Local sources have reported that unknown individuals tried to set fire to an apartment belonging to a Chechen refugee family in the city of Białystok, Poland.

According to the information, during the overnight hours of November 6th into the 7th at 12:30am local time, unknown individuals sprayed flammable liquid onto the door of an apartment where a Chechen family, made up of a father and five children, lives. After a short time the door was set on fire and luckily the father, Sultan Dashayev woke up to the smell of smoke and saved his family from certain death or serious injury. He called the police and fire department to ask for help and then realized that they could not leave the apartment because the door was on fire so he tried to douse the flames with water. After a little while, firefighters arrived and the family was saved.

“I don’t have any problems with anyone here. I am always friendly to my neighbors and I greet them with a smile whenever I see them. No one harassed us in the streets before the incident. My children have gone to school without incident and they even have Polish friends. Now this incident occurred. I don’t know why. Why? What did they want from us? What have we done to them?” said Sultan Dashayev.

Sultan Dashayev has lived in Poland for 6 years legally and has been granted refugee status. He started living in the city of Białystok about one year ago with his five young children. He is a former resistance fighter with the Chechen National Liberation Movement, which sought to rid his homeland of the invading Russians. However, he was injured during the second Russian-Chechen war and was forced to leave the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria with his family and flee to Azerbaijan. When his wife passed away the family returned to their Russian occupied homeland. However, they could not stay for long because of the ongoing Russian oppression and so they moved to Poland in search of a secure and peaceful life.

Polish authorities continue their investigation into the incident and police believe that it was a racist attack. On the other hand, members of the Chechen community in Poland think that it might have been a punishment operation organized by the pro-Russian Chechen regime because it has been active in Poland and Sultan was a resistance fighter.

*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco