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Our investigation showed that Muhammad #Gulzar was killed on March 4 at the EU border, most likely by Greek border guards.
This is the evidence the Greek government and the EU Commission have yet to engage with -- over 100 MEPs demand an investigation
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-turkish-border-the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar-a-7652ff68-8959-4e0d-9101-a1841a944161
This is the evidence the Greek government and the EU Commission have yet to engage with -- over 100 MEPs demand an investigation
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-turkish-border-the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar-a-7652ff68-8959-4e0d-9101-a1841a944161
We located Gulzar at the border on March 4. There is no doubt he was there. There are videos of him being carried by migrants away from the fence and towards the Turkish border post. Other casualties were also put in ambulances that day.
We identified him based on his clothes: we know from videos provided by his widow, what he was wearing: black leather boots with a side zip, patched jeans and a black jacket. There is also a photograph showing Gulzar being carried by medical personnel on a stretcher.
We spoke to three migrants who say Gulzar was shot at the Turkish-Greek border fence by Greek security forces. One of them is Saba Khan, his widow, who says she stood close to him. She also claims she too was almost hit in the foot.
According to hospital officials in Edirne, Gulzar was admitted at 11am. He was declared dead at 11:45am. We obtained the Turkish autopsy report that states Gulzar was shot and killed by a 5,56mm bullet.
The researchers and journalists at @ForensicArchi, @Bellingcat, @LHreports geo- and chronolocated 8h of footage, put it into a 3D-model and created a continuous timeline.
In this material, soldiers carrying fitting rifles (M4, M16, FN Minimi) can be observed on the Greek side around the time of the shootings at the borders. On the Turkish side, however, in 8h of videos/livestreams and dozens of photos, no persons carrying rifles can be observed.
One elite soldier who served that day at the fence told us that the units were instructed to deter migrants from crossing the border and fired warning shots at the ground using live ammunition. Another soldier cried out on March 4 that he thought he had hit someone on the foot.
In a video captured on camera from both sides of the fence, a fusillade of shots is heard and the migrant recording the scene shouts "gunfire from the Greece Army… I have seen someone who is shot!"
US audio forensic expert Steven Beck confirmed that what we hear on the video is the characteristic sound of a supersonic bullet -- sort of a crack (from the shockwave) and then a bang (from the muzzle blast), blanks would produce only a bang since there is no projectile.
In the video shot by the Turkish side we can observe a fire at the fence, a man is hit and goes down, persons appear behind the fire at the fence, apparently it is Greek border guards.
The weapons expert has established that the shooter was standing between 40 and 60 meters away from the camera. Only on the Greek side people can be observed holding rifles capable of shooting this type of bullet.
On the video of the scene captured from the Greek side two persons can be heard talking in Greek. "They aimed," they seem to agree.
Within a period of 40 minutes on the day Gulzar was killed, at least 6 other migrants were wounded. They can be seen in videos being carried way from the fence and put in ambulances at the Turkish border post.
We spoke to two of them, one we were able to positively identify in the videos. A young Syrian named Mohammad Hantou.
Hantou said he was shot by Greek security forces in his right ear while trying to go through a hole in the fence. In videos he can be seen holding his ear and stumbling away from the fence. He had a wound on his ear when we met him in Istanbul.
Two more injured migrants, whose shootings could not be tracked back to that day with certainty, told us they were shot by Greek border guards.
The migrants themselves appear to believe that the danger originates from the Greek side. Note that on that day there was not just one casualty, but at least seven.
We collected and analysed voluminous forensic evidence, documents and witness reports. Based on this evidence it is highly probable that the shots that fatally wounded Gulzar were fired from the Greek side.
It’s quite possible that Gulzar was shot accidentally, that he was hit by a ricochet (again: we know that Greek soldiers were shooting live ammunition at the ground.)
The Greek government did not engage with the evidence presented but simply reiterated an earlier statement: "The Turkish side creates fake news (…) there is no such incident with fire from the Greek authorities". And: "No new evidence is being presented today."
100+ MEPs demand a European investigation into the killing of #Gulzar. If EU Commission and Greek government remain unresponsive to the report, "we would witness an impunity which cannot be tolerated," they said in a letter to the EU Commission.
MEP @Tineke_Strik requested a public meeting with the Commission and Greek government in Parliament. "We cannot allow this lack of accountability to persist." https://twitter.com/Tineke_Strik/status/1265228122607288325?s=20
In this thread I only refer to the evidence we presented on the killing of Gulzar. Our full report also presented the wider picture: Erdogan used migrants and refugees as pawns, in a cynical and shameless intent to blackmail the EU and dodge questions about his war in Idlib.
In a series of articles and a video we reconstructed and presented the events on March 4, a deadly day at the European border. You can find much more political context and details of Gulzars life there.
Full report @derspiegel https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-turkish-border-the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar-a-7652ff68-8959-4e0d-9101-a1841a944161
Full report @derspiegel https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-turkish-border-the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar-a-7652ff68-8959-4e0d-9101-a1841a944161
Here is the video created by our partners @ForensicArchi @bellingcat @LHreports https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar
Also read this insightful report by @N_Waters89 @bellingcat, it contains several additional details on how we conducted the investigation. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/05/08/the-killing-of-muhammad-gulzar/
This piece by @Stone_SkyNews sheds some more light on Gulzars life: https://news.sky.com/story/death-on-the-border-who-was-muhammad-gulzar-and-what-happened-to-him-11985513
And for German speakers: Juan Moreno produced a podcast in which we reconstruct the day: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/fall-muhammad-gulzar-wer-hat-an-der-griechischen-grenze-geschossen-a-cfc056eb-8211-4f39-b2dc-8c512f740e6a
