A Swiss broadcaster on Wednesday showed footage of Croatian police pushing back migrants to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and migrants saying that police had seized their mobile phones and money.
Croatian police have been faced for some time with accusations that they unlawfully return migrants who reach Croatia’s territory to Bosnia and Herzegovina instead of giving them the opportunity to seek asylum in Croatia. The accusations also include allegations of physical abuse and theft.
The Croatian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the allegations.
In its political programme “Rundschau”, the SRF broadcaster showed footage of police bringing a group of migrants in a van to a border crossing and sending them back to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Reporters secretly filmed the push-back operations for two days. In those operations, 70 migrants, mostly from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Algeria were sent back to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The migrants told reporters that Croatian police had destroyed their mobile phones and taken their money and that they had used force against them.
The location where Croatian police were filmed while pushing back migrants in late April is said to be near the village of Gradine, Hina reports.
