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They also spent the night there, but were denied water and food

Date & Time 2018-12-23
Location Glina, Croatia, at the river Glina that separates Croatia and Bosnia, near Velika Kladusa
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.197248, 15.79864
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia, Serbia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 17 - 27
Group size 15
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention detention, personal information taken, papers signed, denial of food/water
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 20
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, insulting, water immersion
Police involved 20 officers dressed in black without identification and wearing balaclavas.

A group of 18 men from Afghanistan were chain pushed back from Croatia to Bosnia, then from Bosnia to Serbia.

The group of 15 started their trip on December 20, 2018, 9 pm. They crossed the Serbian-Croatian border by foot and continued walking through the Croatian forests for three days. At some point, they got lost and one of them went to the main road in order to find the direction to Slovenia, but somebody saw him and called the police. While the whole group was walking on the main road, a red civilian car arrived and two men asked them to sit down.

“It was just normal car and they ask us to sit down on the road.”

Five minutes later a white Croatian police van arrived, picked them up and drove them to a police station in a small village, the respondent asserted.

They spent five to six hours there, during which they were asked for their names and family names and had to sign a document. They also spent the night there, but were denied water and food. On the next morning, they were driven to the border between Croatia and Bosnia, although one individual asked to be deported to Sid as he came from Serbia. After a four-hour drive, they arrived at the border. When they got off the van, 20 Croatian officers, dressed in black uniforms with no identification marks and wearing balaclavas, deported the group. They beat them with batons and kicked them as the respondent called to mind. After that, they pushed the 15 individuals into the river Glina, near Velika Kladusa. 

They spent the night in the forest, making a fire to dry their clothes. Afterwards they walked to Velika Kladusa and asked for bus tickets to Serbia, but the vendor denied it because of “police problem”.

Hence, they walked back three days to Bihać (BIH). During this walk, people were giving them food and clothes. They arrived to Bihać, where they stayed for three days. They had no money, so one individual asked his family to send him some. The Bosnian authorities then caught them near the city center and drove them to a police station. The respondent again asked to be deported to Serbia.

After some hours in the police station, they had to enter another van and were driven for 15-20 minutes to the Serbian border:

“There is Serbia.”

They then took a bus to Tuzla and then to another city that the respondent doesn’t remember. From this city, they took a bus to Belgrade and then another one to Sid. They arrived there after 11 days, most of them sick.

The respondent claimed he has been deported 45 times: 38 times he tried by entering a truck and seven times by “taxi game”.