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The car was driving very fast, some people were vomiting

Date & Time 2018-09-13
Location Crnotice, Slovenia, 10 km far from Italian border
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.560391, 13.914747
Pushback from Slovenia
Pushback to Bosnia, Croatia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 17 - 24
Group size 5
Countries of origin Afghanistan, Pakistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 5
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), theft of personal belongings, reckless driving
Police involved 5 Croatian border officers, wearing black clothes

The group of five men were walking for ten days in total, first through Croatia and then through Slovenia, after they had left Velika Kladuša (BIH). When they were in the Slovenian interior, 10 km away from the Italian border, they were detected by Slovenian officers. They took their power banks, chargers, money, and the new phones from some of them. They told them that they would return their belongings to them later, which they didn’t. After that, they were driven by a van to a police station in Slovenia, where they were detained for 24 hours. At the station, they all asked for asylum in Slovenia, but got the response:

“In Slovenia, asylum is closed.”

The next day, the five of them were transported with a small car to Croatia. They were handed over to the Croatian officers and then transported by a big van to the Croatian border officers:

“The Croatian van was very big. There were no windows, it was a criminal car. The car was driving very fast, some people were vomiting. Sometimes, there was oxygen and sometimes it was closed. There were two fans. But this is very pressure.”

Close to the Bosnian border, they had to switch to another Croatian van from the border officers who were in charge of their push back to Bosnia. The van stopped close to Sturlic (BIH), and five border officers told them to get off the van. First, the officers broke their phones with a gun and then started to attack them physically:

“They [police] made a row. Three [officers] standing on the right site and others on the left site. They said to us two people to come out of the car and once they were out, they closed the car, and they were beating us while we were walking through that row. And after, another people. Beating with rubber stick. They were beating me to my back and front site. They don’t care where, they just beating … they said to us: ‘Do not come back, not come back!’.”

The respondent has been stuck in Bosnia for four months and claims he has tried to reach Europe during this time five times. He reports that he has been beaten, robbed, and pushed back to Bosnia each time.