According to documents obtained by BIRN (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network), EU border agency, Frontex officers stationed at Bulgaria’s border with Turkey are being threatened with death if they report instances of violence and pushback against migrants and refugees. This has led to concerns that the agency’s reputation may be jeopardized.
According to the testimony of two Frontex border agency officers from the European Union, the Bulgarian border guard was regularly accompanied by the officers on night patrols along the country’s southeast border with Turkey.
The group claimed that their colleague from Bulgaria “told” them not to report to Frontex on what was clearly a “pushback”—the forcible and unauthorized return of immigrants and refugees before they have a chance to present their case for asylum.
The Bulgarians suspected that the Frontex officers were ignoring him as well; they expressed feelings of being “hunted” and “fears about their safety.” Eventually, “for their own protection,” Frontex removed them.
One of eight Serious Incident Reports, which Frontex uses to document and look into claims of human rights violations in its operations, was obtained by BIRN along with other internal documents about human rights violations on the Bulgarian-Turkey border under the agency’s supervision. The incident happened in December of last year.
When combined, these records depict a Frontex deployment that is subject to tremendous pressure from Bulgaria’s border police to ignore persistent abuse and pushbacks against migrants and refugees.
The Kapitan Andreevo Checkpoint a ‘Mecca’ for Smugglers
This overwhelming situation on the Bulgarian-Turkish border has a several backgrounds.
First is how mobsters seized control of a key border crossing into the EU. For many years, the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint at Bulgaria’s border with Turkey has been notorious as an entry point for drugs into the European Union, and as a place where importers would be extorted. In 2022, the short-lived, ‘anti-corruption crusader’ Bulgarian government shined a light on how a criminal group has – under previous political administrations – allowed vast amounts of food into the EU without proper checks.
Sofia even confronted the Kremlin in its crackdown on Bulgaria’s notorious mafia-linked border corruption – long a reason why Bulgaria was not allowed to join the Schengen passport-free travel zone.
The Bulgarian government’s investigation was focused on an organized crime group that used its position as a de facto monopoly controlling one of Europe’s busiest border. It generated illicit income and permit food into the EU that, under normal circumstances, would be rejected or destroyed for regulatory reasons.
Assen Vassilev, the then finance minister, has released estimates pegging the financial damage stemming from corruption at the border checkpoint at €2,500 per hour – or nearly €22 million annually. Speaking to Bulgarian television, Vassilev said there had effectively been a “private border” at Kapitan Andreevo for a decade.
But for years, all these concerns were largely ignored, both within Bulgaria and at an EU level.
Frontex’s Presence in Bulgaria
Frontex increased its presence in Bulgaria as part of Joint Operation Terra, which started in early 2022. Its officers patrol alongside Bulgarian border guards in all-terrain jeeps and vans equipped with thermal vision that were bought with EU funds.
When Hans Leijtens took leadership of Frontex as executive director in March of 2023, he vowed that the organization would never again ignore human rights abuses occurring on EU borders. Leijtens took over for Fabrice Leggeri, who had resigned the year before due to the results of an OLAF investigation that linked Frontex to pushbacks. .
In March, this year, Frontex tripled its guards, with deploying an additional 500 officers to the Bulgarian-Turkish border. According to the Frontex, “Kapitan Andreevo is a Mecca for border guards, due to its professional growth potential, and the end of the road for all sorts of criminals located in Bulgaria, at the border with Turkey, it recorded 7.6 million passengers last year with 3.5 million vehicles.” They were also proud that together with the Bulgarian border police officers, they “managed to stop the 400.000 euro crime.”
The border agency’s May report from Bulgaria ended like this: “EU border guards deployed in Kapitan Andreevo BCP (border crossing point) they all speak highly about the Bulgarian authorities’ professionalism and their openness to teamwork.”
Leijtens conducted an inspection of the operations in late February. Standing near the busiest land border crossing point in Europe, the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing, the Dutchman spoke in favor of Bulgaria’s long-awaited admission into the passport-free Schengen area while standing next to a fence topped with razor wire.
He told Reuters that Bulgaria is a very important partner. “We cannot defend our external borders without Bulgaria.”
He also issued a warning. “We are defending not just the borders but also EU values,” said Leijtens.
Jonas Grimheden, the head of Frontex’s internal rights watchdog, briefed Leijtens in a confidential memo a few days prior to Leijtens’ visit to the Bulgarian border, regarding Frontex officers’ reports of being instructed not to disclose specifics of systematic pushbacks by Bulgarian border police.
In the event of significant or persistent human rights violations, Frontex would typically have to suspend operations; however, Leijtens declared during his border visit that Frontex would be tripling its officers presence.
A few days later, Bulgaria, the Commission, and EU agencies announced that they were going to establish a new strategic partnership “to strengthen the EU’s external borders,” which included border management, police cooperation, returns, and asylum procedures. This was announced by President of the European Commission Ursula von Der Leyen.
The agreement is a continuation of a multi-million euro pilot project that brought more equipment and resources for border management along with EU support for accelerated asylum procedures and returns. The project was started in March 2023.
Following another investigation in the same month that showed Frontex and the Commission had essentially ignored internal reports of violent pushbacks during the process of integrating Bulgaria (albeit temporarily) into the Schengen area, Von Der Leyen made his announcement in February.
Bulgaria Declares that it won’t Stand for any violations of Human Rights
Frontex’s Second-in-Command, Lars Gerdes, complimented the Bulgarian border police for their “excellent cooperation” during his visit to the crossing in April.
However, human rights organizations and Frontex’s own monitoring body have also documented crimes that occurred years ago at the border. These include the forceful removal of migrants and refugees into Turkey by Bulgarian officers taking part in Frontex operations, dog attacks, strip searches, and beatings.
Bulgarian authorities have always strenuously denied such allegations.
“We have zero tolerance for people who disrespect human rights,” Zlatanov, the border police chief, told the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee in April.
According to information compiled by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, there were 9,897 documented pushbacks involving 174,588 individuals near Bulgaria’s borders with Greece and Turkey in 2023.
