On November 19-20th 2017, 2 men walked from Horgos, Serbia across the Serbian-Hungarian border and were caught by 2 border police officers near Harkany, Hungary. The men expressed their intention to seek for asylum, and the police called for several more (6-8) police officers with what were described as 2 big police vans. The men were transported to a nearby police station. They explained that they left their home country because they were convicted for crimes without proof and adequate trials.
At the same time 10 other men crossed the border by car, and were caught by what were described as Hungarian border police somewhere near the apprehension point of the 2 men. They were also transported to a Hungarian police station near there where they were interrogated.
At the police station, several police officers wrote down the personal details of the initial two men mentioned, their route and destination, and the men again expressed their intention to seek asylum. The police accused them of being smugglers for the other group of 10 people, but the men denied it. Then they were taken to separate rooms, where the police violently assaulted them. According to the interviewee, he was beaten by 3-4 police officers who punched him on all parts of his body and in the face, for what he estimated as about 10-20 min. At the same time they asked questions, for example where he came from and what he knows about the group of people, he answered truthfully, but the police accused him of lying and beat him even more. In the second room, the other man was treated similarly.
Afterwards the police finished filling in their papers. They handed out the documents and the men were asked to sign them, the police also took pictures of the men, but no fingerprints were taken. After about 4-6 hours at the police station, the men report being transported in a big police van to the Serbian-Hungarian border near Kelebija. At about 5pm., the group of 10 people were picked up from the police station where they were interrogated. At the border, at about at 6-7pm., the police ordered all 12 men to go back to the Serbian side, so the men ran away and walked back to Horgos, Serbia.