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They beat me so much with a tree branch and also with a baton; but worst of all, they took their belt and whipped me.

Date & Time 2021-06-09
Location In close proximity to Slovenian border, 8 hours by truck from a camp in Serbia.
Reported by Anonymous
Coordinates 45.52866963, 14.48625411
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 25 - 35
Group size 4
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention detention, papers signed, no translator present
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved Around 17
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, pushing people to the ground, exposure to air condition and extreme temperature during car ride, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings, reckless driving, Whipping on genitals
Police involved 5 Slovenian Border Police, 2-3 Croatian Police in jail, 2 Croatian Police drivers, 6-7 Croatian border police

The respondent reported that, on the 6th of September, four people from Afghanistan were caught by what they referred to as the Slovenian border police; he reported that the four of them were loaded in two different police cars, as he described them. Two of them were reportedly brought to an unidentified detention site where they were held for 3 days. After that, the respondent states that they were transferred across Croatia to the border with Bosnia where they report being brutally beaten by police before the group was sent over the border into BiH. Below is their full testimony:

The respondent states that he started his journey from a Serbian Camp (the respondent says that it was close to the Bosnian border, and he remembers that the name of the camp is “Shamsi”, which is presumably the Adasevci camp). There, he and the four other Afghans in his transit group entered a truck where they remained for 8 hours until they stopped at a place they described as close to the Slovenian border, in Slovenian territory. The respondent reports that it was 8 in the morning of the 6th of September. He stated that, as soon as they left the truck, what the respondent referred to as five Slovenian border policemen arrived. They reportedly split the transit group and put two in what was described as one police vehicle, and two in another.

The respondent says that he and the other individual he was with were taken to what they described as a police station. From this detention site, the group was driven to the Croatian border where the group was handed over to what they referred to as Croatian officers.

“We stayed 3 days in jail. We didn’t see any lawyer, they didn’t provide us a translator. They just gave us one bottle of water per day and some bread.”

The respondent continues:

“I asked for asylum many times. Finally, one policeman arrived and made us signing some papers. I really thought it was related to my request for asylum. I hoped for that, there are many problems in Afghanistan, there’s been war since long time, we cannot go to a proper school or find a good job there.”

After 3 days in detention and the handover to Croatian authorities, the respondent states that in the daytime he and the other person were put in another police car and driven close to the Bosnian border, near Velika Kladusa. He stated that two Croatian policemen were driving the vehicle. The respondent describes that they were driving recklessly and that they turned the air condition up to the maximum.

The respondent claims that after 6 hours inside the car they arrived at the Bosnian border – he says that he’s not sure about the duration of the trip, but it felt like a really long time to him. TThe respondent then relayed the violence he experienced at this point:

“There were 6-7 policemen, it was nighttime. They checked us and took all of our belongings: phone, charger, money and some clothes. They smashed my phone to the ground and forced me to bend and take it. I did it, and while I was bent over, they beat me so much with a tree branch and also with a baton. You can see how’s my nail (picture below). But worst of all, they took their belt and whipped me on my genitals.”

 

image showing one of the injuries caused by the beating

After striking them, he reports that the police made them run across the border. The respondent indicates that he did not try to see any doctor as he was feeling ashamed because the police had beaten him in his private parts. He is now feeling better, but he still has damage from the torments he received.