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from Croatia to Bosnia,

The main respondent is a 25-year-old man from Morocco. According to the respondent, on the 4th of December 2023 he left with a group of 10 other Amazigh Moroccan people. Amongst their group there were two minors aged 13 and 14, while the other men ranged between the ages of 18-49 years old. The respondent recalls walking about 10 km into the mountains inside Croatia from the Bosnian territory. The respondent reports that the moment they arrived to the first road, at around 10 pm that evening, they met a police vehicle, described as “white unmarked police van”, inside of which there were 3 police officers, two men and one woman, who wore official dark blue Croatian Police uniforms.
According to the respondent, when the police officers saw them they instantly pulled out their guns, and with their guns they pushed and kicked the 10 members of the group into the van. The respondent claims that “they handled us like animals”, and reports that the police officers used their boots and kicked the 10 men and boys into the van. The respondent states that after being forced into the vehicle, they were driven to the river which was the border between Bosnia and Croatia. According to him, the police officers then took the phones from 9 of the individuals in the group, while one of them hid his phone well enough as to not be seen, and then the police subsequently threw these 9 phones into the river. The respondent reports that the police then forced them out of the van, gesturing and threatening them with their batons, telling them “Go, go, go”, forcing them to run into the river. According to him, the police officers also had a police dog on a leash, which was additionally used to threaten and push the members of the group into the river. The respondent describes that the land above the river was sloped up a hill, and as they could not see where they were going because it was dark, the police pushed them and they tripped downhill into the river. He reports that the police split up the group and forced different numbers of people to cross across the river back to Bosnia at different locations.
He claims, “We, Moroccans, are not thieves, we do not hit, we are not violent, all we want is to arrive to Europe. We came here from Turkey on foot. We do not even want to stay in Croatia, we simply want to pass. We do not fear them. We do not fear anyone except god and our parents”.