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They made us get in line and took the money from each one of us

Date & Time 2021-04-25
Location Close to Lohovo (BiH)
Reported by Anonymous Partner
Coordinates 44.74229749, 15.91728523
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 17 - 23
Group size 7
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved unknown
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, pushing people to the ground, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 1st intervention police (number unkown), facemask, black uniform; 2nd police (number unkown), camouflage patterned uniform, 1 police van

The two respondents were in a group of fifteen people, walking through Croatia. Close to the route E65 the police detected them. This occured on the morning of 25th April 2021. Some people from the group managed to escape. But from the fifteen, seven were caught by police.

They were beaten with batons and kicked by several police officers in black uniform, wearing facemasks and Croatian police emblems (matching that of Intervention police). Backpacks, phones, powerbanks, jackets and shoes were taken from them and burnt by the police. The officers also took pictures of the group and made them sit next to the road. From there they were picked up by other authorities, wearing military uniforms. The seven people where crammed into a van which already contained 5 people of another transit group from Nepal.

“There was bad air, almost no oxigen”

After several hours of driving from 09:00 in the morning till 15:00 in the afternoon, the police let them out of the van at the border near Lohovo (BiH). Before letting the groups walk away, everyone had to get in line and one of officers who had been driving searched each one of them and took their money. They were then pushed back across the border to BiH.