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“He pressed his foot against my face”
The respondent was traveling with three other men from Morocco, all between 20 and 23 years old. They left Lipa camp around 2 p.m., taking a taxi to Bihać and then a bus to Velika Kladuša.
Location where the pushback took place (caught here by police)
The respondent stated that they walked for 3 kilometers and crossed the border at 5 a.m. the next morning. After continuing for another 13 kilometers, they were found by the authorities. The respondent stated that someone might have seen them after crossing the border and possibly called the police. He described the three officers as Croatian Border Police, recognizable by their blue trousers, jackets, and the Croatian flag on their sleeves. The three officers stopped them by shining flashlights in their faces. The four men tried to run away, but the respondent was caught by one officer, pushed to the ground, and prevented from escaping. When he tried to get up again, the officer beat him with a baton on his arm, threw him back to the ground, and pressed his foot against the respondent’s face. The other two officers searched for the remaining three men but could not find them. One officer returned, took the respondent’s phone, smashed it, and threw it away. His wallet was also taken and thrown, but he was later allowed to retrieve it.
The respondent stated that, once left alone with the three officers, he was placed in a white van and driven to a border area he could not identify, located somewhere between Velika Kladuša and Bihać. He reported that the journey lasted about an hour and a half, as the police drove around trying to locate the three men who had escaped, but they did not succeed. Once at the border, the respondent explained that the initial officers handed him over to other policemen, who forced him back into Bosnia. He added that he then walked for around 6 kilometers before finding a taxi and returning to Lipa camp.
overview
4 people ,
from Morocco,
aged Between 20-23.