BEATINGS AT THE BORDER

Producer: SRF Rundschau

Director: Nicole Vögele

 

SCRIPT / TRANSLATIONS / LOWERS

 

 

00:00:01

The cries are unbearable.

 

00:00:13

This is what it sounds like at the EU external border

 

00:00:18

and these are its faces.

 

00:00:20

Croatian policemen are beating asylum seekers and chasing them back to Bosnia.

 

00:00:27

Officially none of this exists.

 

 

00:00:31 SOUNDBITE WOMAN (German)

Lower: Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Former President of Croatia

 

Illegal pushbacks? Why do you think they're illegal?

 

 

00:00:36 SOUNDBITE MAN (English)

Lower: Davor Božinović, Minister of the Interior, Croatia

 

I will repeat this. There is a law and we have to do our job according to law.

 

 

00:00:47 SOUNDBITE WOMAN (German)

Lower: Angela Merkel, Former Chancellor of Germany

 

Croatia is taking an outstanding approach with its security forces. I want to explicitly acknowledge that.

 

 

00:00:54 SOUNDBITE WOMAN (English)

Lower: Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs

 

We've been in very close contact with the Croatian authorities. I met with the Croatian prime minister. He has assured me that Croatia is committed to fulfil this obligation when it comes to fundamental rights at the borders.

 

 

00:01:12

In reality things look different. Swiss TV investigated along with ARD, Der Spiegel, Lighthouse Reports, other journalists and data specialists from all over Europe. Over eight months we analysed satellite images, compared geodata, recorded witness statements, evaluated hundreds of social media accounts from police officers, followed racist chats, and met insiders.

 

00:01:41
Today, we can accurately document what really happens at EU's external borders.

 

00:01:47

Why were we so meticulous? Because documents such as this, have, for years, been called a product of crisis acting and fake news.

 

 

00:01:56 SOUNDBITE MAN (English):

 

Look at that! What they did! What the hell!

 

 

00:02:02 SOUNDBITE MAN (German)

Lower: Horst Seehofer, Former Minister of the Interior, Germany

 

I have no criticism on Croatia's security forces.

 

 

00:02:07 SOUNDBITE MAN (English)

Lower: Davor Božinović, Minister of the Interior, Croatia

 

No one provided the Croatian police or even anyone who is interested in this with any concrete evidence. That is the truth.

 

 

00:02:26

An autumn morning by the Korana. This river marks the EU external border. It divides this landscape into Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

00:02:36

We know that it is a pushback location. The Croatian police likes to

use it early in the morning. The spot seems carefully chosen.

 

00:02:45

On the Croatian side there is an easily accessible road and on the Bosnian

side thick vegetation.

 

00:02:51

At 8:03 a.m. we fly our drone again

 

00:02:55

This time there is a police van at the bend

 

00:02:58

a second one approaches.

 

00:03:02

Uniformed men get out. At least one of them can be seen

putting on a black balaclava.

 

00:03:11

Then they get people out of the van. 15 in total from a much too small vehicle. Like cattle they were squeezed in there.

 

00:03:25

Several policemen escort the group to the border river. The process appears routine as if it happens every day: The illegal deportation in the middle of nowhere.

 

00:03:45

Every person has the right to ask everywhere at any time for asylum and to receive a fair process.

 

00:03:52

These people were denied that a few minutes ago.

 

 

00:03:56 SOUNDBITE Journalist and WOMAN (English)

Lower: Nazila, Asylumseeker from Afghanistan

 

May I ask what

happened back there?

 

00:03:59
They deported us. They took our mobile phones and beat us.

 

00:04:07

(Journalist:) Where are you from?

-Afghanistan.

(Journalist:) All of you from Afghanistan?

-Yes.

 

00:04:18

He says, call Merkel and say to her that... don't give money to Croatia. It's a big problem.

 

 

00:04:33

Croatia receives a lot of money for 'migration management'. Over 163 million euros have been awarded since 2015, documented on the homepage of the EU Commission. It is made up of two funds. Switzerland contributes heavily to one of them, the ISF.

 

00:04:54

Ana Ćuća, an advocate from Zagreb, has been fighting for justice for years against the Croatian police.

 

 

00:05:03 SOUNDITE WOMAN (Croatian)
Lower: Ana Ćuća, Centre for Peace Studies, Zagreb

 

We have determined that this is a continuous practice and we see they are not the actions of individual police officers and the orders are coming from political leaders.

 

 

00:05:18

Our investigations are little by little uncovering this systematic.

 

00:05:22

At the same pushback spot by the Korana river: We disguise ourselves as fishermen, and find our way to the river bank. For quite some time already this river crossing has been used for illegal deportations.

 

00:05:36

No sooner are we hidden in the bushes than a first group of migrants appears.

 

00:05:41

This time the policemen are clearly recognisable. Swinging the infamous baton.

 

00:05:55

Their uniform is undoubtedly the one worn by the "Interventna Policija", the intervention police.

 

00:06:02

They are most probably part of 'Operation Corridor'.

 

00:06:07

The insignia of the Croatian Ministry of Interior is emblazoned on their arm.

 

00:06:15

In Bosnia the mistreatment at the borders is often concealed too. Hardly anyone dares to testify to what is really happening in these forests.

 

00:06:28

Someone who sees it over and over with his own eyes is this Bosnian border policeman. He has been working for years at the green border to the EU and often witnesses the illegal practices.

