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Dragged across the forest floor for 30 meters
On October the 31st a group of 5 men, 3 Tunisians and 2 Algerians, between 22 and 34 years old were victims of a violent assault by the Croatian border police while trying to cross the Slovenian border. The night before (30th of October) the group took a taxi from Bihac to Velika and from there they crossed the border through the forest around 6:30pm. They walked for about 10 hours covering more or less 25 km.
Location where the violence occurred
Close to the Slovenian border around 4am they saw a car, they then decided to go deeper into the forest to find a place where to take a nap and that is when they saw a drone. First they decided to stay still hoping to not be seen but straight after the police arrived pointing flashlights at them. The respondent told his friend ‘Now we must run!’ 3 went one way while the respondent and another went in the opposite direction. The respondent and his friend noticed that the drone was still following them and thought to keep running waiting for the drone’s battery to run out. After 2 hours running the drone finally disappeared but two more arrived and that is when they heard cars arriving. They still tried to run away until they were completely surrounded by the police. There were at least 9 policemen, who caught them from the back and dragged them for around 30 meters, having their face and hand hitting the floor. Once they dropped them on the floor they started to kick them heavily, on face, head, chest, ribs and back with a ratio of 4 policemen against each one. After the beating the respondent and his friend were ripped off their jacket, shoes, phone and also one’s credit card was taken. The respondent describes the perpetrators as 9 officers in dark blue suits with a Croatian flag (Croatian border police).
Lastly they were pushed back into Bosnia and sent away without shoes through Velika Kladusa border again. All officers verbally humiliated them during the beatings, sentences like ‘You run little bitch’ were used and since the respondent was carrying a power bank the police framed him as the boss of the group and beat him even harder. The respondent was experiencing respiratory problems caused by the kicks in the ribs, which also left big bruises (photos provided) and had a deep scar on his nose, also caused by a kick that led to a big loss of blood (photos provided).
overview
5 people ,
from Algeria and Tunisia,
aged Between 22-34.