of them had a finger inserted in his anus. The body search lasted for about ten minutes and the Palestinian refugees realized that they were informally detained in a room with 4 or 5 other people. Someone violently kicked one of the Palestinians in the stomach. Approximately one hour later, they were moved to a bigger storage room, where a few more people were unofficially detained. They remained there for about 12 hours and they estimate that there must have been about 9 - 10 guards. During their unofficial detention they were beaten, causing serious injuries in the face, the back and the legs of one of the Palestinians. They were not provided with food or water. The guards threw water on their faces and the Palestinians were trying to drink some of the water drops to quench their thirst. The guards beat and severely mistreated the Palestinian refugees, dragging their bodies on the floor. The guards tied the legs of the people they were holding under unofficial detention in pairs of two and they left them like that for about 6-7 hours. After that time, the guards put all of them in a van that had no seats and drove them to the port of Kos. When they reached the port, the guards untied their blindfolds and their legs. It was late at night, when the guards boarded all the people in a Greek coast guard boat. The coast guard boat was boarded by 4 men, who must have been coast guard officers, since they were driving a boat belonging to the Hellenic Coast Guard. 40 “I explained again [to the Greek port police] that I have documents, I have family in Kos, we are recognized refugees. They replied “not our business”.” Recognized refugee, victim of pushback. They drove the boat to the middle of the sea and threw them all in the sea on a small half deflated raft, no longer than 1.5 meters. The refugees were floating in the sea for about 1-1,5 hours, when the Turkish coast guard police finally rescued them. They were arrested and detained for a few days for illegally entering the country. What happened after the pushback of 18 June: The two Palestinians returned to Kos island after a few days. They managed to swim back to Greece from Turkey. One of the two refugees did not know how to swim, so, as he explains, he immediately started practicing while he was in Turkey. One of the Palestinians had his wife and two children in Greece, all of them refugees recognized by the Greek authorities. The case was referred to GCR by the UNHCR because of the disappearance of one of the pushback victims. His wife filed a missing person’s report before the Greek police after she lost contact with her husband. Both Palestinians had previously been victims of other pushback operations (3 and 4 times), trying to enter Greece and request asylum in the country. An official complaint before the Public Prosecutor has been filed by GCR on behalf of the pushback victims and its examination is currently pending. AT EUROPE’S BORDERS: BETWEEN IMPUNITY AND CRIMINALIZATION