Background
In late February 2020 Turkey announced it would no longer stop migrants and refugees wishing to cross into Europe. Thousands then headed for the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne. Tension rose on the other side of the border near Kastanies in Greece, and the confrontation between border security and migration dominated Europe's agenda.
Claims of injuries and deaths at the border led to mutual accusations between the two countries. Greek authorities denied using live ammunition.
Publicly available information about Gulzar's life is limited. He is described as a Pakistani national who had lived for a time in Athens and came to the border hoping to reach Europe. No details are given about his family.
What happened
On 4 March 2020, during incidents near Kastanies, 42-year-old Pakistani migrant Muhammad Gulzar was shot in the chest and died. Reports and later analyses said seven people were wounded within about forty minutes. Footage showed Gulzar at the border that morning and wounded shortly before 10:30.
Witness testimony, live-stream recordings, photos of Gulzar after he was hit and his death certificate corroborated one another.
Around the same days other reports of deaths at the border appeared; Der Spiegel also separately examined the death of a Syrian man on 2 March. Greek officials denied the claims that live ammunition was used at the border and publicised their own statements.
The investigation
On 8 May 2020 a joint investigation by Bellingcat, Lighthouse Reports, Forensic Architecture and Der Spiegel was published, with contributions from Pointer and Sky News. The team assessed video recordings, witness interviews and acoustic expert reports, and used 3D modelling and image analysis to estimate where the shots came from. It concluded that the fire most likely came from the Greek side. The footage showed no Turkish forces present but did show armed Greek soldiers and police.
Greece officially rejected the findings. After the report, more than 100 members of the European Parliament wrote to the President of the European Commission calling for a formal investigation.
The research argued that the ammunition type was consistent with that used by Greek forces. Who fired the weapon, however, was not established individually from publicly available evidence.
Where it stands today
No independent international inquiry result has been made public, and there is no information about proceedings against any alleged perpetrators. The findings of media and research groups are journalistic and forensic analysis, not a final judicial ruling.
Gulzar's death is one of the most cited examples in debates about the use of force against migrants at Europe's external borders. Dark Location archives it as a reminder of the human consequences of border policy.