The officer said he would help them if they paid him money. They gave him all the money they had, which was 150 euros.
| 12.05.2021 | Subotica, Serbia | No Name Kitchen | (46.1028191, 19.6495744) | Incidents | Apprehension | Serbia | no | yes | no | no | no | no | 19 - 30 | 3 | Bangladesh, Nepal | property destruction/theft, forced undressing, Lack of Translation of Documents, Forced to sign documents, Threatening |
The people affected in this report are three men, 2 from Bangladesh and one from Nepal. They are 20, 21, and 26 years old. They were sitting in a park in Subotica in the afternoon, about 2 pm on the 12th of May 2021, when three men in civilian clothes approached them.
One of the men presented a police badge and asked the group about their documents. When they said that they did not have any documents, the police officers forced them into 2 civilian cars, pushing them on their necks even though the group was not trying to resist. Then they were taken to a police station next to the bus station in Subotica.
They were kept in the police station for about 4 to 5 hours. The officers interrogated them about what they were doing in Serbia, where they came from, and where they were trying to go. No translator was present, and the interrogation was conducted in English. Then the men in the group were forced to sign documents written in Serbian, which, as the police officers explained, were supposed to be permissions to stay in Serbia for the following 7 days.
After signing the documents, the group was let out of the police station. They decided to go to Belgrade by bus, but while they were waiting in the bus station, a different police officer in a uniform approached them.
He forced them to go with him to a small room in the bus station building, and after closing the door, told them to put all their belongings on a table. He destroyed one of their phones and tore up the documents that they received at the police station half an hour before. He said that the documents had expired, and now he would deport them to North Macedonia.
The respondent said that they all started to cry and asked the officer not to push them back. The officer said he would help them if they paid him money. They gave him all the money they had, which was 150 euros. But the officer said it was not enough, and he forced them to undress to search them; however, he did not find any more money on them. Then they were let out, but being robbed of all their money, they had to spend a night sleeping rough in a park in Subotica, waiting for their friend from Belgrade to come.