Over one hundred Algerians in Bulgaria not allowed to return to their country
March 20, 2013, Sofia, Bulgaria
Every day a large group of men stands in front of the Embassy of Algeria waiting for transit papers. These are just a few of the over 100 Algerian migrants who recently signed deportation papers in Bulgaria demanding voluntary return to their country. A fifth of them are likely to fly back this spring. For the rest, the only certainty is the street. The Bulgarian authorities say no money is available for the deportation of Algerians until at least the summer of 2013. The Algerian consul in Sofia says he cannot help these men. Transit countries like Italy and Spain refuse to accept Algerian deportees on their territory for even half an hour to change planes.
When migrants like these men enter Bulgaria without documents, they are caught by border police and placed in the so-called migrant detention centers in Liubimets, Svilengrad and Busmantsi, Sofia. These prison houses starkly differ from what migrants expect to find in Europe. Breakfast there consists of two slices of bread and police beatings are regular occurrence. “This is really prison, like I’ve seen on TV,” says one of the men who wants to return to Algeria.
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