Migrants falsely blamed for a young man’s death

Based on a reader’s query, we analyzed an article with the headline saying that a young man, originally from Croatia, died in Frankfurt after being “beaten by migrants”.

The link we received from a reader led us to a website called Moj kutak:

A CROAT (21) BEATEN TO DEATH BY MIGRANTS IN GERMANY: Devastated sister said goodbye to her brother in emotional verses!

Our search revealed that the article was originally published on the website Fenix Magazin, which followed the story of Igor Stanković, a young man to whom this headline refers to. The previously mentioned website has followed the story from the moment Igor’s sister shared that her brother disappeared on November 21, 2017, on her Facebook profile.

Two days later, Romana Stanković posted on her profile that Igor was found and that he is alive.

The same day an article about Igor Stanković, containing the information about where he had been, when he disappeared and when he was found, appeared on Fenix Magazin.

One day later, the same website published an article revealing the details regarding the case of Igor Stanković, a young man from Croatia who worked in Frankfurt. This article first speculates that Igor was beaten by migrants and that the police is offering a reward for information about the attackers:

Today, Frankfurt police announced they are offering 5,000 euros for any information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the brutal beating of a 22-year-old who ended up in a coma due to severe injuries.
According to the police report, the young man was attacked by a group of eight men aged 16-25.
Police say the young man was attacked by a group of men originating from North Africa and Southeast Europe, and that they had dark hair and were dressed in dark clothing.
The main suspect in the attack is a young man between 180-185 cm tall, and between 16-20 years old, with black hair, a narrow face, wearing a black jacket and black pants.

Although they wrote about the attack on an unnamed 22-year-old man in the same text, the website further distanced itself from their own speculation that this police report was related to Igor Stanković.

The police report did not state that these men attacked Igor Stanković, but the coincidence of the reports with the events surrounding the unfortunate young man, suggests that it was Stanković. The only difference is that the police say the attacked young man is 22, while Stanković is 21 years old.

Fenix Magazin had also repeated the speculation about the attack on Stanković in articles published on November 28 and December 21, when they also published what was the real cause for the victim’s critical condition:

In a recent interview with Fenix Magazin, his father said that a young man was found unconscious on a bench. According to him, the young man was lying on his back while he was vomiting, and the vomit kept returning to his throat which is most likely the cause of the coma.

Many of the websites who shared this article presented the speculations as absolute facts. By citing the disclaimer we already wrote about, Fenix Magazine distanced itself and stated that it was speculation and that it was possible that the migrants and the reward were not related to Igor’s case.

However, headlines which appeared on some media outlets, including Moj kutak whose article was reported to us by a reader, include the following:

KURIR and Moj kutak:
CROAT (21) BEATEN TO DEATH BY MIGRANTS IN GERMANY: Devastated sister said goodbye to her brother in emotional verses!

Večernji:
A brutally beaten Croat from Mainz has died. The culprits are from North Africa?

Max portal:
A missing Croat found in a park in Frankfurt. He’s in a hospital in a coma, beaten by asylum seekers

Considering that these websites presented the speculations of Fenix Magazine as absolute facts, though the article clearly states that it’s not confirmed whether the police report refers to the case of Igor Stanković, websites Kurir, Moj kutak, Večernji and Maxportal received fake news ratings.

We have contacted the police in Frankfurt and asked them if Igor Stanković had died after being attacked in the park, and whether the allegations that the suspects were “from North Africa and Southeast Europe” actually true. We also asked if there is a 5.000 euros reward for those who have information on the attackers.

The response we received from the police revealed that these were actually two different cases. According to information we received from Frankfurt police, Igor Stanković has not beaten in the park, nor was his critical condition related to any attack whatsoever:

The response of Frankfurt police

It’s clear from this response that Igor Stanković was not “beaten by migrants” as stated in the aforementioned articles. Following this analysis, the claim that a reward of 5,000 euros was offered for information on the Stanković’s case is also rated as inaccurate.

Websites which portrayed the speculative writing of Fenix Magazin in their headlines as facts have been given fake news ratings. Fenix Magazin itself, as a news source, received a rating for misinformation and manipulation of facts because it presented two different events as being related to one another – even after learning the real cause of the young man’s critical condition from his father’s statement. Also, the other websites who wrote about the alleged connection of migrants and the police reward to the case of Igor Stanković received the same ratings.(raskrinkavanje.ba)