On July 29th, a transit group comprised of 9 Iranian people (4 adult males, 4 adult females, and a single four-year-old child) crossed into Croatian territory from Bosnia-Herzegovina on foot. After some time making their way into the Croatian interior, in the afternoon, the group was approached and apprehended on the Ž3266 road by two Croatian authorities who were described as wearing uniforms which match those worn by the Croatian special police. These two officers stopped the group and shortly after contacted other officers by radio.
After some time, six additional Croatian officers arrived to the scene. At least one of the officers drove a prisoner transport van to the location. The six new officers where described as being “regular police” who wore light blue t-shirts. These officers loaded the group into the van and drove them back to a secluded area along the Croatian-Bosnian border near the Bosnian town of Sturlic. Once they arrived to this area, the group had to wait here for wait around 4 hours without being given water or food. At around 8:00 pm, several officers let the women and kid cross the border, which was marked by the Korana river. The adult males in the group, however, were told to sit and wait.
The group claimed that the officers that were at this location were all covered in black clothing and ski-masks. The officers started striking the remaining men with a stick on the back and one of the group-members was even hit in the face. One group-member was thrown into the river. One of the officers fired into the air and told them to run across the borderline.
During their time with the Croatian authorities, the group-members’ personal belongs were destroyed including their backpacks, sleeping bags and phones.The respondent for this report showed signs during this interview of Croatian police violence on his back and he had a bandaged arm.