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Their bags were hidden under the van, so that they had to come back and face more beating to get their belongings back.

Date & Time 2019-04-25
Location Zvecaj, Croatia
Reported by [Re:]ports Sarajevo
Coordinates 45.3944033, 15.4352855
Pushback from Croatia
Pushback to Bosnia
Taken to a police station no
Minors involved yes
WLTI* involved no
Men involved yes
Age 17 - 25
Group size 3
Countries of origin Algeria
Treatment at police station or other place of detention
Overall number of policemen and policewomen involved 9
Violence used beating (with batons/hands/other), destruction of personal belongings
Police involved 9 Croatian officers (first 2 in black uniforms, then 3 in blue shirts and dark-blue trousers, then 4 with ski masks). One white van.

The group of three men (two of them aged 17 years, one aged 25 years) entered Croatia in the night between the 20st and the 21st of April 2019 in the region of Velika Kladusa (BiH). After four days of walking, they reached a wooden bridge on the Mreznica river near Zvecaj (HRV, coordinates 45.3944033, 15.4352855) on 25th April, at around 2:00 a.m.

Here, two policemen stopped them. Their car was hidden on the other side of the bridge, towards Zvecaj, to the right of the group, while the policemen were hiding on their left. As the group went right to have a clear view of the highway, the policemen reached them from the back. They were two men, dressed in black. The group members were told to hand over their phones. The policemen looked up the group’s route on the phones and then broke them. They then handcuffed and beat the three group members. All of them required asylum and claimed to be minors, shouting “Mineur!” and “Azyl!“.

The policemen then called for another group of policemen, who arrived on a white van. This group was composed of three officers wearing blue shirts and dark blue trousers. They put the group into the van and drove for about three hours to the Bosnian border.

At the border, the group was told to get out of the van. A group of four policemen with their faces covered by ski masks beat them. Their bags were hidden under the van, so they had to come back and face more beating to get their belongings back. After this, they walked about two hours to Velika Kladusa.

This incident contained details of treatment very similar to another incident which had occurred a week earlier. This previous report can be found here.