German politician, Jörg Dornau, from the far-right AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) has been using cheap Belarusian prison labour on his onion farm to enrich himself by paying only €5 a day to the workers.

A released ex-prisoner of the Lida Center for the Isolation of Offenders (CIO), came forward with his account and identified Dornau at one of the warehouses, reports Reformation September 24.

In February 2024, the Belarusian prisoner, only identified as “Andrei” in the article , was detained and sentenced to 15 days in the CIO for simply liking a post on social media that was critical of the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

Andrei said conditions at the onion farm were harsh: "They took us to a warehouse. It was February, we were in a basement, everyone had different clothing. So, our hands and feet were freezing. Breakfast was at 7:00 AM. We worked until 6:00 PM without food or drink. The onion is tasty," Andrei said, recalling the gruelling hours spent sorting onions.

A contract existed between the agricultural company Cybulka-Bel and the Lida CIO, where detainees, although not officially forced, worked to offset the costs of their imprisonment, according to Andrei.

"We signed consent for the work every day. If the foreman thought a detainee was working well, he would be paid. The Lida CIO was paid BYN30, the detainees around BYN20. The onions were sorted for the ‘Evroopt’ trading network," he explained.

When asked if he knew of the German farmer, he replied “I even saw him! Tall, bald man. He came once in his car with German registration. He went into the warehouse where we were sorting onions along with hired workers... Looks like him!" Andrei confirmed, when shown a photo of German politician Jörg Dornau.

Who is Jörg Dornau?

Jörg Dornau, a 53-year-old politician from the region of Saxony in Germany, has been a member of the far-right pro-Russian party AfD since 2016. In 2019, he became a representative in the Saxony parliament, where he focused on agricultural policy.

Dornau is also associated with the extremist faction of the AfD known as Der Flugel (The Wing). Dornau made headlines in Germany when it was revealed that he owns Cybulka-Bel, an agricultural enterprise in Belarus cultivating onions and vegetables across hundreds of hectares in the Lida district. Although it is not illegal for German parliament members to own businesses, nor it is illegal for them to do business in Belarus, despite stringent EU sanctions on the country, Dornau hid his business interests in Belarus. He was fined €20,862 fine by the Saxon parliament in August 2024 for non-disclosure of assets.

Lukashenko has been in power for over 30 years and retook office for the sixth time in the massively fixed presidential elections of August 2020 that sparked huge country-wide demonstrations. Since then he has cracked down harshly and jailed the majority of the political opposition; human rights groups estimate there are now over 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus.

The country has been heavily sanctioned for its non-democratic regime by the EU, which tightened sanctions further following Lukashenko’s support of Russia in its war against Ukraine. Although it is not illegal to do business with Belarus, Dornau’ investment into a Belarusian business goes against the spirit of sanctions on Minsk.

The AfD has been especially soft on Russia for years and accused of accepting Kremlin funding. It voiced support for Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which goes against the official stance of the German government and the EU at the time. It has also repeatedly called for the lifting of EU sanctions on Russia as the party argues that sanctions hurt German businesses and advocates for improved relations with Moscow.

 

“Cybulka-Bel”

Dornau is often featured in Belarusian state-run media, and has enjoyed close ties with high-ranking officials and the support of authorities in Belarus. Dornau registered the Cybulka-Bel LLC company in October 2020 in the village of Gudy, located in the Lida district of the Grodno region. This came at a time when Lukashenko, backed by his security forces, was brutally suppressing mass protests against alleged presidential election fraud.

Through decisions made by the Lida district executive committee, Dornau's company was gradually granted permanent use of 1,555.4 hectares of land from the state farm RUP Sovkhoz Lidskiy. His business, primarily focused on onion cultivation, was quickly promoted by Belarusian officials.

“Jörg Dornau is the leading specialist in onion cultivation in Germany. Within three years, agrarians from Leipzig expect to produce more than 10,000 tonnes of onions annually. This means that approximately every fifth onion grown in our country will be from Lida,” boasted Lukashenko’s official newspaper SB. Belarus Today in July 2021.

The deputy chairman of the Lida district executive committee, Igor Kvasovka, estimated the project's cost between BYN4.7-6mn (€1.41mn to €1.8mn). Additionally, state-run media praised Cybulka-Bel for its potential to create jobs.

“In addition to vegetable cultivation and processing, the investor plans to create a full-fledged logistics complex for the storage and processing of products. Forty-five new jobs will be created,” wrote Lidskaya Gazeta in January 2021.

Besides farming, Cybulka-Bel has participated in government procurement contracts. Between 2022 and 2024, Dornau's company provided soil liming services to the state for acidic soils, totalling BYN70,992 Belarusian, Reformation reports.

Running a business in Belarus would have been difficult for Dornau without local expertise and connections. His partner, Yurij Kunitski, who lives in Germany, owns 50% of Cybulka-Bel. According to German press reports, Kunitski “…has been working for many years for the Russian and Belarusian propaganda apparatus,” raising questions about their joint business activities, “and whose credit reports state: Business relations are not recommended”.

Despite these concerns, Kunitski played a pivotal role in the venture, Reformation reports. From December 2020 to November 2023, he served as the company’s director before handing over the position to Dornau. In an interview with Lidskaya Gazeta in March 2021, Kunitski confirmed that the land allocation process adhered to legal procedures and announced that the company was gradually expanding its workforce.

“At present, we are recruiting machine operators to carry out the work. Overall, the company plans to employ up to 50 people, including seasonal workers,” he said.

Expressing gratitude for the support from local authorities, Kunitski added, “Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank the district and regional leadership for their trust. We were given the green light.”

Exploiting political prisoners as labour

Dornau adopted an unconventional approach to addressing staffing needs at Cybulka-Bel, personally inspecting the work of Belarusian political prisoners. The German politician was well aware of who he was employing and signed off on documents related to the "services" provided by an institution known for subjecting Belarusian detainees to deliberate torture.

Political prisoners assigned as “seasonal workers” face especially harsh conditions, Kunitski said: mattresses, pillows and bedding are confiscated, and sitting or lying on the beds is prohibited. Detainees are denied all personal packages, with lights kept on 24 hours a day and frequent interruptions throughout the night. Most cells lack proper toilets or sinks, leaving only a plastic bucket in the corner, which must be emptied in a communal restroom each morning. Andrei described these conditions as “torturous”.

This isn't the first time a political figure has abused prisoners' cheap labour for business gains, before WWII broke out. The Guardian published a report in 2004 alleging George W Bush’s grandfather outsourced workers for his steel mill in Poland to prisoners at Auschwitz.