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"I am going to Italy" and they beat me

Date & Time 2021-04-04
Location Near Maljevac, Croatia
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.19332644, 15.78729187
Pushback from Croatia, Slovenia
Pushback to Bosnia, Croatia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 32 - 32
Group size 1
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention fingerprints taken, papers signed, no translator present, denial of access to toilets
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 14
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved In Slovenia: 2 Slovenian army soldiers at the apprehension moment. 2 Slovenian police officers and one van at the deportation moment. In Croatia: 8 Croatian border police officers and a van at the Slovenian border. 2 Croatian police officers and a van at the pushaback.

The respondent is a 32 years old man from Afghanistan. On the 3rd of April, he crossed the border from Croatia into Slovenia and was detected shortly after at 11:00 am, after two or three hours walking in Slovenia. He was traveling with a small group of people, who were able to avoid the apprehension by running away so the respondent remained alone.

During the apprehension, two Slovenian uniformed men, described by the respondent as “army soldiers”, were involved. According to the respondent, they took him to a police station, where he stayed for around five hours. In the police station, he was detained alone in a room. There, he was reportedly provided only a biscuit and a glass of water. The respondent described that the officers took his fingerprints and forced him to sign a document that he did not understand because it was written in Slovenian and he was not given a translator. Although he did not ask for asylum, he requested to stay in Slovenia, which was denied by the officers, who told him that he would be ‘deported’.

At around 5:00 pm, two Slovenian uniformed people, a woman and a man, reportedly took the respondent in a green van to the Croatian border, which was a 30-minute ride. The respondent described that, when they arrived at the border, Croatian officers were present, and they told him to come to them.

He crossed the border to Croatia at 6:00 pm on the 3rd of April. At that point, he described meeting 8 Croatian uniformed people, two women and six men. The officers reportedly checked everything and took 50€, his camp document, his jacket and jumper, the belt, and shoelaces from him. They left him just with his shoes, trousers and a t-shirt. According to the respondent, the police also took the paper he had to sign in the Slovenian police station and they tore it in front of him. Next, the authorities asked him why he had come to Croatia, to which he answered that he wanted to go to Italy. Then, right after, one of the officers reportedly struck him several times in the back with a baton, while another officer was holding the respondent.

Later, the Croatian police took the respondent to a police station in a white van. The respondent does not remember where the police station was, but it was 45-minute ride from the border. He arrived there at around 8:00 pm. In this station, he was locked in a small room, where the officers gave him some water and half a piece of bread. He highlights that he was very hungry and that the amount of food he was given was not enough. Furthermore, he claims that he was not allowed to use the toilet, even though he explicitly asked for it.

After two hours in the police station, at 10:00 pm, another two police officers put him into a van and drove between three and four hours to the Bosnian border. He was reportedly pushed back to Bosnia, into a forest between Maljevac (Croatia) and Velika Kladuša (Bosnia), on the 4th of April at 2:30 am. It was night and he could not see anything. He started walking until he found a blanket and decided to sleep, waiting for the day light.