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"They hit everybody, no matter small or big!"

Date & Time 2021-10-26
Location Romania close to Setschan in Serbia.
Reported by Collective Aid
Coordinates 45.3665658, 20.772417
Pushback from Romania
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 10 - 18
Group size 15
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 10 policemen 2 Police cars
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), insulting, forcing to undress, theft of personal belongings, photos taken
Police involved 10 Romanian border officers

On the 25th of October, a group of 15 people on the move from Afghanistan started walking to the Romanian border at 6 pm and arrived at an abandoned house in an abandoned area around 10 pm. At 3 am they left the place to walk to and over the border. After one hour the Romanian police officers – wearing blu uniforms – found them and stopped them. The police took the phone, headphones, chargers and money of the people on the move and insulted them (“Afghanistan motherfucker”). The respondent claimed that the police officers told the people on the move to remove the code of their phones. Then they had to take off their clothes and they were only in underwear. The transit group had to sit and lie for two or three hours outside in the cold without access to water or food. During that time the police beat them with their batons. They hit them on the back, feet, hands, and in every part of the body they could reach. One guy was standing fixed on the arms by two policemen and another one hit him with the police baton in the belly. The young men passed out for ten minutes.

Then the police brought the people back to Serbia, near Setschan. Before that they took photos of their face, for that they had to line up.

The police did not provide medical help for the transit group. The respondent claims that the police officers spoke a little bit of English to them and did not offer a translation. The majority of the people on the move have been minors around 15 and 16 years old. The people on the move were not allowed to talk.