Around the 14th or 15th of October 2024 at around 6pm, an individual in his twenties from Afghanistan crossed the border alone from North Macedonia to Serbia by foot. He couldn’t recall the exact date as he had been walking for so long and had gotten confused about the days. 

After crossing into Serbia, he had gotten in a taxi, asking to be taken towards a camp. He believes this was Presevo camp, though once again he was unsure due to his exhaustion at the time and because it was dark. 

They drove for around 30-40 minutes before the taxi was stopped by police. The respondent recalled the presence of 6 police officers. He said they all wore blue police uniforms, with ‘border police’ written on the arm. Additionally, he described a badge or emblem worn on their chests with ‘border police’ written in the middle and Serbian writing above it. When shown an image of Serbian police uniforms, he identified the uniforms shown below. He believes they were speaking Serbian.

They had two cars with them, which were blue and white police vehicles. He identified them as being, or as being similar to, Dacia Dusters. The police opened the door of the taxi which was when they first saw him. They closed the door on him, and spoke to the driver. 

Soon after, a police van arrived with 2 more police officers inside. The van was dark blue with no windows, and when shown more images of Serbian police vehicles, he said it looked like a Volkswagen Crafter, which is typically used by Serbian police. He was taken out of the taxi, put inside the van, and then driven with the police for 10 to 15 minutes.

They arrived at a place he described as an ‘intelligence service building’ with lots of rooms and police officers inside. Inside, they asked for his personal information such as his name and birthday, and then they told him they were going to take his fingerprints, but did not say why. He explained to the police that he did not want this done, and told them that he wanted to go towards Europe. Because he resisted the police’s orders, one of the officers kicked him in the chest. At this point, the respondent explained that he ‘was scared’ that from then on he complied with everything the police asked him to do. He gave his fingerprints, but still the police did not explain why he needed to. 

In reference to this incident, the respondent explained: ‘We are also humans […]. People shouldn’t behave like this with us. Treat us like humans’. 

At no point did the respondent express an intention to claim asylum in Serbia. 

The respondent believed he was held for around 30 minutes before he was put back in the same van and driven back over the border to North Macedonia. He believes they drove for around 20 minutes.

When they stopped, they told him to run away, pointing in a certain direction. As it was so dark, he couldn’t see anything and fell when he ran, causing him to injure his knee. He didn’t know where he was because his phone was off, he was alone, and he didn’t have any internet.