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They both asked for asylum but the Slovenian police denied it, shouting:"Taliban, Taliban!"

Date & Time 2019-03-17
Location Podljubelj, Slovenia, Croatia-Slovenia border area with mountains surrounding them. The border police station was in front of them
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 46.42837628, 14.26660312
Pushback from Slovenia
Pushback to Croatia, Serbia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved no
Age 15 - 17
Group size 2
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention photos taken, personal information taken, papers signed, no translator present
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 6
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, insulting
Police involved 4 Slovenian border officers, dressed in blue, no special force. Slovenian flag on the arm and one small white car. Unknown number of Croatian police officers in a gray car

The two people-on-the-move were chain pushed-back from Slovenia to Croatia, then directly from Croatia to Serbia.

The respondents claimed that they were already deported between 16 and 17 times, sometimes from Croatia and sometimes from Serbia. This report is the first time that they were pushed back from Slovenia.

The two brothers from Afghanistan (aged 17 and 15) went on game at 9 pm on March 17, 2019. The smuggler opened a fabric behind the door of a truck with shears and locked it after they had climbed inside the truck. Without food or water they stayed there for three days.

They crossed the Croatian and the Slovenian border but were caught by the Slovenian authorities on March 20 at 5 am, when the truck passed through the border scanner. The officers opened the door of the truck and then opened the fabric of the truck with a knife. Due to the early hour it was very dark and through the blizzard, they saw a mountain to their right and left side and the border police station in front of them.

The Slovenian officers caught them without beating them. They were regular police, described as being dressed in blue uniforms with the Slovenian flag’s emblem on their arms, no special force. They asked the two respondents if they spoke English, to which they said they did not. The respondent can’t tell if they spoke Slovenian, as he could neither understand anything nor recognize the language.

They both asked for asylum but the Slovenian police denied it, shouting:

“Taliban, Taliban!”

The Slovenian police took five portraits of both of them holding a paper saying their names.

“I didn’t know what written on paper.”

They took the photos inside the truck with two different cameras. Then, they got off the truck and took more photos.

Afterwards, they went to the border police station and the Slovenian police asked the brothers for their name, their father’s name, their nationality, and some other details and took more photos of them, but didn’t take fingerprints. They had to sign a document which they also couldn’t understand. There was neither a translator nor a lawyer present. Further, the officers took their phones and power banks.

Shortly after, they told them to enter a white car and drove them for two hours till they arrived at the Croatian border. There they switched to a grey car from the Croatian authorities and their phones and power banks were returned.

After, the Croatian officers drove them to the Serbian border and beat them up when they got off the car. They kicked them and punched them in the back, on the arms and chests.