On October 22, 2018, a group of seven men left Bosnia and crossed the border to Croatia by foot with the intention walking through to Slovenia until Italy. On the afternoon of November 2, the group had progressed to the E65 highway, outside the village of Rapain Klanac (HRV), close to the town of Brinje (HRV). At approximately 2.20 pm, the group was approached by two large Croatian officers who yelled at them to stop.

The seven of them followed their orders and stopped. Then, the two officers approached the men further and began beating them with their fists and kicking them, one by one. One of them was hit on his head, his legs and his arms.

“Shoes… [begins to mimic kicking] and boxing [begins to mimic punching].”

Later, a police van arrived to the scene and the group entered the van after being kicked at the same time in pairs of two:

“Two two kick, two two kick, two two kick.”

During this exchange, the officers confiscated the bags, phones, and money of several individuals. €130 were taken from the respondent and €900 from another individual. With that money, the group had intended to pay a smuggler in Slovenia.

They were then made to sign a document and were photographed as well. They were not provided a translator, so they were not able to understand what they signed. Further, they were asked how long they had stayed in Bosnia and how long they had been walking in Croatia.

Then, on November 3 at approximately 2 am, the group of seven was brought back to the Bosnian border close to Vojni (HRV) and Velika Kladuša (BIH), and were told:

“Go!”

Once they were taken out of the van, running to the Bosnian border and kicked by the officers, swearing at them:

“Fuck you!”

“One one kick, one one kick.”

After that, the group walked back to Velika Kladuša.