Kasim
Kasim is an Iraqi citizen, who fled from Baghdad to Turkey and then to Bulgaria in December 2006 together with other six persons. At the Bulgarian border the guards opened fire on them and wounded several of Kasim's fellow travellers. Even after they surrendered, the border guards threw them on to the ground and allowed their dogs to injure them.
They were all taken to a police base for interrogation and held there for two days without food. It was difficult to communicate with the police as they did not have an interpreter. They were once again kicked and beaten up with policemen's clubs. Kasim and the other detainees were subsequently moved to the city jail, where they were held in terrible conditions. For over a month the guards subjected them to psychological torture.
"They humiliated us in various ways, for example by urinating on our doors. They told us that we were unwanted in Bulgaria, and that we had only come here to have sex with Bulgarian girls." They were also told not to sleep in order to be ready for deportation.
Kasim was made sign several documents in Bulgarian, which he thinks were about asylum, and was transferred to a reception centre for asylum seekers, where he stayed for several months.
(Source: NOAS)