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No Mafia, No Boss, No Ali Baba

Date & Time 2021-06-29
Location Bistrica Near Road 217
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.22011978, 15.95733096
Pushback from Slovenia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 20 - 20
Group size 6
Countries of origin Bangladesh
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 17
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), exposure to air condition and extreme temperature during car ride, threatening with guns, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 15 Slovenian Policeman (Civil Police and Traffic Police) and 2 Croatian Policeman

The 6 Bangladeshi men had been walking as a group for 10 days before they were discovered by police officers in Slovenia at night. The respondent believes that he and his group came to the attention of civilian police in the village of Bistrica on road 217. They were ordered to stop by two policemen dressed in civilian clothes with their guns drawn. The respondent recalled that the police officer accused him several times of being part of the mafia and asked him to immediately show the Google Maps map they were working with. To which the respondent stated several times: „No Mafia, No Boss, No Ali Baba“.

More and more civilian police officers and traffic police officers showed up at the location. So that in the end, there were more than 15 police officers on the scene. The officers were wearing blue uniforms which said “police” on the back.  The police officers did not believe the respondent when he claimed to not be part of any Mafia and subsequently started to strike the group with punches.

The respondent describes that he sat down on the ground in order to try to protect himself with his hands over his head and did not try to defend himself. The officers then began to search him and took his mobile phone, power bank, money, shoes, and backpack. Also, all valuables were taken from the other group members. All group members then had to lie down facing the ground. When the group was lying on the ground, they were beaten on their legs, arms, and backs with batons by the police officers.

The reporting party asked: „Why you fighting?“. To which the policeman only replied that they should not come to Slovenia again. While the group was lying face down on the ground, the authorities talked to the group. One of the authorities told the group that it was their country and they do not want Muslims in Slovenia. To this, the respondent replied: „Me No Muslim Christian, just want go Italy, Germany work“.

The policeman who was also first on the scene told the group that he would shoot them next time if they showed up here again and that they would be taken not only to Bosnia but to Greece. When the respondent asked if he could sit up because his back was hurting, the authorities strictly refused. After two hours of lying face down on the ground, the group was asked to sit in the back of a
Slovenian police van. The reporting person recalled that they had to sit very closely together in order to fit in there. Also, it was very hot in the back where they sat. When he asked if they could open a window, one of the authorities replied with: „No next time you not come here“.

At the border with Croatia, they had to change into a Croatian police van. In this car, they were then driven to the Croatian Bosnian border. The respondent does not know exactly where they were taken. He only remembers that they had to walk for 4-5 hours through a densely overgrown forest before they hit the next big road back in Bosnia.