The respondent is a Syrian 25 year old Syrian man. On the 13th April at 6am he left an informal camp near the town of Sombor, in Northern Serbia, with a group of other 12 Syrian men. They walked for about two hours and at about 8 am the group tried to cross the Serbian-Hungarian border. The respondent states that while the group was crossing the border, they heard and saw a drone flying over their heads as well as a helicopter. The fear, says the respondent, began to invade the entire group.

At that point, 1 white van and 1 black van arrived on the spot. According to the respondent, 11 men in uniform were in the vehicles. 7 people were described as wearing a blue navy uniform with a red patch on the upper arm, likely matching the description of the uniforms usually worn by Hungarian Border Police. The other 4 people were described as wearing green camouflage uniforms.

As the respondent was descending the ladder he used to climb over the barber wire present on the Serbian-Hungarian border fence, the people in uniforms pulled the ladder out from under him. The respondent reflexively grabbed onto the barbed wire, seriously injuring both his hands.

He states that it was the officers wearing the green camouflage uniforms who took the ladder away from him as he was descending. After falling off the fence, the respondent reports that these same people were equipped with a megaphone with which they issued orders and insulted the members of the transit group.

According to the respondent, the officers further shouted at him in English: “sit down, sit down” “shut up and sit down” ” fuck you, sit down“. The respondent affirms:

They use all type of violence

Afterwards, the respondent recalls that the officers forced them to kneel one by one on the ground. All of them used a lot of physical violence against the group. Some of the officers beat them by punching them in the face, others by kicking them, and others used pepper spray against them. Some people on the move were thrown to the ground, kicked, and beaten with batons. The officers further broke peoples’ phones and sim cards.

We were beaten so hard, the police used so much violence against us, until they send us to the border.

After that, the group was split up. According to the respondent, 7 of them were loaded in a black van and taken to a place the respondent refers to as a “Hungarian prison” (the respondent could not remember additional information about its location), while the group to which the respondent belonged was placed in a vehicle that he describes as white, almost the size of a bus, and with the Hungarian flag on the front. The respondent describes the interior of the van as consisting of “many cells inside”. From the cell he was locked into, he could not see the rest.

In each cell there were reportedly three to four people. According to the respondent there were around 40 people in the vehicle. They stayed in the cells for a period that felt as at least 10 hours, without access to food and water. The respondent states that when the group asked for food and water, the officers replied: “shut up“, “fuck you“. Eventually, they were all pushed back around Horgoš at around 6pm.

The point where the officers released the group is described as located near a petrol station on the Serbian-Hungarian border where there is a big Hungarian police building, that he refers to as a police station (46°10’34.5″N 19°58’30.3″E). Before being pushed back to Serbia, the vehicle stopped there for a while. The respondent says he was taken to a first aid station where another person in uniform put medication on his wound.

The respondent says he was in a lot of pain. The interview ends with a question from the respondent’s side: “But why?”