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Shot at, beaten with 'wooden tools', fingers bent backwards.

Date & Time 2024-09-25
Location Pirot, Serbia
Reported by Collective Aid
Coordinates 43.155783, 22.585352
Pushback from Serbia
Pushback to Bulgaria
Taken to a police station yes
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 10
Group size 31
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention denial of access to toilets, denial of food/water
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 10
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), gunshots, theft of personal belongings, bending POMs fingers backward
Police involved 10 Serbian border officers with border police badges, 2 Serbian police cars (a blue Volkswagen Crafter and a white and blue Peugeot Boxer), 1 Serbian Border Police car (White and blue Volkswagen Golf)

On the 25th of September, 2024, a group of 31 Afghan men, including 1 minor at 10 or 11 years old, were traveling together in the back of a vehicle in Pirot, Serbia after recently crossing the border with Bulgaria. The two respondents, both Afghan men, described that they were attempting to leave Pirot when two police officers suddenly began to shoot at their vehicle. 

The location at which their vehicle was shot is roughly pinpointed to be close to the Srpskih Vladara road. 

The respondents confirmed the perpetrators’ identity as part of the Serbian border police directorate (Uprava granične policije) using images of uniforms and police badges. They could not recall the type of firearm being used.

To evade the police, the driver of the vehicle jumped out of the car and ran away, leaving the car rolling by itself with everyone else inside. The police reportedly continued to shoot the car. Fortunately, no one inside was injured.

When the car stopped, all members of the transit group were apprehended. They waited for 5 minutes before 10 other people – whom they believed were police officers – arrived in 4 cars. They wore plain clothes and came in unmarked cars.

The entire group was taken to a local police station where they were detained for the night. The respondents explained that despite telling the police officers ‘We haven’t had food for 3 days’, they were not provided with anything to eat. Moreover, they were denied access to the toilet.

The police took the phones from the transit group, which they did not return. Only one man was able to hide his phone so that the police could not find and steal it.

The next morning, the group was informed they would be taken to camps, but instead, they were driven back over the border to Bulgaria. On the journey, the respondents explained that when they tried to speak to the police, they would violently beat them using what was described as ‘wooden tools’. The beatings were so severe that subsequently two members of the group were left unable to walk with others supporting them so they could stand.

They expressed to the police that they were looking to go to Europe, but this was met with more violence, grabbing their fingers and bending them backward. There were 8 police officers present during this journey, and the respondents explained that they all wore the Serbian border police uniforms as they had previously identified. Whilst 6 of them spoke what they assumed was Serbian, 2 were speaking in English to the group.

When discussing the vehicles used during these incidents (both their initial interaction with police and when being driven over the border), the respondents identified three different cars used by police: a blue Volkswagen Crafter and a white and blue Peugeot Boxer (both typically used by Serbian police), and a white and blue Volkswagen Golf (typically used by Serbian border police). It was unclear as to which vehicles were used at what time. 

The respondents explained that the entire group was simply left at the border with Bulgaria. As one person still had his phone with him, he was able to use his GPS to guide the group back into Serbia, which they said was approximately 14 km away.