Gov’t rejects Der Spiegel report on dead migrant at Greek-Turkish border

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas on Friday evening rejected again a report by German magazine Der Spiegel which claimed that a Pakistani national had been shot dead, possibly by Greek soldiers, while attempting to cross from Turkey into Greece two months ago.

The report was originally published in March but on Friday the magazine published it in English.

“No evidence was ever provided in early March proving that the actions of Greek security forces resulted in loss of life. In fact, these allegations were immediately denied by the Greek authorities,” he said in a statement and pointed to a similar comment made on March 4.

Petsas insinuated that the report may be related to “disinformation campaigns” launched by Turkey.

The incident came as Turkey said it would no longer stop migrants from crossing into Europe, resulting in thousands gathering on the Turkish side of the border, in the border region of Evros.