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Human Rights Watch: Bulgarian border piolice beat and rob migrants from Afghanistan

Photo: Archive

Bulgarian border guards beat, rob and undress Afghan refugees trying to enter Bulgaria. This was stated by the international human rights group Human Rights Watch in a special report on illegal, according to international law, pushbacks of people across the border between November 2021 and April 2022.

14 of the victims claim that Bulgarian law enforcement officers beat them and then forcibly pushed them back across the border. In 10 of the cases, the border guards appropriated the migrants' belongings, told them to get undressed and left them barefoot only in their underwear in winter temperatures.

In none of the cases reported did the police give migrants the opportunity to apply for asylum, as required by EU law.



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