our common history, burial places and commemorations should remain outside political disputes and be the subject of respect," the statement emphasized.

The Lublin Voivodeship Office explained that the grave of UPA members located in the Dołhobyczów commune is not included in the register of war graves and cemeteries kept by the voivode.