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23. 03. 12. - 14:00

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23. 03. 12. - 14:00

Migrants complain over inhuman conditions in Arad detention centre

Michael Leidig

A group of 50 migrants detained at the Detention Centre in Horia village, Arad County (Western Romania), sent a letter to a French association defending the rights of the migrants in Europe, Migreeurope, asking for urgent help, Adevarul newspaper informed yesterday (Thurs).

The letter depicts inhuman treatment, the migrants are allegedly subjected to in the Romanian detention centre, including violence, lack of food, heating and access to medical treatment.

The representatives of the centre denied the accusations of inhuman treatment against the detainees, saying that in the past eight months, the Romanian state spent 430,000 Euros on the migrants.

Currently there are 55 migrants in the centre, most of them having fled Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Pakistan. The Romanian authorities denied them the right of asylum and they will be sent back to their respective countries.

"Most of the individuals here are unhappy because they wanted to migrate to Central and Western European countries and because they have been stopped from committing more crimes. They would do anything to reach their goal," the director of the centre Petre Padurean said.

The authorities do not know how the letter reached the French association in Paris. Migreeurope however took the migrants' complaint seriously and posted their letter on the association’s website.

"We need help (...) We are asylum seekers and they put us in detention. (…) We are badly treated, worse than animals. The detention guards are beating us up, badly. This happens often. For example, Tuesday this week, on 6 March 2012, some policemen wanted to spray tear gas on one detainee, we don’t even know why. They brought him to the isolation cell, downstairs, to beat him up. We heard him shout from our cells.(…)", the letter reads.

The migrants say they are detained 24 hours a day, every day.

"We can only leave our cells and walk in the corridor one to two hours a day. We are denied access to outside walks, to the TV, we cannot be sent money by our families using Western Union. We are systematically given the same food over and over again. We have no access to a doctor. If one of us falls sick, we are helpless. (…)"

And the letter goes on: "Detention in Romania can last 18 months. 18 months like that is unbearable! What we are going through cannot be imagined. We could not make someone believe we are in Europe. 18 months in a cage! The heating has been recently cut off, we sleep with our coats on. The shower does not function any more, we are nearly sleeping on the bed base as mattress are in such a bad state. We are in hell."

The director of the centre said all accusations are false. He said the pregnant woman is staying with her husband in a bigger room with a television. Padurean also said that none of the detainees complaint to him so far.

Recently, several detainees escaped from the centre but they have been apprehended and brought back.

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