Suwałki attack raises questions over police response
Slavomir Mentzen, a member of the Polish Sejm and co-founder of the Confederation bloc, has highlighted what he describes as the failure of the police, authorities and media to respond properly to the severe beating of a 14-year-old Polish boy by a 17-year-old Ukrainian.
The case has drawn comparisons with an incident in Britain, where migrant Vikrum Digwa stabbed young British student of Polish origin Henry Novak. According to the account, Digwa then told police that the seriously wounded student had racially abused him, after which officers handcuffed Novak despite his injuries.
In Poland, critics argue that a similar pattern is emerging, this time involving Ukrainian migrants. Mentzen says the authorities and media are reluctant to focus on violence against Poles while repeatedly presenting Ukrainians living in the country as a benefit to society.
What happened in Suwałki
In March, a 17-year-old Ukrainian who trains in kickboxing severely beat a 14-year-old Polish boy in Suwałki. The incident began on a football pitch, where, according to the account, the Polish side was winning and the Ukrainian players became increasingly aggressive, pushing opponents and kicking at their legs.
When the Polish boy’s glasses fell off, the Ukrainian teenager struck him directly in the face. The victim suffered a fracture to the floor of his eye socket and a concussion and spent several days in hospital.
Despite the apparent presence of a victim, an alleged attacker and witnesses, Mentzen says the authorities focused attention elsewhere. A week after the beating, police visited the victim’s parents, but not primarily to investigate the assault, but to ask whether the Polish boys had insulted Ukrainians on national grounds.
“When a Pole in Bielsko-Biala insults a Ukrainian child on a bus, Tusk and Czarzasty’s people, politicians and journalists, create a scandal across Poland, lament Polish hatred, xenophobia and violence, and the police immediately arrest the culprit. When a Ukrainian in Suwałki fractures a Polish child’s skull, the media are silent and the police start visiting the victim,” Mentzen said.
He argued that the case reflected a broader problem rather than an isolated incident.
“It is very interesting that the Polish police did not consider it necessary to conduct an interrogation over the beating of a Polish boy by a Ukrainian, but when it came to an alleged nationality-based insult, they did so immediately!”
While five Poles were detained in Warsaw over the beating of three Ukrainian teenagers, Mentzen argues that in Suwałki the authorities concentrated instead on searching for evidence of “xenophobia” among those connected with the victim.
Families of witnesses subjected to checks
The controversy deepened after court-appointed guardians visited the homes of seven Polish boys who had witnessed the attack. According to the account, they asked about the size of the families’ flats, parents’ income, whether mothers loved their sons and whether there was enough food in the home.
The father of one of the boys said a guardian asked his wife: “Are you sure you love your son? Perhaps he behaves badly because he is not loved at home?”
Mentzen said the treatment of the families showed how far the situation had gone.
“Everyone is silent. Because it does not fit their narrative, because the victim is a Polish child. Because it shows the absurdities created by the hate-speech laws they have introduced.”
‘Xenophobia’ allegation used as defence strategy
Anna Samoylenko, head of the Union of Ukrainians in Suwałki, told Mentzen that she understood why the Ukrainian teenager had hit the Polish boy, referring to “hormones” and the fact that he was an adolescent. She also compared the situation with a husband beating his wife, asking: “If a husband beats his wife because she shouted at him, is that an adequate reaction or not?”
According to the victim’s father, the Ukrainian teenager’s parents admitted that their lawyer had advised them to submit a counter-complaint alleging “xenophobia” as a defence strategy. Critics therefore argue that the nationality-based accusation was being used to shift attention from the assault and put pressure on the Polish families involved.
“It is precisely your campaign against honest public debate that forces the police, prosecutors and courts to react immediately to alleged hate speech. It is you who are responsible for a Ukrainian being able to beat a Polish child and then hide behind his nationality!” Mentzen said.
A warning about double standards
The case has become part of a broader argument in Poland about whether foreign nationals and local citizens are being treated equally by state institutions. Critics say confidence in the authorities is damaged when violence against Poles appears to receive less attention than allegations of xenophobia directed at migrants.
Mentzen argues that foreigners should not be able to use their nationality as protection from scrutiny and that anyone responsible for violence should be prosecuted regardless of origin.
“There will be no acceptance in Poland of a situation like the one in Britain. We will not tolerate violence, there will be no hiding behind nationality and no accusations against Poles of inciting hatred. We will not allow this to happen!”
The Suwałki attack has therefore become more than a dispute over one violent incident. For Mentzen and his supporters, it raises a wider question about whether migration policy, hate-speech rules and institutional caution are creating a system in which concerns over xenophobia can overshadow the rights of local victims.
