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They beat us with their feet, when people where lying on the floor!

Date & Time 2021-06-02
Location close to Prigorica, Slovenia
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.7135519, 14.7486515
Pushback from Croatia, Slovenia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 25 - 30
Group size 4
Countries of origin Morocco
Treatment at police station or other place of detention detention, fingerprints taken, photos taken, personal information taken, papers signed
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved unknown
Violence used kicking, pushing people to the ground, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 4 regular Slovenian police officers, one Slovenian police van, unknown number of Croatian police officers, one Croatian police van

On February 6th 2021 a group of 4 men from Morocco was pushed back from Slovenia to Croatia and from there to Bosnia. The group had left walking from Velika Kladusa and was arrested after 3 days of walking in a village 30 km from Ljubljana. In a spot, close to the train station of this village, Prigorica, 4 police officers reportedly approached the men in the street.

The two male and two female officers were wearing “the uniform of police of the city and were driving a Renault car”, described the respondent. The group was brought to a nearby police station in the Slovenian town of Ribnica. At this station, they were interrogated by one of these police officers. The respondent reported that their personal data, fingerprints, and pictures were taken. An Arabic-speaking translator was provided for the interrogation. The respondent claimed however that he had asked for a translation of the documents that they were asked to sign, and the translator was reacting impatiently and aggressively to his demand and did not translate them for him.

He said he therefore signed four documents without knowing what they were saying. The respondent also expressed his will to claim asylum, but there was no reaction to his request from the authorities. The group had to take off all their clothes to be searched but were authorised to put them back on afterwards. The respondent additionally claimed that the police officers took away their phones and money, as well as the good clothes they were carrying in their backpacks and that the officers

“beat us with their feet, when people were lying on the floor”.

After the interrogation, the respondent recalled that the group stayed in detention in the police station for two nights until Monday morning. Together with other people, that had been arrested over the weekend, they were brought to the Croatian border in a police van. At the Croatian border, the group was handed over to Croatian authorities and brought to the Bosnian border by them, where they were released and told to go back to Bosnia. The place where they left the vehicle, was in a forest close to the Bosnian town of Buzim. After crossing the border, the group proceeded to walk back around 30 km to Velika Kladusa.