Activist Must Pay €8,000 for Helping Migrants to Illegally Cross the Border
ZAGREB, 15 Dec 2021 - Croatia's High Misdemeanor Court has dismissed the appeal lodged by Dragan Umičević, an activist of the Are You Syrious, against a fine of HRK 60,000 imposed on him after he had helped a group of migrants in March 2018 to illegally cross the Croatian border, the Jutarnji List reported on Wednesday.
The ruling of the High Misdemeanor Court was sent to Vinkovci's Municipal Court that fined Umičević in 2018 when it found Umičević guilty of helping a 14-member Afghan family to illegally cross the border from Serbia into Croatia near the town of Strošinci, by sending them light signals from his car about where to cross the border.
Umičević helped them to seek asylum in Croatia, the daily newspaper reported today, adding that the final verdict amounts to the campaign of intimidating activists and NGOs who help irregular and undocumented migrants.
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Croatia Grants Most Asylums to Syrians, Most Asylum Seekers Are From Afghanistan
ZAGREB, 21 Aug, 2021 - There are 1,529 asylum seekers in Croatia, most of them from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria and the highest number of asylums were obtained by Syrians, Vecernji List daily wrote on Saturday.
According to data provided by the Croatian Interior Ministry, of the 1,208 asylum seekers in the first six months of 2021, more than a half were from Afghanistan (692), followed by those from Iraq (116), Iran (105), Turkey (66), Syria (60) and Pakistan (37).
Croatia granted asylums and subsidiary protection to approximately 1,000 people. The highest number of asylums was granted to Syrians, namely 457 and another 84 people from Syria were granted subsidiary protection. Among top five states to whose citizens asylums were granted are Iraq (109), Afghanistan (39), Iran (38) and Turkey (26), while subsidiary protection was granted the most to the citizens of Syria (84), Afghanistan (17) and Somalia (15).
The interior ministry said it was impossible to give the exact number of people granted international protection and currently living in Croatia as the number varies on a daily basis because people with passports have the right to freedom of movement, and they can leave Croatia any time they want.
There are twice as many men than women among people granted with asylum or subsidiary protection, most of them of the age between 18 and 34, followed by underage boys.
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