LIVE Bloody borders testimonies (9)

from Croatia to Bosnia,

The main respondent is a 30-years-old man from Morocco. According to the respondent, he was part of a group of 4 men from Morocco that crossed the border between Bosnia and Croatia by foot in the late evening on the 18th of October 2023. He recalls they kept on walking about 50 kilometers until they arrived in Slunj, Croatia. The group went to the train station and bought tickets to take the train to Zagreb. The train was supposed to leave at 12am. According to the respondent before the group could enter the train a group of uniformed people arrived at the train station and stopped them from entering. He is not able to provide a description of the uniforms nor the number of uniformed people, but names them as Croatian police.
He reports that the transit group was brought to a police station near the town of Slunj and were detained there for what the respondent described felt like around 8 hours. According to him, the 4 members of the group had no access to food, water or the possibility to use the toilet. As one person asked to go to the toilet the respondent recalls that they have been laughed at. The respondent states that the police took their fingerprints and made them sign a form. He recalls that the form was in a language they couldn’t understand. There was no translator present. The members of the transit group didn’t express a wish to ask for asylum. According to the respondent, the group was kept overnight in the police station. Then, as the respondent states, the four of them were brought to a van. They were driven away from the police station and were then forced to change cars and continued driving with another van according to the respondent. He recalls the group being in the car for about 30 minutes. According to the respondent, they were brought to a river. He recalls that at the riverside there was another group of 4 men from Morocco. The respondent had the impression that one person from this group was a minor. Next to the 8 men from Morocco there was also a group of people from Afghanistan. The respondent estimates that this group had the size of about 20 people. He estimates that the number of police officers present at the riverside was 12. The respondent states that the police took his money which was about 50 Euros. Then he reports that the police officers took the phone and forced the group to get undressed except for their underpants and a t-shirt. The respondent states that the police started a big fire and threw all their belongings into the fire, then everyone was forced to go into the river and walk to the other side of the river which was the Bosnian side. The respondent describes the water of the river to be up to his hips. The group walked through the river and then started a fire to warm up.