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They don't respect humanity, sometimes they beat us so hard, they don't care about people and refugees

Date & Time 2021-09-02
Location Grabarska (45.146280,15.771334)
Reported by Border Violence Monitoring Network
Coordinates 45.14628, 15.771334
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 22 - 37
Group size 7
Countries of origin Afghanistan, Iran
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 19
Violence used exposure to air condition and extreme temperature during car ride, theft of personal belongings, reckless driving
Police involved 8 special police officers, 4 police officers in blue uniform and 7 other police officers in black uniforms with balaclavas

On 1st February 2021, the respondent and his group, consisting of 7 people from Iran and Afghanistan, crossed the border between Bosnia and Croatia in the area of Šturlić. The respondent stated that they walked for eight days in the snow passing by a minefield and they were apprehended on 9th February at 8 PM in the area of Modruš by 8 officers wearing green uniforms, presumed to be special police officers, on the E71 road. Once the presumed special forces stopped the group on the move, they called the police station and after twenty minutes a white van driven by police officers in blue uniforms arrived.

Around 9 PM they were loaded into the van and taken to a police station. The respondent stated that during the journey the police drove speeding and braking abruptly and one of them vomited several times, he also stated that it was very hot inside the van and impossible to breathe.

The drive to the police station took 20 minutes, presumably the Ogulin police station.

Once they arrived at the police station, the same police officers who drove the van allegedly checked their bags and took their phones and power banks. The respondent claimed that the group only received back their empty backpacks with some food.

After an hour spent at the police station, a van with two more police officers but with the same blue uniform arrived. The group was loaded into the van and driven to the Bosnian border. After two hours of driving, around midnight, they were reportedly taken out of the van to an area along the border where there was a white van with 7 other police officers in black uniforms with balaclavas, presumably the intervention police.

The respondent stated that they were in the border area near Grabarska (coordinates: 45.146280,15.771334), when the police shouted “Now GO GO to Bosnia”. The transiting group ran along the border walking for 5 hours towards the area of Sturlic.