Skip to content
Support our work

His clothes were taken off and thrown into the water and was left freezing in the forest at night.

Date & Time 2024-09-29
Location Sremska Rača, Serbia
Reported by Collective Aid
Coordinates 44.909583, 19.297806
Pushback from Bosnia
Pushback to Serbia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved no
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 18 - 53
Group size 29
Countries of origin Afghanistan
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 7
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, pushing people to the ground, electric shock, forcing to undress, destruction of personal belongings, taunting
Police involved 4 Bosnian officers wearing a dark blue uniform with Policija written on the back, 1 Bosnian police car , 3 Serbian officers from the Gendarmery, 1 Serbian police car

The respondent, a 53-year-old man from Afghanistan, reported a pushback from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to Serbia which took place on the 29th September 2024.

The transit group of which he was a part consisted of 28 other Afghan men who were from 18 to 29 years old.

The group was attempting to cross the border on the Sremska Rača bridge, which is still under construction and located next to the railway Rača Bridge. This led to the group arriving at the middle of the bridge which is where 7 of the 29 people were apprehended by 4 Bosnian-speaking men, who the respondent identified as Bosnian policemen based on the uniforms they were wearing and the vehicle they were driving. 

They asked those apprehended: “Why are you coming into Bosnia?” and proceeded to hit them. Afterwards, they were forced to lie on the ground face down. The Bosnian police reportedly stripped the respondent of his shoes and all his clothes, except for his underwear and socks. The respondent said that his phone, which contained 100€ in the back of the case, was taken by a policeman and thrown into the river below, together with all his clothes. Meanwhile, the officers taunted him, “Look at this, watch this”. The respondent described being very cold because of the forced stripping and in pain because of the gravel on the floor digging into his skin. The policemen also made use of an electric taser – which was around the length and double the width of his forearm in size. With this, he was tased on the back of his legs and his lower back. The respondent said that he still has scars on his buttocks from the tasing. After these acts of violence, they were grabbed by the arm and dragged back over the border into Serbia. After this, the respondent and the 6 other people started running, but because of his age, the respondent could not run far and was separated from the rest of the other people in the transit group.

Half a kilometre away from the bridge in Serbia, 3 men the respondent could identify as Serbian police officers from the Gendarmery found him and started kicking him in the waist and lower back, causing further injuries. With the words “Go, go!”, they eventually let him go and he ran further into the forest.

After this interaction, he was left freezing in the forest, which is why he knocked on the door of a house where the owner gave him a pair of boots. He spent the night sleeping in the Serbian “forest” about 3 kilometres away from the bridge. He returned to the bridge in the early hours of the morning, where he found one member of the original transit group who was also pushed back to Serbia. The pair continued towards Bosnia: on the way, the other man fell into a hole in the bridge, where he reportedly broke his leg. The respondent carried him on his back the rest of the way.