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All the men were repeatedly hit by sticks, including the three minors, while they were trying to walk back across the border.

Date & Time 2018-11-08
Location Forest near Vojnic, Croatia
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.294605, 15.776925
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station unknown
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 16 - 29
Group size 13
Countries of origin Pakistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 8
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), insulting, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 6 police officers (wearing blue uniforms) and 2 special border forces (wearing a black suit).

A group of 13 people-on-the-move from Pakistan started from makeshift camp in Velika Kladuša and crossed to Croatia, from where they wanted to continue to Slovenia. When the men were walking in a forest, approximately 40 km into Croatia, they were detected by 6 police officers. The men clearly stated to the police that they wanted to apply for asylum in Croatia, but the police officers did not respond to this and refused to talk to them. The officers took all the men’s mobile phones, power banks, stole their money, and pushed them back to the Bosnian border:

They said give me mobile, but they did not give it to me back. The police did not speak to us otherwise. They also stole our power banks, and money, 2200 euros from one, 50 euro from another, and from other 100 euros. Afterwards, they took us in this big car to the border and deported us. When we wanted to speak to them, they said to us to shut up and kept telling us many bad words, like ‘picko matre, picko matre’.

None of the men knew the route of the journey to the Bosnian border as the van in which they were pushed back had no windows. This caused a lack of oxygen inside the van so that the men had difficulties breathing. Besides 6 police officers, two special forces soldiers in black uniforms were also present during the pushback to Bosnia. Once the whole group reached the Croatian- Bosnian border, the men were told to get out of the car. The two black-uniformed men started physically attacking them with plastic sticks, and shouting at them to go back to Bosnia. All the men were repeatedly hit by sticks, including the three minors, while they were trying to walk back across the border. Seven of them had severe injuries mainly on their backs and legs. After this violent incident, the whole group walked for three hours until they reached Velika Kladuša.

After the interview, the men agreed to be checked and treated by the first aid medics from the No Name Kitchen team. After the examination of the men, No Name Kitchen medics observed second and third grade contusions at the back, legs, and stomach of 7 young men (including the minors) caused by the physical attacks by non-sharp objects. Medics further observed a minor rib fracture of one man caused by a physical aggression. (see photos below)