‘They [the officers] told us not to worry, the police would bring us to the camp and there were many other migrants from Afghanistan and from other countries. (…) They put us in the van and locked the door. There was a small hole in the door. (…) We could see trees and bushes. My friend said: ‘They are taking us back to the border!’ I told him he shouldn’t worry because they had told us they would bring us to a camp’. 108 Shortly after, both Afghans were pushed back to Turkey.109 • Most of the refugees reported that upon arrest, they were transferred - in closed type vans with no insignia - to specific places, where they were detained for some hours (or even for more than a day), without being officially registered, nor having access to the asylum procedure or to the outside world and without even being given anything to drink or eat. Refugees’ thorough description of the detention places where they were allegedly held (some of them have reproduced a sketch of one of these places), does not match any of the official detention centers. ‘They brought us to the place with a big tree. It’s where they bring everyone they push back to Turkey. It is a place for animals, not for humans. A stable. There is a wooden hut of maybe 12 x 3 meters. It might be used for keeping the police dogs.’ 110 ‘There was an old building, but the door was closed. The door of the stable was open. It was not a proper door but a piece of wood. They had surrounded us in the middle of their cars. The police had parked their cars, on four different sides all around so we wouldn’t escape. The officers were standing next to us controlling what we were doing. We had to sit on the ground. There was no fence. There was a big field, a stable and a building. The field was full of animal excrements. There was a big wall and no one would try to escape, as there was a lot of police.’ 111 • Many refugees claim that they were taken back to the woods and held in glades for hours, where people from other groups were also held, before being pushed back. Some refugees reported to PRO ASYL that not only were they transferred to the woods in vans, but they were also held inside the vans for many hours. 108 | G.A.N., from Afghanistan / pushed back once from Evros in June 2013 and twice from Lesvos in end July 2013 / beginning of August; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), September 23, 2013 109 | Ibid 110 | R., from Afghanistan (with his elderly mother) / pushed-back from Evros in September 2012; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), January 6, 2013 111 | H., from Afghanistan / pushed back from Evros in October 2012; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), January 4, 2013 30 | pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS ‘We waited for 12 hours: four with the van’s door closed and eight more with the van’s door open, but they didn’t let us get off the van. We couldn’t see anything. We were in the woods.’ 112 • Many interviewees claim that they were searched, and on some occasions even forced to take their clothes off. Some refugees said that they were allegedly beaten if money was found on them. In all of the cases, interviewees claimed that they didn’t get back their personal belongings. ‘They took us with a van to a police station. Then, they body searched us. We even had to take off our clothes. The police took our mobiles, the SIM card, the chargers and the batteries. They ordered us to throw our clothes in the garbage. It was night when it all happened. Then they pushed us back to the Turkish side. (Dressed with our underwear).’ 113 ‘This police knew everything. They even knew about where we are hiding our money sewing them inside our clothes. They took away our bags and threw them in a corner. Then they told us to undress. We were all naked. Then the officers took a knife and tore all of our clothes searching for money. 200, 300, 500 Euro – they took it all. Then they beat us. It was 11-12 pm.’ 114 ‘One of us asked them to give us our mobiles back and they beat him very badly. The good mobiles, among them an Apple, they kept them.’ 115 • Many refugees alleged that upon apprehension or detention, they were asked specific questions concerning their nationalities, the number of people that were in their group and the exact place where they had crossed the river. ‘They didn’t keep our personal details, but they were writing down something: three Eritreans, so many Syrians, so many Afghans and so on.’ 116 112 | M.M. (24 years old), from Eritrea / pushed back from Evros on 17.6.13; Interviewed in Athens, August 19, 2013 113 | I. from Somalia / pushed back on 2.5.13 from Evros; Interviewed on the ship from Lesvos to Athens (Greece), June 10, 2013 114 | G.A.N., from Afghanistan / pushed back once from Evros in June 2013 and twice from Lesvos in end July 2013 / beginning of August; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), September 23, 2013 115 | A.S. (36 years old) with his wife S.N. (30 years old) and two underage children, from Afghanistan / pushed back from Evros on 12.7.13; Interviewed in Mytilene (Lesvos island, Greece), July 22, 2013 116 | M.M. (24 years old), from Eritrea / pushed back from Evros on 17.6.13; Interviewed in Athens (Greece), August 19, 2013 pUSH-bACK oPERATIONS | 31