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The group saw police dogs running after them

Date & Time 2021-03-06
Location Knin, Croatia
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 44.86670678, 15.762025
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved yes
Men involved yes
Age 15 - 45
Group size 8
Countries of origin Somalia, Ethiopia
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved unknown
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), dog attacks, forcing to undress, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 1 police van

The respondent started his journey with 18 other people, leaving from Sarajevo, BiH. The group consisted of 5 women and 13 men, most of them under 20 years old. In Bosanko they went to buy some food before they walked towards Croatia. To reach Croatia, they chose to cross the Dinara Mountains, which the respondent described as very steep and difficult to cross. 10 members of the group decided to turn back to Bosnia, before reaching Croatia.

After the remaining group had passed the mountains, they continued on a road to the city Kovačić, Croatia. In the following days, it was raining so much that they could not immediately continue their journey. Therefore, they decided to rest and hide in the forest for three days. After the three days they had finished their food and all the water they were carrying in their backpacks. To buy food, the group members continued to walk to the city of Knin in the southeast of Croatia (44.046458, 16.203386). While walking on the main road D1, they were stopped by a police car. Masked policemen stepped out of the car and asked them where they were going.

The respondent stated that the entire group were forced into the police van and transported to an abandoned house in an unknown location outside of the town. Upon arrival at this house, the men and women were reportedly struck by the police officers. Then the group entered. Inside of the house the men had to stand in one corner, the women in the other. The men and women had to remove their clothes and to hand over all their belongings (including phones, powerbanks, food) to the officers. The women were allowed to leave on their underwear, while the men had to remove it.

The respondent stated that the moment of taking out the clothes in front of the police officers and the other group members was really embarrassing for him. The group members had to throw their clothes in one corner of the room, where they were then searched by the officers. After the clothes have been searched by the officers, the group members got back their jackets and trousers, while the officers kept the other valuables.

The respondent was the best English speaker of the group. Therefore, he was regarded to be the group leader. One officer took him behind the building. At first, the officer shared a cigarette and a coffee with him. The respondent describes that he took some sips of the coffee, as he was really thirsty since they did not have access to drinking water for some time. The officer asked him which of them was the group leader. When the respondent answered that he did not know, the officer got violent. The respondent stated that the officer grabbed him by his collar and threatened that if he did not answer, he would have to go to jail for 10 years.

He tried to explain to the officer, that his good knowledge of English did not mean that he was the group leader. After some time of verbal exchange, the respondent was allowed to go back inside. In the night, the police officers brought the group to the Bosnian/Croatian border, in the area close to Bihac, BiH.

By the border, there were two other police cars, which had dogs inside. After the group members got out of the car, the officers told them to walk very fast to Bosnia. After some minutes, the group saw police dogs running after them. While trying to run away, the sister of the respondent fell down to the ground. The respondent tried to help her up. At that moment, one police dog bit him in his lower back. He was, fortunately, wearing a big jacket, which meant that the teeth of the dog did not touch his flesh. The group continued running. Some other group members fell down. With dogs still behind them, they had to immediately get back up again to continue their run.

At another point, one police dog attacked another group member and bit into his leg. Another member fell and injured his leg. Despite some getting injured, they all continued running. It took the group 6-7 hours until they reached the city of Bihac in the morning. They were really exhausted, as they had had to run for a long time and did not have any water or food with them. On the day of the interview, the group member who had fallen and injured his leg was still unable to walk.