On December 20th, around 11 am, a group of 5 people from Cuba were apprehended by Croatian authorities and subsequently pushed back to Velika Kladusa, Bosnia Herzegovina. The age of the group member is 4 people 20-25yo, 1 person 16yo.
The respondents describe that they were walking in the forest after having crossed a river in the Croatian territory, one woman in the group gets injured on the left foot and was impossible to keep walking. When the police officers found them, the respondent claims the presence of two policemen with blue uniforms with the Croatian flag on them and the police badge number hidden with the belt in a VW blue-silver civil car. The respondent describes they ask the police officers to apply for asylum and the need for medical attention for the injured woman. The respondent describes that the police officer called someone by telephone and after the call, used the walkie talkie to communicate with someone else. After a few minutes, 3 to 4 police officers arrived with a white van and two blue cars. These police officers had black uniforms. The respondent describes the police officers asked them to hand over the phones and command the group to enter the van. The respondent recall that during the drive the van stopped other 4 times to let other groups enter in it. The groups were composed of 5 (the Cubans), 2, 2 and 5 people, mostly from Afghanistan, Syria, Nepal, and Pakistan for a total of 14 people inside the van. The respondent also recalls that when the van stopped to let the others group enter, in some cases, the police kick the group members that were entering in the van. They also said that the driver was very abrupt on propose and made POMs fall into the van. The respondents describe that at the border there were around 8 police officers with the black uniform and the presence of 1 white van (the one they were in), 2 blue cars, and the civil car mentioned above. The respondent describes the police officers give them back the belonging previously taken. Any type of medical care, instead, has not been given to the injured woman.