Afghan Man Shot and Killed Trying to Enter Bulgaria From Turkey

An Afghan migrant was shot dead October 15 in a scuffle between Bulgarian border authorities and a group of migrants believed to be from Afghanistan, Bulgarian government authorities said.

Interior Ministry chief of staff Georgi Kostov said that the incident occurred around 10 p.m. on Thursday near the southern city of Sredets.

She added at a press conference pretrial proceedings had been launched into the incident. “One of the officers fired warning shots and, in his words, one of the migrants was wounded by a ricochet and later died”, Kostov told the radio.

The earliest version of events, put forward by police, says that a bullet ricocheted after being fired in the air, hitting the victim, reportedly a 25-year-old man, in the back of the neck.

The spokesman for the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR, Boris Cheshirkov, condemned the use of power against migrants and appealed to Bulgaria to investigate transparently and thoroughly the incident.

European Council President Donald Tusk said in Brussels that Borisov told him about the Turkish border shooting just before he left the summit, adding: “It shows how important our discussion was”.

The shooting is the most serious migrant-related incident in Bulgaria since the start of Europe’s refugee crisis.

The country has however seen tens of thousands of refugees transiting since the beginning of the year.

Bulgarian authorities have boosted border security on their 260-kilometer (162-mile) border with Turkey with extra manpower and a 30-kilometer razor wire fence.

Unlike Greece, refugees entering Bulgaria are subject to a registration procedure and must normally wait several months before obtaining refugee status allowing them to travel in Europe.