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They threw him around between the police officers and kicked and punched him with hands and feet

Date & Time 2017-07-06
Location Šapjane (close to Slovenian border), Croatia
Reported by Rigardu
Coordinates 45.51921182, 19.08500508
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved no
Age unknown
Group size 5
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention photos taken
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 15
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking
Police involved 15 policemen from Croatia, all in uniform, 3 wearing balaclavas

On June 7th 2017, 5 people from Afghanistan, 4 of them minors, were caught in Sapjane, a Croatian village close to the border with Slovenia. They were in a train container from Šid. The police found them at a border control, and they took 3 of them out and started beating them. The 2 others saw this and tried to run away, but they were caught and the police put hand cuffs on them. There were about 15 policemen, 3 of them were wearing balaclavas, the masked police officers were the ones who were doing the beating.

All were Croatian police and wearing uniforms. They asked who spoke English and when one person told them that they spoke a little English, the police started beating him up first. The interviewee describes that the police ‘played football with him’, they threw him around between the police officers and kicked and punched him with hands and feet. The police also beat him with full water bottles. Another person asked if he could go to the toilet and the police started to beat him and told him to shut up.

Afterwards, they were taken to a police station, where the police took pictures of them and told them that they would be sent to prison for 7 days. The interviewee describes that the 5 Afghans started to beat their heads against the wall in order to avoid being sent to prison. Subsequently they were pushed-back to Serbia, without being sent to jail. When they got out of the police van at the Serbian border, the police beat them further and then let them go.