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Sent back wounded from Hungary

Date & Time 2020-07-23
Location Subotica
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 46.1005467, 19.6650593
Pushback from Hungary
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 16 - 20
Group size 3
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved Unknown
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), destruction of personal belongings
Police involved Unknown number of Hungarian officers

On the 23rd of July, three young men crossed from Serbia into Hungary and were violently pushed back by Hungarian authorities. The group was comprised of two 20-year-old males and a 16-year-old unaccompanied minor.

The young man who was the primary respondent for this report could not give the precise location of where they crossed the border initially, only that it was near a forested area. After crossing in to Hungary, the group walked on foot for approximately three hours  before they were approached and apprehended by Hungarian authorities. The respondent believed that they were initially spotted from the air by a plane or a drone.

Upon encountering the group at around 6:00 pm, the Hungarian authorities were described as becoming physically violent – hitting all three of the young men and commanding them not to speak. The officers destroyed their mobile phones and everything else of value which they had with them.

During this encounter with the authorities, the respondent received a blow to the head with a baton and was bleeding badly (see image).

Gash after 1 week

After this, the group-members were loaded into vehicles brought to the scene by the Hungarian authorities and driven back to the border with Serbia, near the Serbian city of Subotica. There, the Hungarian officers took them out of the vehicles and led them towards a door in the barbed-wire fence which separates the border between Hungary and Serbia. They were told to walk though it, after which the door was closed and the men began to walk back towards Subotica. On their way, they came across a petrol station, which they stopped at and asked for help. There, an employee called the local police who later arrived and arranged an ambulance for the men.