On 15th of September at 10:00 a group of six Moroccan men in transit approached the train station in Sisak (HR). Croatian regular police in blue uniforms with short sleeve button down shirts (with sewn in Croatian flag) spotted three of the men from the group. The respondent, and two others, were less than 20 meters from Sisak train station, but while trying to enter the train station they were captured by Croatian police. Two officers were outside of the ticket booth in the train station and two were inside vans outside of the train station. In total two Croatian police vans were present.

Upon apprehension the respondent asked for asylum three times. He stated:

‘I ask them “Help me, I want asylum in your country,” but they [Croatian regular police] tell me “No. No asylum.” Then they tell me “No water. No food.” They just ask me two questions “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going?” That’s it. Just two questions.’

The three men were ordered into one of the police vans. They sat on benches on either side of the van and had no seat belts. The respondent and companions were denied water by the officers. There was no translator present. The van drove the three men from Sisak to border of Croatia with Bosnian. The respondent described the location as close to the Bosnian border town of Velika Kladuša.

At the border the three men were unloaded from the van by the Croatian police. The officers took the respondents’ three phones, three sleeping bags, three backpacks, and three pairs of shoes. In addition, one of the officers used pepper spray, directing it onto the respondents. The respondents were then hit on the back and shoulders with batons by several of the officers present and forced towards BiH territory.

The three respondents then walked for two hours back to Velika Kladuša with no shoes, and having had all their belongings confiscated.