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The police shone flashlights into our eyes to blind us so that we weren’t able to tell where the next hit was coming from.

Date & Time 2023-06-01
Location near Topçular, Turkey into Bulgaria
Reported by Collective Aid
Coordinates 42.067356053388, 27.145491110805
Pushback from Bulgaria
Pushback to Turkey
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 16 - 45
Group size 11
Countries of origin Syria, Algeria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 12
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), dog attacks, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 7 Bulgarian policemen wearing dark blue uniforms. 5 of them wore balaclava masks. Another vehicle arrived later with 5 more policemen in dark blue uniforms, bringing the total number of policemen to 12.

The respondent is a 21-year-old Algerian man. He reported being pushed back from Bulgaria to Turkey in June 2023. He was travelling with a transit group of 11 people – himself, another Algerian man and nine Syrian men/boys (one of them a 16-year-old minor and two 18-year-olds). The oldest group member was 45.

The group crossed the border near Topçular in Turkey about half an hour after sunset. The respondent and two other men from the group (the other Algerian and one Syrian) cut a hole into the border fence, through which they crossed into Bulgaria.

Once they were in Bulgaria, the group heard and saw a helicopter that circled them about five times. They tried to hide but were caught by what the respondent identified as 7 Bulgarian policemen wearing dark blue uniforms. 5 of them wore balaclava masks.

The policemen identified and separated the 3 men who had cut the hole in the fence from the rest of the group. The respondent believes the policemen were able to identify them either from the helicopter, by using drones or through some other type of surveillance technology. The police then released their dogs on the 3 men. The respondent showed us a scar on his right lower leg, describing it as a dog bite mark.

After this, the whole group was beaten by the policemen. They shone flashlights into their eyes to blind them so that they were not able to tell where the next hit was coming from.

The police confiscated everyone’s money, phones and shoes. They also asked the group to take off their coats, which they then lit on fire.

Another vehicle arrived with 5 more policemen in dark blue uniforms, bringing the total number of policemen to 12.

The policemen took the group to another hole in the border fence, a much smaller one than the one through which they had entered, and forced the group to go through this hole back to Turkey. The respondent showed us a scar on his eyebrow that he said he got from the fence when he was being forced through it. When he struggled to go through it, a policeman hit him in the forehead and also on his feet. The respondent showed us a bump that he has on the top of his forehead, close to his hairline.

The respondent said he didn’t ask for asylum in Bulgaria because there was no opportunity to do so. He also said that the group knew before crossing that if they were caught by the Bulgarian police, they would most likely not be taken to camps but pushed back.