They told me to go to the checkpoint and ask there, if I got rejected, I should either settle in Bosnia or get the hell out.

The respondent is a trans woman between 18-25-years-old* from an unspecified country* who was pushed back from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia.

 

During the night of the 26th or 27th of August 2026, I crossed the border between Bosnia and Croatia. I set out from Livno in the evening and arrived at the village of Gljev between 5 and 6 a.m., which is where I was caught. It was an ordinary grey car (I don't know the make, I’m not really into cars). Two officers got out, a woman and a man. I was a bit scared and immediately flustered. They were wearing dark blue uniforms and had weapons, pepper spray, and batons on their belts. I didn't want to talk to them, so I said I had a sore throat, hoping they would think I was a local and drive on, but that didn't work. They told me to take everything out of my backpack and started communicating using a translation app (unfortunately, I don't have the exact messages, as I didn't have internet access and the history wasn't saved).

 

They asked where I was from, and told me to get out my passport. I showed it to them, and the young woman took it away, and held onto it while talking to someone. I spoke with a man and told him I was a trans woman fleeing conscription, punitive medical treatment, and other circumstances. They asked where I got so much money (I had about €200), I replied that I had been working illegally in my home country (I didn't mention being a sex worker, so as not to embarrass myself). They searched my belongings and asked if I had any drugs or weapons, I had neither. I showed them my vial of hormones, and a woman Googled what it was. They asked why I hadn't obtained them legally and where the rest of my friends or family were, they also asked about my route and who had given it to me. I had to explain and show them maps to prove I had found the route myself.

 

I told them I wanted to seek asylum, but they ignored it and said they were sending me back to Bosnia and Herzegovina. They told me to go to the checkpoint and ask there, if I got rejected, I should either settle in Bosnia or get the hell out. They claimed the language was similar to my mother tongue and I could find a job, but I had just finished school and had never worked anywhere, I’d only ever lived on the street. Then a large vehicle arrived and they put me inside, it was a truck with bars. They put me in the back and placed my backpack and phone somewhere else. It was dark in there; halfway through the journey, they turned on the light and a fan, which made it freezing cold, since it was morning. I was being tossed around the cabin with nothing to hold onto, and it was filthy and smelled awful. We drove for a long time on a terrible road; I kept bouncing up and down and getting thrown from side to side.

 

They dropped me off in a field (approximate coordinates: 43.664807, 16.923754) and gave me some kind of flatbread, probably because my stomach was growling and I hadn’t eaten for two days. They gave me water, too, but it was very warm and smelled unpleasant. These were different men, two older Croatians dressed in black. They dropped me off in the woods and told me not to come back or try to make any requests in the EU. They said that if I returned, I’d be jailed and fined, then sent back, and I’d never be able to enter the EU again (they likely meant a lifetime entry ban); they tossed me 5 euros and told me to keep walking straight ahead. I walked for about five or six hours without knowing where I was going; I barely managed to find a path and spotted a road coming down the mountain. It was scorching hot, and I was exhausted, having spent the entire previous night walking uphill along a winding mountain road.

 

I didn't know what to do; I had no money left, so I had to return to my home country. Now I don't know what to do, I can't go back to my parents' place because my mom wants to have me committed to a clinic and forbid me from living as a woman.

 

*The respondent's age and country of origin have been withheld to protect their anonymity.