The Centre for Peace Studies (CMS) has filed yet another criminal complaint with the State Attorney's Office (DORH) against unidentified persons for allegedly torturing, humiliating, and illegally expelling 16 refugees from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina in late May.

“This was testified by five refugees who suffered serious injuries, one of whom had both of his arms and a leg broken. It is frightening that such inhumane treatment was most probably motivated by their skin colour and the fact that they belong to the vulnerable refugee population,” the CMS said in a statement on Thursday.

The NGO said that eight armed men, wearing unmarked black uniforms and ski masks, had inhumanely treated people who were seeking protection, and that according to victims’ accounts they were most probably members of a special police unit or the operation codenamed Corridor.

The armed men tied the refugees to trees, fired shots from pistols close to their ears and feet, beat them up using any objects at hand, and took away their belongings on pain of death. In the end, the men humiliated the refugees by rubbing mayonnaise, ketchup, and sugar into the injuries they had previously inflicted on them, CMS activists said.

The men handed over the refugees to four police officers who then illegally expelled them to Bosnia and Herzegovina while many of the refugees could not even walk as a result of the injuries.

‘Cooperation between thugs and police’

The refugees’ testimonies point to cooperation between the thugs in black and the police, and the CMS expects DORH to establish the nature of that cooperation and whether the armed men in question were members of a special police unit. The CMS also expects DORH to conduct an effective and independent investigation and punish the perpetrators.

It is important to take into account the statements by police officers about the police operation Corridor, whose description fits the description of the latest case and previous accounts by refugees, the CMS warned.