 

00:06:41

The subject is delicate. He needs to stay anonymous.

 

 

00:06:45 SOUNDBITE MAN (German Voice Over)

Lower: A. S., Border Police Officer, Bosnia

 

There were cases where they beat up groups to the point that all of them had to go to hospital. In the winter I met people all wet and frozen to the bones, I found fathers with their family with broken legs and arms. It's horrible.

 

 

00:07:04

We witness this brutality with our own eyes and heard it too.

 

00:07:18

Screams of pain echo from the Croatian side.

 

00:07:30

We observe a pushback at very close distance.

 

00:07:38

Migrants are being beaten out of the EU.

 

00:07:42

These officers are masked. They are hiding their identities and lack any insignia on their uniform.

 

00:07:51

This action is meant to remain secret.

 

00:08:04

The marks on their bodies are clear. It wasn't one strike to push them in the river. Before that, they were beaten up for longer.

 

 

00:08:22 SOUNDBITE MAN (broken English)

 

At his place there is a very bad situation. They are beating everyone very hard. They took our shoes, jackets, money, mobile phones. Everything they took.

 

 

00:08:33

All of them are without shoes. They were only left with trousers and shirts. Robbed, deprived of their rights and beaten up. Who treats people like that?

 

00:08:44

Despite the missing insignia, several sources confirm they must be Croatian police officers.

 

00:08:51

The Bosnian border policeman is convinced.

 

 

00:08:54 SOUNDBITE MAN (German Voice Over)

 

You can see the belt here... ... and the baton a special version that can only be worn by the intervention police.

 

00:09:03

Here the pistol with the original holster.

 

00:09:08

That is the strap for handcuffs. So, the complete police uniform.

 

00:09:15

The weapon is Croatian made. Most likely an HS9, the main service weapon for Croatian police.

 

00:09:25

The long baton, named tonfa, may be used in Croatia almost exclusively by the intervention police. The tonfa most clearly refers to the unit. These marks are typical tonfa injuries. A former Croatian intervention police officer confirms to us.

 

00:09:46

After the migrants gave us the interview they were by chance found and treated

by Doctors Without Borders.

 

 

00:09:55 SOUNDBITE MAN (English)

Lower: Dan Song, Field Coordinator North Balkans Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

 

We can see from the injuries with some patients exhibiting ten or more points of impact. This was a deliberate act of violence. It was repeated and it was excessive.

 

 

00:10:05

Doctors Without Borders has been documenting the systematic pushbacks at the EU external borders for years.

 

 

00:10:13 SOUNDBITE MAN (English)

Lower: Dan Song, Field Coordinator North Balkans Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

 

The point for us it is not about the worst and exceptional cases, but about the pattern showing an overwhelming consistency of the severity of injuries. The kind of violence taking place is something coordinated, systematic and organised.

 

 

00:10:27

The system can also be seen from the sky. This is supported by satellite images that our investigation team has analyzed. In many border forests new roads have been built in the last two or three years. Hiking trails have been turned into super accessible roads. Most of them lead directly to frequently used pushback spots. The logistics of the illegal deportations are getting more and more efficient.

 

00:10:58

On social media, intervention police officers like to pose with their masks. We have written to more than a hundred of them. Hardly any of them replied. Very few were willing to tell us what is really going on.

 

00:11:14

To protect these people, we won't show any pictures of them. They have to stay anonymous. A former police officer writes:

 

00:11:22 TABLE WITH WRITTEN TEXT:

 

“We know it's illegal but who can say no to the general

command? There was an instruction by the government

and by the minister of interior Božinović to do it that way.

 

So they are the ones who are get fucked, because we

only work according to their instructions.”

 

 

00:11:37

We showed our video evidence to the former member of the Croatian government, Ranko Ostojić. He was Minister of the Interior and Minister of the Police. He has been claiming for years that Croatia doesn't do this voluntarily. But they are doing the EU's dirty work.

 

 

00:11:55 SOUNDBITE MAN (Croatian)

Lower: Ranko Ostojić, Former Interior Minister, Croatia

 

The absence of parliamentary and civilian control in Croatia and the EU's nonresponse, lead to the conclusion that we have a tacit consent here.

 

 

00:12:10

The millions that the EU keeps paying to Croatia could also be understood

as a tactical of consent. Money that also goes into equipping the violent units.

 

00:12:21

We were able to identify this jacket. It's an undervest of the intervention police. Documents indicate that ISF funds were used to buy them in 2017, which includes money from Switzerland.

 

 

00:12:37

The statement from Brussel reads:

 

 

00:12:39 TABLE WITH WRITTEN TEXT:

 

The Commission strongly opposes any pushback practices (…) and made it clear to expects national authorities that any such practices are illegal and that they should investigate any allegations.

 

 

00:12:53

Last summer Croatia established an independent monitoring mechanism. This should ensure all is done legally correct. However, NGOs warn this is just a fig leaf.

 

 

00:13:07 SOUNDITE WOMAN (Croatian)
Lower: Ana Ćuća, Centre for Peace Studies, Zagreb

Now, the question is what the purpose of the independent monitoring mechanism is. If the Interior Ministry already knows before that organisations are coming to document potential irregularities, then police would stop using violence and stop carrying out illegal deportations for these days.

 

 

00:13:29

Up to now the warnings to the Croatian government have had little effect. The violence at the border has long since become an everyday reality.