The group of seven were walking through Croatia when they saw lights which either came from a flashlight, or a camera fixed on the Slovenian side of the border river to Croatia.

Soon after, six officers in black Croatian uniforms arrived. They shouted at them:

“Sit down!”

Then, the officers kicked them in the back of their legs to force them to the ground. They had two large German shepherds with them which were barking and jumping at the individuals.

They searched the seven of them and took their personal belongings, including €300. Afterwards, they were loaded into an estate car. None of them was asked for personal details, nor did they sign any documents, or receive any form of processing. They were driven in cramped conditions for four hours until they arrived West of Velika Kladuša.

When the car stopped, they had to get off and found six other officers dressed in black and wearing balaclavas waiting for them outside.

“No face, all masks.“

At once, all six of them started beating the group of seven. They beckoned the men in pairs and then attacked them from all sides. At some point some officers were restraining the individuals while the others used regular and electric batons to hit them. It was during these assaults that one individual suffered severe ligament damage and muscular contusion to his wrist.

As they crouched, suffering from nausea and the shock of the assault, the officers took the phones they had stolen from them and smashed the screens with their batons in front of them. They didn’t return the broken phones and just ordered the seven of them to go back, gesturing towards Bosnia.

The group walked back to Velika Kladuša (BIH), severly wounded.