"Sky News" investigation: Have Bulgarian border guards shot at migrants?

An investigation by the British broadcaster "Sky News" and several other Western European media claimed that Bulgarian border guards shot and wounded a Syrian citizen who tried to cross into Bulgaria from Turkey.

Sky News broadcast a video taken by migrants in which a shot is heard. Bulgaria's Ministry of Interior confirmed the incident on 3 October, but denied that Bulgarian officers had fired at the migrants. The report comes after the Netherlands announced it would veto Bulgaria's Schengen accession.

The incident referred to in the footage occurred a month before a Bulgarian border policeman was shot dead at Bulgaria’s border with Turkey.

3 October - Bulgarian-Turkish border. A group of illegal migrants tries to cross into Bulgaria. Shots are heard and one of the men falls to the ground. This is 19-year-old Syrian Abdullah el Rüstüm. The video shows that the young man has a wound on his arm.

This footage was taken by one of the migrants in the group. They have been distributed by Lighthouse Reports, a Dutch NGO that handles international investigations. They have been provided to the organisation by a Turkish lawyer who has taken the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The footage was broadcast yesterday, December 5, as part of a joint investigation by the British “Sky News”, the French Le Monde, ARD, the British newspaper The Times and other Western European media.

They said the shots came from the area of border post 92 on the Bulgarian side. The Syrian claims he was shot by a Bulgarian border policeman. According to him, a bullet went through his left arm and then lodged near his heart.

"He pointed his gun directly at me. Obviously he intended to hit me. We were a very short distance away - about 10 to 15 metres. He was shooting to kill," said Abdullah El Rustum, a Syrian refugee.

The Syrian was subsequently operated on in Istanbul. The migrant says his arm is permanently paralysed. The video of the migrants does not show who fired the shots, and in the report the journalist specifies that it is difficult to prove who fired the shots.

The footage shows a green car in the distance, which according to Sky News is the type used by Bulgarian border guards. Sound analysis claims that the shot came from close range, but there is no way to prove who produced it.

The migrants told the media that they were detained by Bulgarian border guards when they tried to cross the border illegally. According to them, they started search of women in the group in a “sexual” manner, which provoked them to fight back.

In a position sent by the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior to "Sky News" it is stated that the Bulgarian border guards were on duty on the day in question but did not fire any shots.There was an attempt by 65 people to cross the border illegally.

The Ministry of Interior added that there was aggressive behaviour on the part of the migrants who threw stones at their car. A police officer from the Border Police Station "Sredets" was injured and serious material damage was caused.

The coverage says this is the first footage to show an asylum seeker being shot with a combat weapon at a European border.