According to portrayals of human rights activists, Croatian police illegally push refugees and other migrants across the „green“ border into neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The civilian observer organization Border Violence Monitoring (BVM) published a dossier on Sunday with secretly recorded videos showing how migrants are being led by armed Croatian police to a place in a forest on the border with Bosnia. There, the officials ask them to follow a forest road that leads to the neighboring country.
On 132 films more than 50 alleged group deportations can be seen. Affected are 350 refugees and migrants, including women and children. The videos are said to have been recorded between September 29 and October 10 of this year in the area between the border towns Uzljebic (Croatia) and Lohovo (Bosnia).
Human rights organizations repeatedly criticize the fact that the EU country is pushing back Croatia migrants across the „green“ border to Bosnia. They would be denied the right to apply for asylum. The reports are usually based on statements of those affected by the deportations. The BVM organization has for the first time submitted videos that could serve as evidence of this practice.
The Croatian Ministry of Interior protested against charges of illegal repatriation. The Croatian police acted in accordance with the Schengen Borders Code, rejecting foreigners who are not authorized to enter the EU directly at the border, the Ministry of the Interior said in a Sunday statement.
Since the extensive closure of the Balkan route, which leads from Greece via Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary to Central Europe, an alternative route has been established over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia.
