The attorney representing the family of a six-year-old Afghan girl who was killed in a train accident near the Croatia-Serbia border said on Friday she would file a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court.

The girl, Madina Hussiny, died after being hit by a train near the border in eastern Croatia in November last year, when, according to her mother, police ignored the family’s claim for asylum in Croatia and forced them to walk back to Serbia on the same night.

Croatia’s Interior Ministry (MUP) later rejected the accusation, and said that the family had never entered Croatian territory in the first place.

“The family’s rights have been violated because they are being denied access to their attorney. I was notified by MUP that they do not allow access (to them) because the power of attorney is allegedly invalid,” the family’s attorney, Sanja Jelavić-Bezbradica, told N1 in an interview.

Croatian authorities have refused to recognise the power of attorney because the family signed it in the town of Šid, which is on the Serbian side of the border, where Madina was buried and where her family stayed in the days following the accident.

“I have immediately sent a memo to MUP confirming that three (human rights) organizations were present during the signing of the power of attorney in Šid. In the memo, I requested access to my clients,” Jelavić-Bezbradica added.

The rest of Hussiny’s family later re-entered Croatia, and are now seeking asylum and international protection in a transit centre in the border town of Tovarnik. “Not only have they submitted the power of attorney, they have also asked to see their attorney, which was denied to them,” Jelavić-Bezbradica said.

“Yesterday, I have lodged a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights for severe human rights violations and the denial of access to a fair trial,” Jelavić-Bezbradica said, and added that she would also file a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court of Croatia over the inhumane treatment the family had experienced.