(detailed report written by Rigardu)

Among Serbia’s neighbouring countries especially in Hungary and Croatia border police is guarding the border areas to Serbia, as well as patrolling roads, woods and fields in order to catch people who irregularly crossed the border to Hungary or Croatia. It is common practice that in such cases police often refuses the peoples’ claim for their right of Asylum and International protection and instead irregularly and illegally pushes the persons back to Serbia which marks a violation against Human Rights, International and European law. It is not an uncommonness that refugees get physically and psychically harmed during that incidents.
Since May of this year the force at the Croatian border increased massively again. Lots of people who got detected and push backed currently tell about Croatian border police beating with batons or hands on every part of the body, kicking, dragging people across the ground or shining with flash lights in people’s eyes. Often people come back from the border side with bad injuries that must be treated by doctors. As well there are reports about scanning people’s bodies, checking baggage, looking at private chats in messenger apps and private pictures on mobiles, teasing, shouting and insulting, threats not to come again to Croatia, stealing money and mobiles, spiting on people and taking pictures of the torture. Then police drives them to the border and forces them to run to Serbian territory. The supporting group Rigardu active in Sid (Croatian border) is collecting testimonies concerning this violations (click here).

Fresh Response is documenting cases of violation at the Hungarian border
(click here).