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Then two officers took batons out of their car and without saying anything, they started to beat them, telling them not to come to Croatia again

Date & Time 2018-11-30
Location Županja, Croatia, near a petrol station in Županja
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.0782261, 18.69703921
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 17 - 20
Group size 3
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 4
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), destruction of personal belongings
Police involved 4 officers wearing blue uniform (one of which with stars on it), 1 police van

A group of three left Serbia and soon after crossed the border to Croatia. After four days of walking through the forests the three of them, including two 17-years-old minors, were arrested between November 30 and December 1, 2018, close to a petrol station in Županja. Four officers in blue uniforms initially arrested two of them at 6 am and brought them to a police station close by. One of the officers is described as being around 45 years old, with stars displayed on his uniform.

The officers asked them what they were doing in the forest and who their leader was. The officers also checked the GPS data on their phones. While checking the phones, one officer pointed at one individual, declaring that he was the boss. Then two officers took batons out of their car and without saying anything, they started beating them, telling them not to come to Croatia again, and shouting questions. Other officers told the violent ones to stop. Nevertheless, the violence occurred for about ten minutes and the one individual being accused of being the boss began to bleed.

Afterwards, the officers told them not to come again to Croatia, and that Afghani and Pakistani people weren’t welcome there.

“No Pakistani, no!”

The group was asked again about the identity of their boss as well as their destination country. One of them answered he wanted to reach France, to which one officer answered:

“No, you will not. It is my job to stop you people from coming in Europe.”

At the end of the conversation the officer told them they would bring them to Šid, and then beat them again for 10 minutes.

At 2 pm, the third individual who had evaded capture came to the petrol station where the other two had been apprehended before. The respondent stated his thoughts that the owner may have called the authorities which arrived shortly after him to arrest him. He was pushed-back to Šid between 2 and 4 pm, while the other two were pushed-back earlier at 8 am in what they described as a large car. Their money and phones were taken, the latter were smashed. The two of them didn’t ask for asylum.