The European Commission’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) issued a report Friday (December 3) detailed the Croatian police’s border violence against immigrants crossing the border from Bosnia, after Zagreb tried to stop the agency’s work.
The European Commission’s anti-torture agency visited Croatia in August last year to “review the treatment and guarantees provided to immigrants deprived of their liberty by the Croatian police.”
The report called on Croatia to “take firm action to prevent migrants from being abused by the police and to ensure effective investigations of suspected abuse.”
CPT regrets that in cases where the police are accused of misconduct, there is a lack of effective accountability mechanisms to identify the perpetrators and specific guidelines for tracking police actions.
In Bosnia, CPT interviewed immigrants and “received many credible and consistent allegations [their] Physical abuse” was carried out by the Croatian police.
CPT said in a statement: “The so-called abuse includes slaps, kicks, truncheons and other hard objects (such as butts/barrels, sticks or branches) hitting various parts of the body.”
The migrants reported that they were beaten when they were arrested or pushed back to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
These allegations echo First-hand testimony In October of this year, the immigrants provided EURACTIV with a report detailing signs of systematic illegal border violence and counterattacks by the Croatian police.
“In a large number of cases, the interviewees had recent physical injuries and the forensic doctors of the delegation believed that this was consistent with their allegations of abuse by the Croatian police,” CPT said.
The migrants also told international inspectors that they were forced to cross the forest to the border barefoot, with their hands still being pulled into the river on the border, thrown aside, stripped naked, and sometimes naked.
“Difficulties in cooperation are obvious”
The Commission also stated that this was the first time that “obvious difficulties in cooperation” had occurred since the establishment of the Council of Europe’s anti-torture agency in 1998. According to reports, the Croatian authorities have provided incomplete information on the locations of arrests of immigrants and obstruction of access to documents.
After the committee releases the report media reports In October, Croatia’s Secretary of State for European and International Affairs Terezija Gras in a letter accused the CPT of threatening the police, attempting to steal documents and forcibly entering official premises during the 2020 visit.
Without the consent of the country concerned, CPT will not report publicly, claiming that media reports violate confidentiality and cause rule If a party discloses its content, it can publish a report.
The agency said in a statement that these statements are “distortion of the content of the report, professional ethics, and the working methods of CPT delegation members.”
Croatia is the only EU country that has refused to publish such a report in the past decade.
CPT stated, “Nevertheless, it still hopes to have a constructive dialogue and meaningful cooperation with the Croatian authorities, based on mature recognition, including at the highest political level, the seriousness of Croatian police abuse of immigrants.”
This assessment of Croatia’s cooperation on allegations of police violence is in stark contrast to the comments of the European Commission’s head of internal affairs Ilva Johnson, who welcomed Zagreb’s disclosure of the border to the media on Thursday (December 2). The way officials beat up the immigrants.
The commissioner said: “I really welcome the Croatian government’s approach to handling this issue with open eyes, and investigating and taking action when the allegations are established.”
Croatia: CPT surpasses its power
The Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs stated in its response to the report that the CPT “reported based on unverifiable information from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is clearly beyond its power.”
The Croatian side also stated that the Croatian side’s comments and comments on the report have not been considered or made public.
The Ministry of the Interior stated in a statement that after more than a year of visits and implementation of many recommendations, issuing a report without the consent of the Ministry of Interior can hardly be promoted by improving the deficiencies in the field of prisoner protection that have been discovered. statement.
Nevertheless, the Ministry promised to further cooperate with CPT and added: “Croatia is not the only member opposing the publication of the final report, because Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania and Turkey have already done so. And Britain.”
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
