Skip to content
Support our work

I don't understand why

Date & Time 2020-09-15
Location 42 Road, Croatia
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 44.92124644, 15.60290676
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 23 - 23
Group size 80
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 1 police woman; 7 police men
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), dog attacks, forcing to undress, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved Eight Croatian officers wearing all black

On September 14th, a group of approximately 80 adult men and minors were pushed back from Croatia Bosnia near Bihać. The primary respondent making this report was a 23-year-old from Afghanistan.

In the days prior, he and his group ran out of food and water while making a transit attempt through Croatia. After two days without eating, they decided to turn themselves in to the police. They waived down a car on the D42 Road in Croatia at around 9:00 pm and asked the driver to call the police. He did so.

After some time, a total of eight officers, including one woman, arrived to the scene. The police who arrived wore black shirts and trousers, but no black masks. At this location, the men were robbed of their possessions including mobiles and money as well as their sleeping bags and rucksacks. Their clothes, except underwear were also taken from them.

Then they were ordered to get into several vans, described by the respondent as ‘deportation vans’, which drove them back to the Bosnian border with Croatia, near Bihać. The respondent described that they were incredibly crowded and that he believed there were at least 30 people cramped into his van.  When they reached the border, the men were beaten with batons. They were told to run to Bosnia, however, the man giving this testimony said, this time they could not run, because they did not have shoes and were accordingly beaten more.

A police dog – a large, dark, German shepherd was also loosened to chase them. At least two members of the group were bitten, an adult and a minor.

As he finished making this report, the young man said, “It is so cold, I don’t understand [why they robbed and beat us, when we turned ourselves in and did not resist]” – at that time, two days later, he had clothes, but nothing to keep him warm at night.