Simone Zito, a 38-year-old high school professor in Turin published a post on Facebook on January 4 claiming he was arrested with two other colleagues by authorities in Bulgaria at the end of December "for saving human lives".

The three teachers are activists of the informal Balkan Route Collective that aids migrants.

The post was first published on January 3 on the collective's website and was signed "Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche Alto Vicentino".

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One of the migrants 'in initial stages of hypothermia'

Zito wrote that, "taking advantage of the Christmas holidays, we took a break from work and studies to travel to Bulgaria. It was December 24. After 40 hours of traveling and 12 hours stranded in Croatia due to epic traffic, we received a request for help a few hours after our arrival."

The group reached a wood where three young Moroccans had asked for help and one was in a state of "semi-consciousness in the initial stages of hypothermia", Zito wrote.

"There was terror in their eyes when we said that, in order to call an ambulance and save their friend, the Bulgarian police would arrive. It took a long time to reassure them that, thanks to our presence, they would not be beaten up but taken to a detention center for two weeks and then to a camp where it would be possible for them to apply for asylum in Bulgaria," the post said.

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'Detained in an empty, very dirty room with open window'

According to the post, the three teachers were taken by security officers (two were reportedly handcuffed) to the "police station of Malko Tarnovo" where they were "detained in an empty, very dirty room with a window that had no frame and thus couldn't be closed."

The post went on to say that the police officers "wanted to know who gave us information, whether we are part of an organization and many other things. They used intimidatory remarks such as 'Here in Bulgaria we know how to bring back memories', threatening to arrest us for illegal trafficking of migrants and uttering vulgar provocations."

The group's members said they were held for an entire night in precarious hygienic conditions ("this is probably where migrants are detained, and we try not to think about what can happen in those places when there are no witnesses," the post noted) before being released the following morning.

"They asked us to sign papers written in Bulgarian, but we refused. We are quite sure we saved three people and that we had to spend time in jail for this reason. This is how Europe goes nowadays. We remain at peace with our actions," wrote Zito.

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