ZAGREB, September 25, 2019 – The Ministry of the Interior on Tuesday denied an article by the H-Alter news website saying that Croatian police were “punishing migrants” by burning their feet with a hot iron rod.
“In order for an allegation to be officially verifiable at least some evidence should be made available, but none is presented in the article,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said that the person who spoke with the author of the article did not know which police station he was taken to, could not remember details of the appearance of the police station, and the article did not specify the time when the incident allegedly happened.
“This kind of reporting can only be tendentious and that’s why we resolutely dismiss the allegations from the article, which provides no evidence to support the claims made in it,” the statement said, adding that the primary task of Croatian police is to guard the country’s borders and protect its citizens and their property.
The ministry stressed that the Croatian police abide by all relevant European and national regulations concerning human rights protection.
“We emphasise once again that the Ministry of the Interior has zero tolerance to any form of violence, including in the treatment of migrants. So far it has been shown that accusations of alleged violence used by the Croatian police, made by migrants who were prevented from crossing the state border illegally, have no basis in reality nor have they ever been corroborated by any evidence,” the statement said.
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