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A terrible morning near Soufli: from the dream of Greece to an hospital in Turkey
The main respondent is a 35-year-old man from Afghanistan. According to the respondent, he was part of a transit group of 25 people who crossed the border between Turkey and Greece on the 26th of July. He reports that there were 10 minors and 5 women in the group. The respondent states that it was 11 am and the group was in the surroundings of Soufli after crossing the border, when a black car suddenly arrived. According to him and based on the description of the uniforms there were 2 Greek Border Police officers, 1 German Police officer and another one from another European country, but the respondent was not able to remember which country. According to the respondent, all the border police officers had sewed on the flag of their country of origin.
The respondent recalls the border police officers forcing all the people to the ground, including minors and women. According to him, all the people from the transit group were hardly beaten with batons, sticks, and belts. He states that they were also kicked and punched, also the minors and the women. The respondent reports that after the beating, the border police officers asked the people for their phones, their money and their clothes. The respondent reports that after 1 or 2 hours a van of the Greek army arrived and the police officers told the members in the transit group to get in the van. According to him the van drove them to the border with Turkey, where they were left , in the middle of a field, without clothes, money, or phones.
The respondent states that after being beaten by the border officers he had to run to the hospital as his liver was bleeding and at the time of the interview he still reports pain and still has to take medicines.