'We really spent fifteen days in hell'
| 12.04.2025 | 26.04.2025 | Busmantsi Detention Centre | Collective Aid | (42.6740428, 23.4384343) | Conditions Monitoring | Violence within camps | Bulgaria | no | yes | no | no | no | no | 22+ | 1 | Morocco | arbitrary detention, Lack of Access to Medical Care, Poor Quality/Quantity of Food, Confiscation of devices, Poor Hygiene Conditions, Physical Violence, psychological violence, insulting, Inadequate Provision of Hygiene Essentials, Fed pork despite being Muslim |
The respondent is a 22-year-old man from Morocco. On the 12th of April, he was apprehended near Malko Sharkovo village (42°05'52.8"N 26°50'22.8"E) together with ten other people. The dynamics of the apprehension have been described in a previous testimony on the BVMN website. The transit group was then reportedly brought and held in a facility recognised as a ‘police station’ by the respondent. He could not recall the exact location of the structure, but he roughly indicated it to be near the location of the apprehension.
After approximately 24h in the above-mentioned police station, the transit group was then taken to a facility that the respondent identified as Busmantsi Detention Centre (42°40'26.7"N 23°26'18.5"E) in Bulgaria, near Sofia. The respondent stayed in Busmantsi for 15 days and was not allowed to leave at any point, as he explained, it being a closed camp. He said that detainees were allowed into the outside area of the camp, but only for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. The respondent described that he wasn’t able to keep his mobile phone, which was taken by the camp staff. He recounted that there were around twenty people in his cell, and they had to clean the rooms themselves. They were given shampoo and soap upon arrival, but only once on their first day. He explained that he was not fed well during his detention. Moreover, the respondent described being fed pork on multiple occasions despite being Muslim. Concerning this, he said:
'We could not speak up for our rights.’
According to the respondent, there was a doctor in the camp described to be ‘no good’. When asked if there was any violence in the camp, he recounted that the staff inside the camp used physical and verbal violence against him on multiple occasions. During the detention at the facility, the staff would often swear at him. The respondent described his time at the detention centre as ‘very painful’. He stated:
‘Some of my friends have started to suffer from psychological problems because they were exposed to violence. [...] We really spent fifteen days in hell.’
After 15 days, he said he was moved to Harmanli camp (41°56'13.2"N 25°53'49.0"E), which is an open camp, where he highlighted the bathroom and bedroom being both incredibly dirty.