The unenviable fate of an Egyptian in Lithuania: to reach Paris, but was left without a leg
At the end of November, 23-year-old Egyptian Youssef is looking for a better life through Baltarus throughout Lithuania, maybe to stay here, maybe to visit his brother in Paris.
However, something happened in Lithuania that neither he nor his relatives expected.
A young man had his right leg amputated in Švenčioni this week, and he may lose another leg in the near future.
“He is overworked and the psychological state of what he has is very bad,” 15 minutes the migrant’s sister, who is currently in Egypt, speaks.
According to her, the brother got into the problem due to the carelessness of the Lithuanian services.
“My brother was locked up for eight days without any treatment, which caused his health to deteriorate. Later, he was taken to the hospital, where the doctors negligently amputated his leg,” said the woman.
She also with 15 minutes shared these photos and videos of my brother before the amputation, but the images are shocking, so we decided not to publish them.
The border guards took the migrants to the doctors
The press representative of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) Giedrius Mišutis informed 15 minutesthat a group of eight Egyptians were detained on November 20.
They were detained in southern Lithuania when three Uzbek citizens planned to illegally transport Egyptians.
But the border guards prevented it.
According to the VSAT representative, the necessary investigation has been launched into the illegal transportation of people, so the migrants were taken to the Druskininkai border checkpoint.
“Since a good investigation was started, they were brought to the nearest – Druskininkai fortress. There are some such rooms for accommodation. Then one complained that something was wrong with his legs,” said the VSAT representative.
According to him, soon more Egyptians who were at the checkpoint started to complain.
According to the representative of the border guards, the officers took them to a medical facility, but the doctors did not admit the migrants to the hospital.
The Egyptians stayed at the checkpoint until November 28, when they requested asylum in Lithuania the weekend before.
They were taken to Druskininkai and Lazdija hospitals, but they were not hospitalized. It’s already medical stuff.
“That one, and then others started complaining. They were taken to Druskininkai and Lazdija hospitals, but they were not hospitalized. It’s already medical stuff. The border guards took them all those days – to the polyclinic once, to the hospital, and when they applied for asylum, then, as they have acquired the status of asylum seekers, they can no longer live at the checkpoint – they were transferred to the Aliens Registration Center in Pabrade”, said G. Mišutis.
According to him, after the arrival of five Egyptians, because they asked for asylum, three were turned away.
At that time, two of the Egyptians who reached Pabrade were admitted to the Švenčioni district hospital.
Tried to escape
According to G. Mišutis, the migrants tried to escape from it last Saturday.
“In the evening, they threw off their pajamas and ran away from the hospital, including the one whose leg is now amputated,” they told the VSAT spokesperson.
According to him, the migrants could not run far.
“The police caught them, returned them back to the hospital and since then VSAT has assigned a patrol and to this day the migrants are being protected,” said G. Mišutis.
Promises to seek justice
15 minutes also contacted the Egyptian’s brother currently in Paris.
“I want to sue the problem and the border guards because the conditions were very bad,” the man said.
He said that he warned his brother, who was determined to find a better life in Europe, that it was dangerous to travel through Belarus, but he did not listen to him.
During the trip, the 23-year-old Egyptian got lost in the forest.
“He was lost in the forest for three days. The officers found him with other migrants and took him to the camp,” said the brother of the Egyptian living in France.
He calls the border guard a “camp”. According to the man, his brother and other migrants lived there for a week in inhumane conditions.
“They slept on metal beds. No mattress, no sheets – nothing, just metal. He spoke to me like that,” said the man.
According to him, while he was already in the checkpoint of the border guards, his leg was swollen and there was a gaping wound in it, but he did not receive the necessary help from the brother of the border guards.
Finally, according to a man living in Paris, the brother was transferred to another “refugee camp” under the constant presence of a man from the Aliens Registration Center in Pachy.
His brother ended up in the hospital, where, according to a man living in France, an even bigger nightmare awaited him.
“He needed serious medical attention – surgery, cleaning and more.” I’m not a doctor (…) but he needs one day the doctor said he would amputate his legs, but for a few days he didn’t do anything. This is how doctors act,” the man said.
Among other things, when asked why his brother could run away from the hospital, he said it was out of desperation.
“Every day you see your leg, you can feel the foul smell coming from it, no treatment, no surgery,” claimed the Egyptian’s brother in Lithuania.
He is convinced that the situation with his brother’s legs could have worsened even at the border guards’ checkpoint.
15 minutes could not be found with the Švenčioni district hospital on Thursday evening. As soon as we receive the hospital’s comment, we will add to the text.
I got to Lithuania for the first time
According to the VSAT representative, this group of Egyptians entered Lithuania for the first time.
“That frostbite is not the result of raids, their presence in the forests”, asserted G. Mišutis.
According to him, the necessary investigation has been launched regarding the transportation of these Egyptians.
Three Uzbeks, who had the right to be in Lithuania, who planned to do that, were arrested for several months.
More details about the entry of the Egyptians into Lithuania, the place of detention are not disclosed.
In total, the border guards initiated 162 necessary investigations and 224 persons were charged with illegal transportation of people.
Why do migrants get frostbite?
The Egyptian, whose leg was amputated, is not the first such migrant. Recently 15 minutes described the stories of two Sri Lankans.
Lina, a volunteer of the “Siena group” who is trying her best to help migrants, had a broken connection with one of them.
She15 minutes told why migrants freeze their legs, which later have to be amputated, and shared a more detailed story of the migrant’s arrival in Lithuania.
According to the woman, the Sri Lankan she is in contact with is a Tamil nation, and this nation is being persecuted in Sri Lanka.
In other words, this man was not an economic migrant.
“He protested against the government, got into trouble and had to disappear from the country,” Lina said.
According to her, the Sri Lankan found a study program in Belarus through an online advertising agency, but had no idea that this country was ruled by a dictatorial regime and an independent European Union.
The man was deceived several times, but continued to communicate with so-called “agents” in Belarus, one of whom promised him a trip to France, where a relative of the Sri Lankan lived.
Instead, the Sri Lankan ended up at the border with Lithuania.
“At night, the agent came and took him and several other Tamils to the Lithuanian border. They let him go to the forest and told him to run. Then Belarusian officials caught them, took away their phones for navigation, then stripped them naked – checked if they had any suspicious things, and if they had to change something, they took those things: money, headphones. They were left with only a couple of bags of food and waded across the river, as the Belarusian officials had instructed,” said the volunteer.
According to her, while crossing the river at night, the man lost his shoes and later wandered at the border until he met the Lithuanian officers, who turned the Sri Lankans back.
“They wandered around Belarus for another four days, lit a fire to keep warm. He had no more food – he only found an apple tree and ate the apples,” said Lina.
After that, her acquaintance from Sri Lanka crossed the Lithuanian border again, where the man was beaten with one of the “agents”, he was threatened.
“A jeep drove up at the border, beat them and demanded money,” claimed the volunteer of the “Sienas grupė”.
According to her, after receiving the money, the Sri Lankan handed it over to a mysterious “agent” who beat him, who then provided the migrants with clothes and tickets to France.
However, the Sri Lankan was detained by border guards at the Vilnius airport with other travel companions, and later ended up together, where both of his legs were amputated.