“I could only see their eyes” violent pushback from Serbia to Bulgaria by masked men

The respondent claims he tried to explain that he had the permission to leave the camp but the officers did not acknowledge this. The officers asked for identity papers, and then confiscated the groups’ phones and money. The officers handcuffed the respondent and his two friends, and drove them to the border with Bulgaria near the border crossing Kalotina. When they arrived at the border, the Serbian police officers opened the vehicle. The respondent recalls seeing six further men, wearing dark blue uniforms and dark masks. Their uniforms were different from those of the Serbian police, but their badges were hidden and the respondent recalls: “I could only see their eyes”. The respondent later identified them to be Frontex officers, based on his later encounter with a Frontex officer in Bulgaria. The respondent recalls that all the officers were holding sticks. They carried two different types of stick: one made of rubber, another one with a metal extension. The respondent recalls that these masked officers asked them for their money and asked where they had hid it. They replied that they did not have any money left as they had already given it to the Serbian police. The respondent recalls that the officers spoke good English. They then asked the group to take off all their clothes, so that they were naked, and then the officers searched them but did not find anything. The group put their clothes back on. The respondent states that one of the masked men told them to go to Bulgaria. They replied that they did not know how to go to Bulgaria as they had no phone or map. The masked officers told them to shut up and started beating them. The respondent recalls: “They kicked me in the chest, I fell into the river nearby”. The respondent states that he and his friends then waded across the river to Bulgaria. On the other side, they sat for 3 hours, and then tried to cross back across the river to go back to Serbia where the camp they were staying in was. Again, they were pushed back across the river. This happened six times over two days, and the respondent states that he was beaten further each time. The respondent identified these to be the same officers each time, but was unsure because they were wearing black balaclava masks. The third time, he reported having been hit several times in the ankle with the metal part of the stick. The respondent recalls that he thought his ankle was broken. The sixth time he was pushed back across the river, he was almost unable to walk, because of his ankle. The group then split up.