Human Rights Watch documented three separate incidents of summary returns from Bulgaria to Turkey involving at least 43 people, all Syrians, the international watchdog group said. These incidents are consistent with the pushbacks to Turkey and abuse of asylum seekers and migrants by Bulgarian authorities that Human Rights Watch documented in an April 2014 report, HRW said.
“Beating people who may be seeking asylum and then forcing them back across the border is plain wrong, and illegal,” Lydia Gall, Balkans and Eastern Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch, said. “The EU should press Sofia to keep its borders open to Syrians and other asylum seekers and to put an end to these abusive practices.”
----------
On August 28, Bulgarian border police caught a group of about 22 Syrians in a forest after they crossed the Bulgarian border, a member of the group told Human Rights Watch by phone in Turkey on September 11, according to the HRW statement.
“Sharif,” his wife, and four children – the youngest two years old – were all part of the group. He said he knew the border police were Bulgarian because their language sounded like Russian. The police searched the men and took their mobile phones, money, and water. Sharif said that he saw them beat the younger men, though he was not beaten. He said that the police put everyone in police cars and drove for about an hour to the Turkish border, where the police said to them, “Go, go.” Sharif, like others interviewed, is not identified by his real name for his protection, HRW said.
On August 30, Bulgarian border police caught another group of 15 Syrian nationals on Bulgarian territory, a member of the group, “Mohamed,” 19, told Human Rights Watch from Turkey by phone on September 3 and 10. He alleged that the police beat him and eight other members of the group. He said that the police pushed all of them back to Turkey after holding them for about three hours without proper procedures and with no opportunity to lodge asylum claims:
“The police officers who caught us started beating us with batons, their fists, and their boots. They stepped on us and they made us lie on the ground with our faces down. Reinforcements arrived and dragged us to the Turkish side and made us walk away,” the HRW statement quoted him as saying.
Mohamed said he knew he was in Bulgaria because the border police were not speaking Turkish or another language he could recognise. He described green military uniforms with the word “police” on their jackets, a description consistent with the uniforms and insignia worn by Bulgarian border police, HRW said.........etc.............................http://sofiaglobe.com/2014/09/18/new-evidence-that-bulgaria-forced-syrian-asylum-seekers-back-to-turkey-human-rights-watch-says/
18/9/14
--
-
Reloated:
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
No comments :
Post a Comment
Only News