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They saw us on camera and waited for us. We tried to hide but they already knew.

Date & Time 2022-12-21
Location around road DJ682 located at the crossing point of the Hungary-Romania-Serbia border
Reported by Collective Aid
Coordinates 46.1100119, 20.2530548
Pushback from Romania
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved no
Age 20 - 35
Group size 4
Countries of origin Syria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 3
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 3 Romanian border police officers, 2 vans

The respondent is a 22 years old man from Syria. On the 21th of December, 2022 around 7pm, he was pushed back from Romania to Serbia, together with 3 more people, all of them aged between 20 and 35 years old, and from Syria.

The transit group crossed the border from Serbia to Romania from a place close to Majdan. According to the respondent, they walked for five to ten minutes before they were apprehended by three people in uniforms, 2 men and 1 woman who the respondent referred to as «Romanian officers» coming out of two vehicles described by the respondent as «duster vans». Regarding the two men, the respondent declared that he recognized one of the «Romanian officers», who is often mentioned in reports given by other people on the move and is described as bald with an earring and reportedly known for his regular use of violence. He described the second one as «an old man with hare lip and blue eyes».

According to the respondent, the first Romanian officer caught them on camera while the group was crossing.

« They saw us on camera and waited for us. We tried to hide but they already knew. »

The three officers apprehended the group a few minutes after they crossed and pointed at them with a flashlight. They reportedly asked where the people from the group where from and stated: «No Romania, don’t come here». Then, the respondent described that the officers asked them for their belongings, to take off their jackets and started to beat them for what felt like fifteen minutes.
According to the respondent, the officers then unpacked their bags, and took 2 of their phones, power banks and 150 euros that they did not return.

« He opened the back of the car and and took a stick to beat us »

After that, the respondent reports a second instance of violence from the bald uniformed man, which took place while the group was asked to re-pack their bags. The respondent shared: « we took anything we can, but he was beating us with a stick (…) the woman was laughing at us ».

Then, the group was reportedly pushed into the car and beaten again inside of it, before being driven straight back to Serbia, around road DJ682 located at the crossing point of the Hungary-Romania-Serbia border, by the «old man» and the woman, while the bald officer went back to, the respondent thought, watch the cameras.