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Please, I want to stay in Italy!

Date & Time 2022-12-01
Location Bari, Italy
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 41.1327435, 16.8668087
Pushback from Italy
Pushback to Greece
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 24 - 24
Group size 1
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention detention, no translator present
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved
Violence used insulting
Police involved No police involved, only 5 vessel security staff

The respondent is a 24-year-old man from Afghanistan, described being below a truck onboard a vessel that left from Greece on the 11th of January 2022. The ship described as being a ‘Cargo’ model departed at approximately 9:00 am from the Greek port of Patras and arrived in Bari at night of the next day at approximately 01:00 am – after 16 hours of transit.

When the vessel arrived at the port of Bari the respondent wanted to get out from underneath the truck. He explained that five vessel security officers noticed him and started running towards him. The security officers shouted at him “sit here“. The respondent said, “Please, I want to stay in Italy“. Reportedly, the security officers took him from the ‘Cargo’ ship to a Grimaldi vessel while holding him violently on his neck and on his arms. According to the respondent, the security officers then took away his mobile phone.

“In Bari, I cut my arms in front of the securities asking for help. They saw blood but didn’t help me.”

The respondent described that the security officers took him and locked him in the bathroom onboard the vessel. Still in Bari, the respondent cut his own arm in the bathroom, out of desperation. He asked the security officers for help and said, “I want to go to Italy“. The respondent explained that security officers saw the blood but did not help him. Reportedly, the securities said, “It is no benefit for you”.

“They took me and locked me in the bathroom until I arrived in Patras. While I was in the bathroom, one person unlocked the door and insulted me, my mother, and my father.”

The vessel left Bari around 2.30 am on the 12th of January 2022. The respondent said that in total he spent three days on the vessel until he arrived back in Patras on Saturday, 15th of January, at around 5.00 am. He reported that he was locked in the bathroom until his arrival and that during one night, while he was sleeping in the bathroom, one person unlocked the door, insulted him multiple times, and locked the door again.

“They gave me very little food, one day almost nothing. […] I spent all the time closed in the bathroom.”

After the arrival to Patras on the 15th of January 2022, the respondent was given his phone back. An officer in the Greek port reportedly took him into the station for about 20 minutes. He reportedly asked to have the respondent’s phone. The respondent unlocked his phone, and the officer checked it and asked him questions. He also wanted to know how many people-on-the-move were currently living in the old factory next to the harbour. After that the officer let the respondent go.

Self-harm on the respondent’s arm. 
Cuts on respondent’s arm