On November 27th. 2017, 22 men from Pakistan, some minors, started walking in Serbia. They wanted to reach Croatia by passing through Hungarian territory and were stopped by about what they described as 30 Hungarian police officers, with three police cars at about 2.30pm., in the forest. The men expressed their intention to seek asylum. The police officers beat them with hands and sticks, and kicked some of the men, also the minors. The police officers were male and about 20-40 years old.

They transported them to a what they described as a Hungarian police station (the men didn’t see where they drove). At the station several police officers searched their bodies and belongings. They checked their money and mobile phones. They interrogated the men, took pictures, wrote down their personal details and asked them to sign the papers. No fingerprints were taken or written documents given to them. The men explained their reasons for needing asylum and told them about the difficult situation being stuck at the Serbian-Hungarian border. The interviewee mentioned his medical problem. He suffers from polio that causes pain in his knees. He asked for a doctor but the police did not answer.

The men stayed at the police station for more than 12 hours. They asked for water and food after the tough journey across the borders, but they did not get any. The next day on the 28th. the police declared that the men would be deported back to Serbia. They transported the men in a police car for about 1 hour, to the Serbian-Hungarian border near Subotica. They arrived at around 8pm. After the arrival the police violently attacked them once more and ordered the men to go back to Serbia. The men returned to Serbia. When the interviewee arrived in Subotica, he suffered from pain in his legs so he had to consult a field doctor, who checked it the next evening.