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One of the officers began to hit the respondent with a baton: four times on the head, once on the eye and once on the bottom.

Date & Time 2021-07-10
Location Near Sombor, Serbia
Reported by No Name Kitchen
Coordinates 45.84569241, 18.84783755
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age unknown
Group size 1
Countries of origin Algeria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 4
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, theft of personal belongings
Police involved 4 Croatian police officers, 1 police van

On the 7th of October 2021, an Algerian man, probably aged between 24-28 was pushed back from Croatia to Serbia. He had been staying in Zagreb for a number of weeks, sleeping rough in Mirogoj cemetery in the north of the city. At around 2 am on the 7th of October he was awoken by 4 police officers. One of the officers began hitting the respondent with a baton, four times to the head, once to the eye, and once to the bottom. He suffered a bruised and swollen eye and numerous bruises and cuts to his head. The police have been described as wearing blue uniforms with “police” written on them in Croatian. There was one woman officer and the other three men.

Injuries to the respondent's eye.

Injuries to the respondent's head.

The respondent told the officers he was an asylum seeker but was ignored. They stole from him two telephones, 100 euros in cash, and some of his clothes. He was left with only a pair of leggings, a t shirt, a thin hooded jumper, and a hat. The temperature was around 11 degrees Celsius this day and would fall as low as 0 the week after.

Location of Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb.

The officers then drove the respondent in a police van to the border with Serbia near Sombor. While he was exiting the van they kicked him twice to the legs, shouting “go”. He then walked to Sombor early in the morning. Due to having had his phone stolen, he could not contact his family to ask for money or assess his location or check the time. In the morning the Serbian police evicted a number of the squats in Sombor, and the respondent was brought by bus to Šid.

The area surrounding Sombor.