“The working conditions on the plantation are close to those of slavery, political prisoners say.”, — write: www.unian.ua
The working conditions on the plantation are close to those of slavery, political prisoners say.
German deputy Jörg Dornau created a “business” in Belarus / UNIAN collage, photo ua.depositphotos.com, frame from videoJörg Dornau, a German businessman and deputy of the parliament of Saxony from the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany, created a business in Belarus, where he used Belarusian political prisoners as labor. Reform.news writes about it.According to the publication, the German politician created an onion plantation near the city of Lida and concluded an agreement with the “Center for Isolation of Offenders” (CIP) in Belarus to regularly supply local political prisoners for work on this plantation.
It is noted that the journalists found one of the “politicians” who sorted onions for Jorg Dornau at “Cybulka-Bel” LLC. Andriy (name changed) is not the only one who was sent from the regime institution to agricultural work, but he was the only one who dared to tell his story. He was detained in February 2024 and sent to the TsIP for 15 days for liking a post on social networks. According to Andrii, a subcontract was signed between “Cybulka-Bel” and the Lida CIP, the money earned was supposed to go towards maintenance at the CIP. Every day it was necessary to sign a consent to work, and the “earnings” were paid “at the discretion” of the foreman, who decided how well the prisoner worked. “Political” workers worked in the cold, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., without food or drink.
“The Lida Police Department was paid 30 rubles (Belarus – UNIAN), the detainees – about 20. Onions were sorted for the Evroopt retail chain,” Andriy said.
He claims that he saw the German farmer in person: “A tall, bald man. He came once in his car with German registration. He entered the warehouse where we, together with hired workers, were sorting onions.”
Who is Jörg Dornau?According to Reform.news, 53-year-old Jörg Dornau was born in Born (Saxony), received an agricultural education and is engaged in entrepreneurship. In 2016, he joined the far-right pro-Russian party “Alternative for Germany” (ADN), since 2019 – a member of the Saxon parliament, representing the ADN parliamentary group on agricultural policy. Dornau was also a member of the extremist radical faction of AdN – “Krylo”.
“The German politician made headlines in the federal German media after it was revealed that he owns the agricultural enterprise “Tsybulka-Bel” LLC in Belarus. His farm grows onions and other vegetables on several hundred hectares in the Lida district. To conduct business activities for deputies, according to the law on the Saxon Parliament, Jörg Dornau hid his business in Belarus, thereby violating the reporting obligations. As a result, the Saxon Parliament fined him 20,862 euros,” the newspaper writes.
It is noted that the Belarusian state media often wrote about a German who met with high-ranking officials and enjoyed the patronage of the authorities. He registered his LLC “Cybulka-Bel” in October 2020 in the village of Hudy, Lida district, Grodno region. He was given 1,555.4 hectares of land for permanent use as a business.
For example, the newspaper of the Lukashenko administration “SB. Belarus Today” wrote in the summer of 2021 that Dornau is supposedly the biggest specialist in the field of onion cultivation in Germany, and a foreigner has big plans for onion cultivation in Belarus. In particular, he allegedly planned to create a “full-fledged logistics complex” for the storage and processing of products, and promised the creation of new jobs.
“Yorg himself, without knowledge of the language and the necessary connections, would find it extremely difficult to conduct business in Belarus. He has a partner, businessman Yuriy Kunytskyi. He lives in Germany. In the materials of the German press, he is characterized as follows: “…for many years works for the Russian and Belarusian propaganda apparatus and whose credit reports say: “Business relations are not recommended,” writes Reform.news.
According to journalists, a negative business reputation did not prevent Kunitskyi from entering into a joint business with Dornau and becoming the owner of 50% of “Tsybulka-Bel”.
“As we can see, Jörg Dornau approached the solution of the personnel issue of “Cybulka-Bel” in a unique way. He personally checked the quality of the work of Belarusian political prisoners. The German politician knew and signed documents about the “provision of services” with an institution where Belarusians are deliberately tortured,” they emphasize investigators
They remind that special conditions are created in cells for “political prisoners”: mattresses, pillows, and bed linen are taken from people. You can not sit and lie on the beds. All transmissions are confiscated from detainees. The light in the cell is on 24 hours a day, and people are deliberately woken up several times at night. Most of the cells do not have a toilet or sink – only a plastic bucket in the corner, which must be taken out to the common toilet in the corridor every morning. Andrii called the conditions torture.
It is unclear whether the Saxon parliament was aware that Dornau was using the labor of political prisoners. It is possible that at the time of the investigation of the business concealment case, Germany did not know about it.
Party “Alternative for Germany”As UNIAN wrote, earlier German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized the “Alternative for Germany” party for praise from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Earlier, the leader of the Russian Federation said that he does not see “signs of neo-Nazism” in the actions of this party. According to him, Russia is ready to work with anyone who is ready to cooperate with the aggressor country.
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