Croatian police use ‘horrifying violence’ towards migrants, Amnesty says

Migrants and asylum seekers have allegedly been “bound, brutally beaten and tortured” by Croatian police at the border with Bosnia, Amnesty International reported on 11 June.

Around nine people dressed in the uniforms of Croatia’s Special Police fired in the air, kicked and repeatedly hit the migrants with “metal sticks, batons and pistol grips,” according to witnesses. 

Amir from Pakistan told Amnesty: “We were pleading with them to stop and show mercy. We were already tied, unable to move and humiliated; there was no reason to keep hitting us and torturing us.”

Amnesty has also criticised the European Union for remaining silent and “willfully ignoring the violence and abuses.”

TMP _ 16/6/2020

Photo credit: Goran Jakus
Photo caption: Bregana, Slovenia – September 20, 2015 : A front view of a male Syrian refugee on the blocked slovenian border with Croatia. The migrants are waiting for the authorities to open the border crossing.