According to an international survey of several media including the German magazine “Spiegel” and the daily “Liberation”, special police units of these countries do not hesitate to resort to violence to prevent refugees from entering.
Le Monde with AFP
Migrants returned with battles to the borders of Greece and Croatia. These are the images unveiled, Wednesday, October 6, by a survey of several media, including the German Spiegel magazine and the French daily Liberation.
Investigations carried out for eight months by journalists from seven countries and eight different media enter into a “system” conducted by “special units” of police, concealing the most of the time their identity by wearing uniforms without badge and Cagoules covering the face, writes Spiegel.
“They operate for the most part secret – and are paid by European citizens,” explains the magazine in the investigation online Wednesday night, also fruit with a collaboration with public television German Ard, Croatian and Serbian media and The Dutch investigative platform Ligthouse Reports.
According to the Spiegel, the video recordings of eleven refourages in Croatia show how men beat refugees before leaving them in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“An established strategy”
Six Croatian officials confirmed the German magazine, after examining the images, whether they were members of a special police unit. Internally, the discharge operation was baptized “Operation Corridor” by Croatian officials.
On the basis of other video analyzes and testimonials, the survey asserts that in Aegean sea, special units of Greek coastguard are responsible for intercepting asylum seekers and release them in rafts Orange rescue, partly purchased with the money of the European Union (EU).
Neither the Greek Government, which challenged previous reflection accusations, nor that of Croatia did not answer the questions of journalists. “Far from being a drift guilty of some agents, these” PushBack “are an established strategy from states whose police officers are financially supported by the EU,” writes release.
“In Greece, Romania or Croatia, the testimonies of asylum seekers flock, collected by associations, lawyers or journalists”, describing these practices, according to the French daily.
The survey provided “visual evidence” using drones, thermal cameras or remotely triggered hunting cameras.
Amnesty International reacted, Wednesday, to these allegations, judging “alarming that the European Commission continues to turn a blindness on the flagrant violation of EU law and even continues to finance police operations and border operations in some of these countries “.