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“Even with a German ID, I was still hit”
The main respondent is a 40-year-old man from Turkey. According to the respondent, he was travelling with two men from Tunisia. He reports that they left Bosnia on the 17th of December 2023. The respondent reports that while travelling into Croatia on the 18th of December 2023, they were apprehended by a group of uniformed men in Glina at around 10-11 p.m. They were caught about 500 metres right outside of the centre of Glina. According to the respondent, they were apprehended by three men who were dressed in the uniform usually worn by the Croatian Police.
According to the respondent, they were forced into a marked police van and driven into a forested area. “They took us to a place where there was no one”. The respondent explains that he had grown up in Germany since he was five and stayed there until he was 25, but he was deported. He reports that he still had the German ID, which he presented to the police officers together with his Turkish passport. They were told by the police officers, “do not come back”, after they were led to what he describes as the “gateway of the border” between Croatia and Bosnia, to the road that led back to Bihac. According to the respondent, the location where the pushback happened was in the forest at the edge of the border. According to him, because he was the only one in the group trying to talk to the police, he was punished. He reports that the police, using a baton, hit him on the forehead and on the legs. He reports being the only one in the group who was beaten. The respondent claims that the police also took his money – he was carrying 150 euros on him – and his phone was also stolen. He claims that before stealing, hitting and pushing them back into Bosnia, the police officers covered a camera that was on the road.