Larisa Kozovaya16:35, 25.09.24

Working conditions on the plantation are close to slavery, political prisoners say.

German businessman and member of the Saxon parliament from the right-wing populist party “Alternative for Germany” Jörg Dornau created a business in Belarus, where he used Belarusian political prisoners as labor,  Reform.news writes about this .

According to the publication, the German politician created an onion plantation in the Lida region and entered into an agreement with the Center for the Isolation of Offenders (CIP) in Belarus so that it would regularly supply local political prisoners to work on this plantation.

It is noted that journalists found one of the “politicals” who sorted onions for Jörg Dornau at OOO Tsybulka-Bel. Andrey (name changed) is not the only one who was sent from a penal institution to agricultural work, but only he dared to tell his story. He was detained in February 2024 and sent to the temporary detention center for 15 days for liking a post on social networks. According to Andrey, a contract was signed between Tsybulka-Bel and the Lida temporary detention center, and the money earned was to go toward the cost of his stay in the temporary detention center. Every day, it was necessary to sign a consent form to work, and the “earnings” were paid “at the discretion” of the foreman, who decided how well the prisoner worked. The “politicals” worked in a cold cellar, from 7 am to 6 pm, without food or drink.

“The Lida Department of Internal Affairs was paid 30 rubles (Belarusian – UNIAN), the detainees – about 20. The onions were sorted for the Euroopt retail chain,” Andrei said.

He claims to have personally seen the German farmer: “A tall, bald man. He came once in his car with a German registration. He went into the warehouse where we were sorting onions together with the hired workers.”

Who is Jörg Dornau

According to Reform.news, 53-year-old Jörg Dornau was born in Born (Saxony), received an agricultural education and is an entrepreneur. In 2016, he joined the far-right pro-Russian party Alternative for Germany (AfD), and since 2019 he has been a member of the Saxon parliament, representing the AfD parliamentary group on agricultural policy. Dornau was also a member of the extremist radical faction of the AfD – “Wing”.

“The German politician made headlines in the federal German media after it was revealed that he owns the agricultural enterprise OOO Tsybulka-Bel in Belarus. His farm grows onions and other vegetables on several hundred hectares in the Lida region. According to the law on the Saxon parliament, members of parliament are not prohibited from engaging in entrepreneurial activity. However, Jörg Dornau concealed his business in Belarus, thereby violating reporting obligations. As a result, in August 2024, the Saxon parliament fined him 20,862 euros,” the publication writes.

It is noted that Belarusian state media often wrote about the German, who met with high-ranking officials and enjoyed the patronage of the authorities. He registered his LLC “Tsybulka-Bel” in October 2020 in the village of Gudy, Lida district, Grodno region. He was given 1,555.4 hectares of land for permanent use for business.

For example, the Lukashenko administration’s newspaper “SB. Belarus Segodnya” wrote in the summer of 2021 that Dornau was allegedly the largest specialist in onion cultivation in Germany, and the foreigner had big plans for onion cultivation in Belarus. In particular, he allegedly planned to create a “full-fledged logistics complex” for storing and processing products, and promised to create new jobs.

“It would be extremely difficult for Jörg alone, without knowledge of the language and the necessary connections, to conduct business in Belarus. He has a partner, businessman Yuri Kunitsky. He lives in Germany. In the materials of the German press, he is described as follows: “… has been working for the Russian and Belarusian propaganda apparatus for many years and about whom credit reports say: “Business relations are not recommended,” writes Reform.news.

According to journalists, the negative business reputation did not prevent Kunitsky 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 personnel issue of “Tsybulka-Bel” in a peculiar way. He personally checked the quality of work of Belarusian political prisoners. The German politician knew and signed documents on “provision of services” with the institution where Belarusians are deliberately tortured,” the investigators emphasize.

They remind us that special conditions are created in the cells for “politicals”: people are deprived of their mattresses, pillows, and bed linen. You are not allowed to sit or lie on your beds. All packages are confiscated from the 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 a washbasin – only a plastic bucket in the corner, which must be taken out to the common toilet in the corridor every morning. Andrey called the conditions torture.

It is unclear whether the Saxon parliament knew that Dornau used the labor of political prisoners. It is possible that at the time of the investigation into the concealment of the business, this was not known in Germany.   

Alternative for Germany Party

As UNIAN reported, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had earlier  criticized the Alternative for Germany party for praise from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Earlier, the Russian leader had stated that he did 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.

(C)UNIAN 2024