Several European media such as Sky News or ARD have published a video footage in which a migrant can be seen being hit by a bullet apparently fired from the Bulgarian side of the border with Turkey.
Neighbors in the area have also denounced hot returns of migrants who have managed to cross the border, which would be a violation of international law because they are not allowed to exercise their right to seek asylum.
A group of these deportees confronted the officers after being released on the Turkish side, throwing stones and insulting the policemen. The Bulgarian Police itself has denounced «aggressive and hostile behavior» of the migrants.
It is in this context that the migrants can be seen running through open fields in a video. Some of them throw stones at the Bulgarian policemen and one of them falls down after being shot in the side, under the shoulder blade. He immediately starts bleeding and another individual carries him on his back.
The wounded man is Abdullah el Rustum, 19, and the media involved in the investigation were able to interview him after he underwent surgery in a Turkish hospital. «I never thought I would be shot in a so-called European country,» he said.
Analysis of the video confirms that the volume of the shot matches the detonation of a handgun, probably a pistol. Moreover the footage suggests that the shot came from the Bulgarian side of the fence.
The Bulgarian Interior Ministry has denied that they are responsible for the shooting and denounced the violent incidents that occurred last Saturday.
Bulgaria claims that so far this year alone it has counted more than 150,000 attempts to cross illegally from Turkey, four times more than the previous year.
