The AfD party disassociates itself from its member Dornau
The AfD political figure from Saxony, Jörg Dornau, is under scrutiny for utilizing forced laborers on his onion farm in Belarus. Even his own party is critical of this act and has warned of consequences.
The AfD expresses its distance from the suspected activities of its politician, Jörg Dornau, and also threatens repercussions. A spokesperson for the AfD federal association informed Die Zeit, stating, "If the accusations against the Saxony state parliamentarian, Herr Dornau, concerning his Belarusian company are confirmed, the AfD unequivocally distances itself from these business practices and will consider appropriate disciplinary actions."
Dornau is accused of employing political prisoners on his "Zybulka-Bel" onion farm in Belarus. The police escort the accused to the field, where they work under harsh conditions all day without adequate protection. One of the arbitrarily detained individuals revealed this information in a conversation with ntv and RTL.
"We didn't receive any meals during work hours. In the morning, there was breakfast in prison, and the next meal was only in the evening," detailed Sergei Charniak. "We sorted the onions by size and carried the buckets to a truck that collected them." Theoretically, the Belarusian was paid five euros daily. However, the deduction for food expenses left him with nothing, and the remainder was never paid to Charniak, who currently resides safely in Poland.
Charniak's stance: "Dornau was aware"
Charniak recalled seeing a "large, robust, bald German" on the field in February. He identified the state parliamentarian when ntv displayed his photographs. For the convicted, it is obvious that the state parliamentarian should be aware of who works on his field: "How could he not know? His company has an agreement with the police. They transported us workers there. Of course, he knew," he said a few days ago.
Rico Gebhardt from The Left commented in the state parliament, "No one can just travel to the dictatorship of Belarus and set up an agricultural business there, let alone someone from Germany." Dornau apparently had contacts that enabled this, as evidenced by ntv's research: Towards the end of September 2020, Dornau met with Belarusian governor Vladimir Karanik. Merely a few days later, he registered the company "Zybulka-Bel." He failed to disclose his involvement to the Saxon state parliament, resulting in a fine of 20,862 euros recently. Dornau has yet to make any public statements regarding the accusations.
The AfD formally distances itself from the actions of Jörg Dornau, acknowledging the potential consequences if the accusations against him are proven true. Given the circumstances, Sergei Charniak, one of the detained workers, firmly believes that Dornau was aware of the forced laborers working on his Belarusian onion farm.
