the Greek lawyers that they had been pushed back to Turkey on 26 May, but somehow they managed to avoid arrest by the Turkish police authorities in the border area. They stressed the fact that had they been apprehended by the Turkish police after the pushback by the Greek authorities, they would have been immediately imprisoned by the Turkish authorities as they had violated the suspended sentence conditions imposed by past decisions of the Turkish Courts, which had forced them to flee their country. Informal detention, informal confiscation of belongings: Subsequently, after their unofficial arrest by the Greek police in the Orestiada region, the group was deprived of their mobile phones and had no access to telephones, legal or medical aid. The group was kept in custody without any official registration. During their arrest and informal detention, they repeatedly told the police that they were political activists. They said they want to register an asylum application before the Greek authorities. They also told them that they had informed lawyers and asked for help in Greece. The police never registered their personal details nor their request to apply for international protection, even though the authorities were aware of their details as they were carrying identity cards. Between 12:0012:30, they were transferred in a closed van to the border police station of Orestiada (Neo Cheimonio). They were informally detained for about 4 - 5 hours in an open fenced space inside the yard of the border police station. The police took all of their belongings except for their money. They even took the identity cards of two members of the group. The group asked for asylum and to access their lawyers. They asked for water, but received no response. The group, together with an Iranian and an Afghan person were transferred in a closed van to an informal or an abandoned / unofficial detention site. Inhuman treatment: At said site, they saw masked officers carrying regular and electroshock batons. They were forced to strip naked in front of the authorities and were ordered to look at a wall, while the officers assaulted them with their batons. They felt humiliated and insulted. Thereafter, they were detained in a cell of the detention site. The detention site consisted of filthy cells and a corridor. Messages in different languages were written on the walls. The police did not provide food or water to the detainees. People of different nationalities, men, women and children, some seriously injured, were being detained. The police threatened and beat the detainees with electroshock batons. The cell was overcrowded with more than 30 people crammed in a small cell. They repeatedly asked for help and asylum. Thereafter, the group and the other detainees were violently forced out of the cells. Once again they were beaten with electroshock batons. They were able to witness the severe beatings of other detainees, feeling helpless and hoping for some mercy from the officers. Violent treatment by the river bank: They were transferred in a closed, overcrowded van to a location near the river, AT EUROPE’S BORDERS: BETWEEN IMPUNITY AND CRIMINALIZATION 27