The Warsaw district prosecutor’s office said on Thursday the soldier was accused of discharging 12 rounds from his service rifle on March 25, 2024 near the northeastern village of Dubicze Cerkiewne on Poland's border with Belarus, after spotting 10 migrants who had pried open a steel barrier and crossed into Poland carrying ladders.
Two Border Guard officers and two other soldiers were also on the road at the time, according to prosecutors.
Footage from security cameras, 3-D trajectory reconstructions and ballistic analysis showed that nine bullets flew past the group and three ricocheted off a concrete post, the ground and razor wire, prosecutors said.
Experts concluded each round retained enough energy "to wound or kill a person."
The soldier faces up to three years in prison for violating regulations that allow warning shots only to sound an alarm or call for help.
He denied wrongdoing but gave statements investigators deemed inconsistent with the evidence, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP