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Bulgaria announces investigations into several ‘migrant hunters’
Source: The Guardian
Bulgaria announces investigations into several ‘migrant hunters’
Government to search for further vigilantes targeting refugees after
arrest of wrestler Dinko Valev, following claims it was turning a blind
eye to assaults
Patrick Kingsley Migration correspondent
Tuesday 12 April 2016 22.13 BST
Bulgaria has announced investigations into several “migrant hunters” after being accused of turning a blind eye to vigilantes targeting refugees travelling to Europe from Turkey.
The interior ministry said on Tuesday that Dinko Valev, a semi-professional wrestler who boasted earlier this year of detaining migrants, had been summoned for questioning. In separate developments on the same day, the ministry said it had detained a vigilante responsible for a video released this week that showed armed civilians tying up refugees, and begun searching for others.
It follows an international outcry over the footage, which shows the individuals tying the people’s hands behind their backs, forcing them to lie facedown and shouting: “No Bulgaria! Go back to Turkey!” The video amplified claims that the Bulgarian government has not been doing enough to clamp down on vigilante activity along its border.
In an interview with the Guardian, the deputy interior minister, Philip Gounev, said the government was deeply opposed to citizens taking the law into their own hands. Announcing the investigations as evidence of this stance, he said: “Arresting people is only in the power of law enforcement and the police. Any attempts by citizens to arrest other citizens is illegal. Any kind of illegal detention of citizens by other citizens is treated as such.”
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Government to search for further vigilantes targeting refugees after
arrest of wrestler Dinko Valev, following claims it was turning a blind
eye to assaults
Patrick Kingsley Migration correspondent
Tuesday 12 April 2016 22.13 BST
Bulgaria has announced investigations into several “migrant hunters” after being accused of turning a blind eye to vigilantes targeting refugees travelling to Europe from Turkey.
The interior ministry said on Tuesday that Dinko Valev, a semi-professional wrestler who boasted earlier this year of detaining migrants, had been summoned for questioning. In separate developments on the same day, the ministry said it had detained a vigilante responsible for a video released this week that showed armed civilians tying up refugees, and begun searching for others.
It follows an international outcry over the footage, which shows the individuals tying the people’s hands behind their backs, forcing them to lie facedown and shouting: “No Bulgaria! Go back to Turkey!” The video amplified claims that the Bulgarian government has not been doing enough to clamp down on vigilante activity along its border.
In an interview with the Guardian, the deputy interior minister, Philip Gounev, said the government was deeply opposed to citizens taking the law into their own hands. Announcing the investigations as evidence of this stance, he said: “Arresting people is only in the power of law enforcement and the police. Any attempts by citizens to arrest other citizens is illegal. Any kind of illegal detention of citizens by other citizens is treated as such.”
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/12/bulgaria-arrests-three-vigilantes-accused-migrant-attacks