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“… when I realised that I was going to be stabbed, I jumped into the river”.

Date & Time 2023-05-21
Location Evros River
Reported by Anonymous Partner
Coordinates 40.78691160424, 26.134891223575
Pushback from Greece
Pushback to Turkey
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved no
Age unknown
Group size 11
Countries of origin Iran, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Kurdistan, unidentified African country
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 7
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, pushing people to the ground, exposure to air condition and extreme temperature during car ride, water immersion, threatening with guns, theft of personal belongings, reckless driving, taping of mouths, religious discrimination, stabbing
Police involved 7 officers were involved in total. 2 police officers in plainclothes, 3 police officers in uniforms and 2 officers in army/camouflage uniforms. The police officers were Greek, while the army officers' nationalities were not identifiable by the respondent (he mentioned that he did not see a flag on a uniform). The vehicles involved were: 1 marked police car (Greek police), 1 unmarked white van.

The respondent, a 26-year-old Libyan man, reported that he was pushed back from Greece to Turkey via the land border on 21st May 2023. 

Regarding the respondent’s reported pushback, he stated that he was apprehended on the Komotini highway at approximately 10am on 21st May 2023, while driving in a car with two other men, both of whom were Algerian and aged in their 20’s.

The respondent stated that they stopped at a toll booth on the highway, and while they were paying the toll, two police officers reportedly pointed guns at their heads from the passenger window. He described the officers as wearing plainclothes, and without any coverings on their faces. One was described as bald and both as physically strong.  

The respondent reported that the officers then put the three men who were travelling in the car, on the ground, by the side of the road, and handcuffed them together. He further reported that at this moment the group expressed the will to apply for asylum in Greece, but that this request was ignored by the officers.

After seating by the side of the road for what seemed to the respondent to be approximately 1 hour, a vehicle that he identified as a police car arrived, which the apprehended men were obliged to get into. They were then reportedly driven by 3 officers wearing blue uniforms in the direction of the city of Alexandroupoli. The respondent reported that they were driven for what he felt like an hour and a half, and stopped on the side of a highway, near a forested area which he recognized as close to the city of Alexandroupoli.  They were then told to get out of the police car and into a white van. The van was reportedly unmarked and not clearly identified as a police vehicle.  

The respondent reported that the van was fitted with metal benches on which the men had to sit, with their hands cuffed behind their backs, resulting in discomfort and pain. He described that the two officers transporting them in the unmarked van were wearing camouflage uniforms. One officer had three stars on his uniform, while the other did not.   

The respondent reported that the van then drove around the region, stopping regularly to pick up more people. He estimated that there were 12 people in total who were apprehended by the officers and placed in this van.   

The respondent elaborated on the situation inside the vehicle, stating that with each new apprehension, the officer who had 3 stars on his uniform would inflict violence on the passengers. “…every time they put somebody with us [inside the van], one police officer […] gets into the back of the van, beats everybody and then gets out”.  The respondent assumed that the driver of the van was the other officer he had previously described as wearing camouflage uniform, but without any stars on it.   

He stated that he was severely beaten by the same officer multiple times. He further reported that the bodily harm inflicted was so extreme that he felt the intention was to kill them, not simply frighten them. “..they were just using everything to harm us physically…as soon as I hit the ground, this officer started beating me. It was terrible, terrible.  […] And at some point I realized that the intention of this guy is to kill, not to beat or to scare somebody”.  

He further implied – while speaking about one of the other men who was concerned about the money he had on him – that they knew they were being taken to the Evros river to be pushed back.  “..he was stressed about his money, that he will definitely lose once they get to the river”. 

Remarking on the conditions inside the van, the respondent described that there wasn’t any air in the van and that there was no light. “We couldn’t breathe properly and it was all dark”. 

The respondent reported that following the journey in the van, lasting for what he felt as approximately one hour long, they “got out at the river” [which BVMN understands to be the Evros river on the border between Greece and Turkey] and were subjected to further violence. 

He reported that on arrival at the riverbank, they had their mouths taped over and  their belongings were stolen. The respondent suggested that the reason for their mouths being taped over was to prevent the Turkish army on the other side of the river from hearing them.  

The respondent described that when the group was at the Evros river, individuals who he believed to be from the same countries as the group being pushed back, were employed by the Greek authorities in the actions of forcibly removing people on the move from the country.  

He reported that there were individuals speaking multiple languages involved in violence during the pushback, further elaborating that they had knives and guns, and were all covering their faces with balaclavas. He described these people as Afghani, Moroccan, Algerian, Palestinian, Iranian and Kurdish speakers and reported that there were approximately 13 of them involved in this incident. The respondent further described this group as “mercenaries”, and mentioned that “they work for the authorities because they offer them ‘khartia’ [official documents]”.

He reported that he believed that they worked for the Greek authorities because the group seemed to be communicating with the officer who had been with the apprehended men in the van, and appeared to be taking orders from him. The respondent reported that the officer who appeared to be in control of the events at the riverbank had a camouflage uniform with stars on it, but no Greek flag. This officer reportedly had an earring and was not wearing any kind of face covering. 

He further reported that he witnessed one man in their group being severely beaten on his head, by unspecified perpetrators with an oar from the dingy, by the riverbank. “They hit him on the head. They broke his head and it was terrible to watch”. 

The respondent further stated that he was stabbed three times with a knife in his thigh at some point during the incidents on the riverbank, resulting in injuries so severe that he was informed at a later date when he sought treatment in Turkey, that his leg may have to be amputated.  

He detailed his experience of the actual pushback, stating that the mercenaries who he believed to be working with the Greek authorities were “driving the boat, controlling everything”. As they were crossing the river, the people on the move were reportedly forced into the water by the mercenaries who threatened them with knives, because they had noticed that the Turkish authorities had seen them. He stated: “…we were 11 and they threw us in the middle of the river” .