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Go back to the jungle!

Date & Time 2022-07-13
Location Border near Velika Kladuša
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.19563743, 15.79266653
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved yes
Men involved yes
Age 2 - 30
Group size 7
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 5
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other)
Police involved 5 officers with black uniforms, 1 police van

The respondent is an Afghan man in his mid-30s. He fled Afghanistan with his family because of the Taliban. He suffers from PTSD and already lost two fingers on one hand in his home country. The transit group was composed of his 26 year old wife, his three children, between 2 and 7 years old, and his two nephews, 16 and 17 years old.

The group left from Velika Kladuša on July 12th and was reportedly pushed back from Croatia to Bosnia on July 13th.

On the night between the 12th and 13th the family had to sleep in the forest. The respondent stated that the family was apprehended by the police after two days of hiking in the forest. According to the respondent, 5 officers in black uniforms who arrived in a van apprehended them. Then, they were all loaded into the police van and driven back to the Bosnian border.

When they got out of the van, in the middle of the forest near the Bosnian border, the respondent recounted that they expressed their intention to seek asylum in Croatia. As a response, one officer reportedly took a branch from the ground and hit him in front of his children. The respondent added that the officer also hit the respondent’s nephew, a minor. Then the officer shouted:

“Go back to the jungle!”

The respondent asked if at least his wife and children could go to Zagreb to ask for asylum. The officer raised the branch again in what the respondent described as a threatening manner, and just shouted: “Go!“.