The respondent is 32 years old and is from Syria. The respondent was part of a transit group that consisted of 3 men, all around the age of 30 and coming from Syria and Iraq. The transit group were pushed back from Bulgaria to Turkey on the 25th of April at 6:00 pm.
Coming from the south, the respondent states he and his transit group walked in the direction of the Hamzabeyli border crossing between Türkiye and Bulgaria. Approximately 5 kilometers east of the road crossing, the transit group managed to set foot on Bulgarian soil and continued their way north. According to the respondent, this happened at around 6:00 pm. A few minutes after their border crossing they were seen and stopped by four men in dark-coloured outfits on which the respondent recognized the word ‘police’. The respondent remembers the men wearing belts with small guns attached, as well as a leashed dog they had with them.
At the place of apprehension, the transit group got beaten with batons by the policemen, while they threatened to release the dog on them. The transit group was forced back to a place the respondent remembers as an open place with a border fence in sight.
There they had to run back into Türkiye.