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“This is not hotel for you.”
The respondent is a woman traveling with her husband and a group of 11 other people — five from China (including another woman), and six or seven from Turkey — all adults with one teenager aged around 16 or 17. On May 26, they attempted to cross from Serbia into Croatia hidden in a truck departing from Belgrade. They had been told that the journey would take 10–11 hours and would bring them to Italy. Instead, after about 10 hours, the truck was stopped at the Croatian border, and police found them.
One of the border crossings where the group might have been stopped. This is not an exact location but a best guess based on the provided inforation.
When the police opened the truck, the respondent was half-asleep due to taking allergy medication. She describes seeing many Croatian policemen with Croatian flag on their uniform: “For the first time, I’ve cried, because I didn’t believe this. And I say: why? Just police coming, and not one, two, three police – ¬¬I think about 50-60 police. I don’t know why. I am no terrorist. I have no bomb. Why you come?” The group was ordered out, lined up, and told to sit quietly. Men were not allowed to smoke or use the bathroom, while the respondent and the other woman were permitted to use the toilet. They were kept outside from around 10:00 in the morning until 16:00, without food or water, even as it began raining, soaking their clothes and belongings. About an hour after the start of the rain, police started to conduct searches of group members, check their bags and question everyone whether they know the driver of the truck they were in, putting pressure on the detainees during the questioning. They also wrote down respondent’s personal details, including information about her family, as well as confiscated everyone’s mobile phones and ID cards. After this, the group was moved into a very small room with only two beds for 13 people. Requests for food or water were met with dismissive comments, such as “this is not hotel for you.” A couple hours later, police proposed to bring food if detainees paid. Due to the allergy medication, the respondent was in dire need of food so she and her husband paid €20 to the police for sausages, bread, and water. Group members had to spend around 20 hours in the room sitting and sleeping on the floor. During that whole time the police haven’t communicated what they are being suspected of, and there was no translator present, so the officers used Google translate. The respondent asked one of the officers if she could apply for asylum in Croatia because she didn’t want to go back to Serbia, but the officer answered no, “because we catch you in the truck”. She described the police treatment as very bad, mentioning intimidation when people requested basic needs, and aggressive behavior toward a Turkish man who asked to smoke.
The next day, around lunchtime, their phones were returned, and the respondent and her husband were taken separately from some of the group to the Serbian town of Šid to meet with a “judge”, who warned them that attempting to cross again could result in their asylum claim being closed. There was only a Chinese translator present so the respondent and her husband had to speak English. After that the ID card was returned to the respondent. Single men from the group were transferred Preševo camp, while she and her husband were transported — against their protests — to Bujanovac camp in southern Serbia, even though they were residing in Krnjača camp close to Belgrade. The journey took about seven hours in a closed police van, during which other detainees in the rear were left without ventilation or water despite asking repeatedly. Upon arrival, around 23:00, the couple immediately went on a bus back to Belgrade since Krnjača camp informed them that if they don’t return they will lose their room.
overview
13 people ,
from Turkey, Iran, China,
aged one around 16, others between 25-40.