Greece: a migrant killed after an exchange of fire at the border with Turkey

The Evros River acts as a natural border between Greece and Turkey, near Kastanies in northeastern Greece.

AFP - SAKIS MITROLIDIS

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In Greece, in the Evros river, which symbolizes the land border with Turkey, a young woman from Africa was found dead, shot dead, over the weekend.

According to official information from the Greek police, she belonged to a group of migrants who were trying, on a plastic boat, to reach Greece from neighboring Turkey.

This violent death comes in a context of regular refoulement of asylum seekers from Turkey. 

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With our correspondent in Athens,

The first elements of the autopsy, relayed by the Greek police, indicate that the young African migrant was killed by a bullet fired at close range.

Medical information that questions the official explanations, which evoke an exchange of fire between Greek and Turkish coastguards. 

The opposition newspaper Efsyn considers for its part "

" that the bullet could have been fired by a smuggler, because it has become very rare for them to take place in the boats alongside the migrants.

And the Greek daily to wonder if this would not be a "

" carried out by the Greek authorities.

A repression, therefore, which would have gone wrong.

These rejections are indeed commonplace.

In early April, a report by the NGO Human Rights Watch again accused Athens of regularly carrying out this type of operation.

In particular "

" - who, like the Ukrainians who are also welcomed - are however also fleeing, underlines the organization, "

".

Several NGOs also point out that in parallel with the coast guard, Greece also uses migrants to carry out these refoulements, in exchange for the promise of passports. 

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• Greece

• Immigration