“I wish they had beaten me instead”: a Testimony of Sexual Violence on the Borders

As the respondent continued, the police forced them to sit outside the car. At this point, the weather conditions were worse, it was raining and cold, so when they were forced to sit on the ground they all became wet. I asked the respondent, if she told the police that she was pregnant, she said “yes, but they didn’t care”, they still forced her to sit on the cold wet ground. One of them specifically said “I don’t care”. My respondent was about one month along with her pregnancy when this violent interaction took place.  The respondent recounts the police wearing balaclavas. In the darkness, she would not tell if their uniforms were black or dark blue, the depiction of the police officers matches those of Croatian border police. The officers also had flashlight head bands placed between their eyes so she was not able to pick up on their faces.  Afterwards, my respondent explained that the officer took one of the minors and started beating him with a baton, without saying anything to the minor, who was 16 years old. The officer then pushed the boy to the ground and placed his foot on the child’s head. The child began to plead with the officers, “please, please, please”, but the officer’s only response was “shut up”. The officers were speaking in a different language to the child, and the group did not understand what he was telling the boy. The respondent believes that the officer was asking the boy a question, but the boy did not understand, so he responded “no, no , no”, which led to the officer to beat the child again, until he changed his answer to “yes”, and he stopped. After he beat him, he pushed the child’s bag away from him and forced him back to his knees, according to the respondent, the police then pulled out his gun and placed the gun to the head of the 16 year old and said in English, “Are you going back to Croatia?”. The boy didn’t understand English, so my respondent, who was the only person in the group who could understand English, translated it into Arabic for the boy. The boy responded saying, “no, no , no, please do not hit me again”. According to the respondent, the police officers then went to do the same beating to the next two minors, one after the other. The respondent explains, they were lying on the ground crying from the pain.  I asked my respondent, if anyone informed the police that they were minors, she responded, “I told them they are minors, please don’t beat them, but they didn’t listen they were acting like they were deaf, they only answer or talk when they need to, when they have to, they didn’t listen to us begging or crying, they didn’t care”.  After beating the minors, the respondent continues to say that the 21 year old girl was next. They told her to stand up, and began to look for money for her. The woman told the police, “please I am wearing a hijab, do not take my scarf away”, and the police officer responded with, “I don’t care do you have money on you?”, they then removed the woman’s hijab to search her. The girl did not understand, so my respondent had to translate for her. The 21 year old responded, “no I do not have money, I just have 20 euros for a taxi”. He responded, “give it to me” and he then put the money in his pocket. He asked if she had a phone and she said yes, and he took it away and put it in his pocket.  Then my respondent describes that he came to her, and see pleaded with him, “please I am pregnant, this is my husband he is near to me”, and he said “shut up, don’t talk unless I ask you something”, he husband wanted to defend her but she pleaded with him not to talk or else they will beat him. The officer then removed my respondent’s hijab and started to search her hair. He asked again to her, “Do you have money on you?” The respondent explained to me, “they were asking only for money or phones, it was not like they were searching for drugs on you”. She said to him that she didn’t have any money, but he still wanted to search for her. According to her, she begged them but they still did not listen.  At this point, her husband turned his head away to look away and requested the same from the minors. While the police officers were looking at her and started to search her. According to my respondent, the police officer started to search first from her head and then started to take off her jacket. She still remained to plead with him, but the police officer responded, “shut up or else I will please [rape] you”. My response continues to say, “luckily, my husband does not understand English, so at that point I remain quiet and cooperate”. According to my respondent, the police officer was searching her bra, and made his way down, and was searching her in her private places. “I was shaking but he didn’t care, he was like an animal”, she said to me.  My respondent continues, and says he made his way down her body and unzipped her trousers. She pleaded again that she did not have money. The police officers began to search her trousers and underwear. “He thought I was putting money inside of me, so he put his finger [inside her genitalia]”.  “That was the worst thing to happen to me. I prefer he beat me, than to search me in that way”. After searching her and forcing her to remove her shoes, the police officers did not find anything, so he allowed her to put her clothes back on. Then according to my respondent, the police officers went to her husband and started to beat him as well with a baton on his leg and pushed him away after stealing her husband’s phone.