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Our problem is with army, they want to kill us you know

Date & Time 2022-01-07
Location Horgoš, Serbia
Reported by Collective Aid
Coordinates 46.1758898, 19.97755659
Pushback from Hungary
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 20 - 31
Group size 20
Countries of origin Afghanistan, Morocco, Tunisia
Treatment at police station or other place of detention photos taken
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved
Violence used kicking, pushing people to the ground, forcing to undress, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 1st respondent: 2 soldiers dressed in green + one car. 2nd respondent: soldiers dressed in green and wearing Czech flags on their shoulders, one police bus

In the early morning of the 1st of July 2022, a group of men was violated and their belongings stolen before they were pushed back from Hungary to Serbia.

This report was taken with several respondents. First a 31 years old Tunisian man described the violence he suffered during his arrest. Then, another 2 20 years old and 25 years old Tunisian men met the first one right before their collective pushback.

The first respondent explains he started the journey from Horgoš, in Northern Serbia, crossed both border fences, and walked about one kilometer into Hungary. At 3 am he was found by what he identified as the military who told him to stop, which he did. He described there were two soldiers, the first one pushed him to the ground and the second one kicked him in the face with his boots.

While he was on the ground, they reportedly undressed him, even taking off his underwear. They found 200 euros in his pockets, which they kept, and his phone which they broke and threw away. He was alone at this point and explained he could not see if the officers were Hungarian or not because he was being beaten. He described that he was then brought by car to a place on the border, close to Horgoš 2 border crossing “where the trucks stop”.

There he met more people who had been apprehended around the same forest that same night, including the two other respondents of this testimony. The second respondent described a bus that the police used to collect all of the people who were apprehended and bring them to that location at the border. He shared that this night they encountered officers wearing Czech flags and adds that a person was kicked in the ribs, “some got their phone broken, some their money stolen”. “They don’t like the Moroccans and the Afghans and the Tunisians. When you say you are Moroccan they say Ah Morocco, hashish! and they beat you. Yesterday there was an Afghan man with long hair, they took him by the hair and hit him, hit him, hit him again”.

The third respondent adds “they want to kill us you know, they wanted to kill him”. “They attack our religion, our book, they don’t respect religion even.”

Before they were pushed back, the officers took pictures of all of them individually. They were forced to cross the border back to Serbia around 5 am on the 1st of July 2022.