Immediately after Polish forces occupied Minsk in August 1919, a Polish–American commission was set up to investigate the crimes of the Soviet Cheka.
The Vilnius newspaper Biełaruskaje Žyccio reported that during exhumations around Minsk, 60 graves were opened, each containing 5–6 bodies, and in some cases up to 30. The investigation found that seven of the victims had been buried alive, and most had their hands bound with wire. Almost all the executed, except three, were civilians. The paper noted that victims of Bolshevik terror had been buried only shallowly, so many bodies were dug up and partly eaten by dogs.
At the Kojdanaŭski Tract, the commission found 26 bodies with broken arms and legs. It appears the Bolsheviks severely tortured them before killing them.