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The family asked for asylum, but the officer ignored them

Date & Time 2018-07-09
Location 4km from Luciča, Croatia
Reported by Balkan Info Van
Coordinates 45.34078319, 15.47939779
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved yes
Men involved yes
Age 1 - 26
Group size 3
Countries of origin Syria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 3
Violence used no violence used
Police involved 1 arresting officer in civilian clothes (jeans and jacket), 2 commando officers in black uniforms

On September 7th. 2018, A family of three on the move, had been walking through the Croatian countryside for seven days. The father and mother took turns carrying the one year old daughter who was too young to walk. At dawn on September 7th. 2018, the family was walking near the town of Lučica. It was twilight, around 03:00, and the three people moved on a track that ran round the village. From the shadows a man dressed in civilian clothing (jeans and jacket) stood up from a chair and ordered them to stop. Then he approached, showing them a Croatian police badge.

The man told them to wait for a police car to arrive. The family asked for asylum, but the officer ignored them. The father told him he would do what was needed for an application and that the police could take their fingerprints. But the officer only replied “no”.

After fifteen minutes a standard white patrol car arrived with two officer dressed in black driving the vehicle. The men conversed with the officer in civilian clothing and then loaded the family into the back of the car. They were driven for approximately 2 hours until they arrived at the border near to the road crossing of Maljevac which permits traffic into V.Kladusa. They were taken out of the car in an abandoned area near the Glina (river) and told to walk back to town.