A refugee is shot by Bulgarian police at the border of the European Union
- Lighthouse Reports, an investigative journalist, has shown that in October a young Syrian was shot and wounded by Bulgarian agents on the Union border with Turkey. This is the first time such an event has been recorded and broadcast on video.
This is not the first time that firearms have been used against refugees in the European Union, but this time a person has been injured and the attack has been recorded in video. On 3 October, on the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, EU member country agents fired at a group of refugees and a 19-year-old Syrian boy was wounded in his hand and chest. A member of his recorded what happened to the mobile phone and Lighthouse Reports released it now, along with a forensic analysis that directly points to the Bulgarian police.
Bulgaria recognizes that its agents were in this border area, but denies the use of firearms. However, the investigation has shown that the shots were fired from where the border police were, confirming the versions of the witnesses there.
Lighthouse Reports reviews what happened that day:
“At the end of the afternoon of 3 October, near the border barrier, in the European Union there were young people who wanted to seek asylum. They had just been expelled from Bulgaria and, as a protest, some threw stones at the border. Suddenly they shot and a Syrian teenager fell to the ground.”
The wounded young man is called Abdullah Mohammed and tells the institution that carried out the investigation what happened that day:
“The way to address me was very correct, with a clear intent to shoot. The distance between his [agent] and me was very short, between ten and fifteen meters, and he shot with intent to kill.” The bullet crossed his hand and got into his chest, remaining one centimeter from the heart and also affecting the lungs. “The doctor told me that staying alive is a miracle,” he said.
The aggression is special because a refugee has been shot for the first time on video at an EU border with a firearm, but events such as this have taken place at EU borders. In Greece, for example, coastguards have shot ships crossing the Mediterranean several times. In Spain, the Civil Guard shot dozens of migrants swimming in 2014 with rubber balls trying to reach Tarajal beach, of whom 15 died.
The European Commission calls for explanations
As part of the video and the publication of the Lighthouse Reports study, the European Commission stated that violence against refugees and migrants is “unacceptable” and called for clarification of what happened on the border with Bulgaria. At the press conference on Tuesday, EU Interior Ministry spokeswoman Anitta Hipper spoke on the subject: "We hope that the national authorities will investigate all complaints and that they will be monitored quickly and effectively."
However, Hipper refuses to initiate an investigation into the fact through the Union’s institutions, arguing that it is Bulgaria’s responsibility to clarify the matter.
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