The respondent is a 25-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was pushed back along with 2 other men also from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The group was aged between 25 and 35 years, they went to Croatia along with another group of 15 people for Cuba aged from 3 to 45 years including 5 children. The group of 3 men from Democratic Republic of Congo was pushed back from Croatia to Bosnia on the July 16th, 2022 at around 11 am.
According to the respondent, the group was intercepted by the uniformed men in the Kordunski Ljeskovac region. They were stopped by 7 men whom they identified as officers as 4 of them were wearing black uniforms and a gun on the belt and driving a white van that had “Policija” written on the side and 3 of them were wearing light blue shirt that had “Policija” written on it and were driving a grey Jeep.
The respondent reported that at first, all the group asked for asylum protection. The group was then separated. The 15 people from Cuba went on the side and the 3 men from DRC were ordered to sit down and remove their t-shirt.
According to the respondent, the police officers shouted “shut up now and fuck you” as they were body searching the 3 men. The respondent reported that the police officers took their phones, power banks and personal items and then pushed them abruptly into the van. One of the three men asked again for asylum and was replied “No, shut up, today you go back to Congo”.
Once in the van, the respondent describes a 30-minute ride and a very reckless driving that provoked chocks and bruises on the 3 men. At the arrival, near by the Bosnian border, the group went out of the van and one of the officers shouted “Now you go and you never come back”
The respondent said “why the white people can go and black people cannot? It was very racist, we all asked for asylum and it was only denied for us. I thought Europe was a land of democracy and human rights.”