Bulgaria detains 100 Algerian illegal immigrants

Bulgarian authorities have detained 100 Algerian illegal immigrants including 20 women in a detention center in the capital Sofia for 6 months. They were arrested as they crossed borders for Germany or Italy, a detained immigrant told Echorouk.

Karim said the detained Algerians are in horrible conditions and are afraid of being hit by pandemic diseases due to the absence of hygiene in bathrooms.

“Most of the time, there is no water. Bedrooms are like camps. The center administration is racist as it does not hesitate to insult us and utter racist words,” he added.

Tunisian, Moroccan and Sudanese illegal immigrants are also detained in the same center.

According to Karim, the Algerian nationals were arrested as they tried to reach German or Italian territories. They entered Bulgaria across Turkey but their “immigration dream” was ended in Bulgaria.

They complain of the Algerian embassy’s carelessness in Sofia about their problem though they have been detained for 6 months.

“We are detained but no one care about us. We do not have money to buy tickets and come back to Algeria. Our families can not transfer money to us. We are waiting for the Algerian authorities to get us back home. The Algerian embassy in Bulgaria neglected us,” Karim said.

Earlier last week, Secretary of State in charge of Algerians living abroad Belkacem Sahli said authorities will help Algerian people living in difficult situation abroad. They pledged to offer them tickets to come back home and reintegrate them into social and economic life.

This issue provoked the European Parliament which expressed anger about the conditions in the center.

Its member Malika Benarab said Bulgarian authorities must release the detained people. “We can not ignore those conditions even if Bulgaria does not form part of the Schengen Area.”