They were beating us severely, as if they were beating animals.
| 07.01.2024 | Near Bogoyna, Serbia | Collective Aid | 42.8762506, 22.6721396 | Serbia | Bulgaria | no | no | no | yes | no | no | 2 | Morocco | 4 | beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, pepper spray, water immersion, destruction of personal belongings, theft of personal belongings | 4 Serbian police officers. Completely black uniforms with black face masks. More than one police car. Unknown how many exactly. |
The respondent, a male adult from Morocco, was walking on a highway from Belo Polje in Serbia to Pirot. He was together with a friend.
About 2 km from Pirot, the respondent described that several cars, recognized by the respondent as police cars, came and there were four individuals wearing uniform that resemble those of police officers. According to the respondent, the officers were wearing completely black uniforms and had ski masks where only their eyes were shown.
The officers forced the respondent and his friend into a car. They were both in the same car and the police drove for about an hour. The respondent reported that the car had tinted windows, so they couldn’t see where they were going. They were brought to the border close to Bogoyna. There they had to go out of the car. It was close to a river.
The police took clothes, shoes and other belongings from them and smashed their phones. After that, the police beat the respondent and his friend severely. The respondent said ‘’it was as if they were beating animals.’’ They were hit and kicked twice for what felt like fifteen minutes. The respondent got pepper sprayed in his eyes.
After almost two weeks, his foot is still swollen because of the kicking and the respondent has bruises on his legs.
After the beating the respondent and his friend were forced into the river. Where after they had to spend the night in the forest in Bulgaria.
