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The respondent's head was under the water while the officers were beating him.

Date & Time 2019-02-24
Location Lipovac, Croatia, in a forest on the Croatian side near the Batrovci border crossing
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.06165678, 19.09047928
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station unknown
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 16 - 18
Group size 4
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 13
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, water immersion, pouring water over one's head
Police involved 10-15 Croatian officers, 3 police cars

The group of four Afghani, between 16 and 18 years old, crossed the Serbian-Croatian border on February 23, 2019.

They left the abandoned factory Grafosrem in Sid (Serbia) late at night. They arrived around 2 am close to the Croatian border, near Batrovci on the right side of the highway, in a forest where the Bosut river passes by. When they tried to jump over the around 3,5 meter high fence, one of them hurt himself between his fingers.

Just after passing the fence, they saw a red light in a tree which turned out to be an x-ray camera. A few minutes later, three police cars arrived, carrying around 13 officers with the Croatian flag on their uniform.

“They all very tall and big.”

They four friends were caught and pushed into the river. The officers kicked them to make them stumble into the water. The respondent’s head was under the water while the officers were beating him.

At the end, they brought them back to the Serbian side and told them to leave.

The clothes and all the belongings of the four of them were completely wet.