"The game", or "game", the refugees call the attempts to cross the border, but it is far from a game that they describe.

Both refugees and international human rights organizations report on how the Croatian police systematically use torture, ill-treatment and even rape as a method of getting refugees to stop trying to enter the EU.

On the outskirts of the city of Bihac, in the ruins of two abandoned houses live about thirty young Pakistani men.

They have all tried to enter the EU but have always been arrested and taken back to Bosnia.

- I have tried seven or eight times but the police have taken me every time, says Mohammed Omar who is in his twenties.

He pulls a little on his t-shirt and explains in crisp English how it goes when the Croatian police make a so-called pushback.

- They all take their belongings - money, clothes, even shoes.

They set my clothes on fire, I had nothing left, says Mohammed Omar.

Many testify of abuse

The other men nod to confirm his words.

They have all been through the same thing.

Many of them also say that they were beaten by the police before being taken back to the Bosnian border.

A guy pulls up his t-shirt and shows long scars on his back.

Others extend their injured feet.

A guy limps forward and shows a bandaged swollen bluish foot.

- They hit me on the feet with sticks.

It hurt a lot, he says.

The Croatian border police have long been accused of using assault and theft as a method of getting the refugees not to try to cross the border again.

In May 2020, a group of Afghan and Pakistani refugees were tortured and humiliated by masked men dressed in police uniforms.

They suffered severe permanent damage from the torture.

Criticism from the EU and Amnesty

Amnesty International wrote a report on the incident which also published photos of the injuries and interviews with the victims.

During the autumn, the Danish Refugee Council, DRC, treated nearly 70 people during one and the same week for injuries, including fractures they received during pushbacks where the police used metal rods or batons.

Rapes, both by men and women, have also been reported.

EU Commissioner for Migration and Internal Security Ylva Johannsson has condemned the violence and called on the Croatian authorities to investigate the incident, but Croatian Interior Minister Božinović claims that there is insufficient evidence and no investigation has been carried out so far.

"Will try again"

When SVT asks Nataša Omerović, at the UN International Organization for Migration, IOM who works on site in Bihac, she confirms that the violence continues.

- Those who have been exposed to pushbacks almost always need some form of medical care, she says.

But that does not stop Mohammed Omar and his countrymen.

- No, we will try again and again, until we succeed in entering the EU.

SVT has unsuccessfully sought the Croatian police for a comment.