Skip to content
Support our work

They ran in the darkness and could not see, [so they] ran directly into the ravine which preceded the river and fell into it

Date & Time 2019-07-02
Location Jarce Polje, Croatia, between Jarce Polje and Vodena Draga, near the Slovenian boder
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.43501281, 15.38805117
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station unknown
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 22 - 31
Group size 6
Countries of origin Morocco, Algeria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention photos taken
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 4
Violence used kicking, insulting, pepper spray, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 4 Croatian officers, 1 police van

On February 7, 2019, the group of six was apprehended between 3 am and 4 am by four Croatian officers around 10 km far from the Slovenian border.

The officers shouted at them, hit them and used pepper spray. The group was made to wait in the woods and the officers called another car. While they were waiting, the officers took photos of them holding a paper in front of them where their name and surname were written on. One phone was taken away at this point, another one was broken. Further, the officers took an unidentified amount of money from the group.

Finally, a van arrived and drove the group of six back to the Bosnian-Croatian border for about an hour.

At the border there was a street which ran alongside an empty river valley. All six of them had to get off the van at the same time and run towards the border. The officers shouted at them and hit them with a baton. One officer used his boot to kick them. One of the individual’s teeth were hurt from the kicking. Since they ran through the darkness and couldn’t see anything, the group ran directly into the ravine which preceded the river to fall into it at one spot.