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"They were beaten so hard that blood even came out of their noses"

Date & Time 2024-08-12
Location Estimated 15km from Kelebija, Hungary
Reported by Aid Brigade Sarajevo
Coordinates 46.19013838106, 19.460567964167
Pushback from Hungary
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age unknown
Group size 7
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention fingerprints taken, photos taken, personal information taken, papers signed, no translator present, denial of food/water
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, insulting
Police involved 3 un-uniformed men - one of which was armed. Driving a black Range Rover. At least 5 Hungarian police officers wearing dark blue uniforms , 2 black mini-vans Serbian police officers, unknown number 2 Serbian police vans

At 11 pm on the 12th of August, 2024. A transit group of people from Afghanistan – including several minors – were walking in the direction of the Hungarian border with Austria. The respondent could not recall the exact location, but he described having walked approximately 2-3 hours from the Serbian-Hungarian border in Kelebija 2 days before, where he then slept for 2 nights. He described staying in a forest near a village but did not know the name.

After 20 minutes of walking, they came across 3 people dressed in plain clothing (they looked like civilians) but he thought they could be police officers in civilian clothes as one person from the group was armed. It wasn’t confirmed who this would have been, as they didn’t wear anything identifiable, and neither did their vehicle – which was a plain black Range Rover – have any insignia.

The group attempted to hide from the three men but were quickly found. Two men from the group started running away but were chased,  and once caught they were beaten. The respondent described that:

‘They were beaten so hard that blood even came out of their noses’

Whilst the rest of the group were sitting on the floor the three men began to beat them from behind. The respondent told us that they were punched and kicked by the men, though it was the two who tried to escape who had the greatest injuries inflicted upon them.

‘Their shoes were even worse than batons’

The three men encircled the transit group and continued to shout, insult, and act aggressively towards them.

After the beating, the three men made a phone call and after 2 hours a black mini-van arrived with 5 policemen. The respondent identified this group as Hungarian police wearing dark blue uniforms and confirmed this when he was shown a photo of their uniform.

A second van then arrived with more Hungarian police, though the respondent could not specify how many. The group was put into this vehicle. They drove for around 1-1.5 hours before reaching the Hungarian-Serbian border. They were then made to wait until 5 am when Serbian police picked them up and brought them to a police station.

Here their fingerprints were taken and they were made to sign papers that they could not understand, as none in the group spoke Serbian. They were not provided a translation.

They were taken to a room with at least 20 people and held until the evening. They asked for food and were initially denied it, but the respondent said that after continually begging for food they eventually received something small to eat. They were only able to access water through the bathroom tap.

Two Serbian police vans came to take everyone from the room, which took them all to camp Presevo near the North Macedonian border with Serbia. Their photographs, fingerprints, and IDs were taken.