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ZAGREB, April 6 (AP) — An independent investigation team accused Croatian officials and police on Thursday of using a secret WhatsApp group to share sensitive information about migrants trying to enter the country.
It said it believed many of those discussed were later forcibly deported, which is illegal under international treaties. Croatian police have denied any wrongdoing.
Read also | National Public Radio protested what Twitter called “state-affiliated media.”
The Lighthouse Reports group, which is leading a collaborative investigation of journalists from news organizations across Europe, said in a report published Thursday that it received 60 leaked screenshots and managed to identify the encryption used between August 2019 and February 2020. 33 participants in the group.
“We found that among them were senior Croatian officials,” the report said, “within the secret WhatsApp group in Croatia,” it said. Country of Citizenship. ”
The messages often included photographs of individuals with their faces clearly visible, some forced to lie face down on the ground or take off their shoes. The group was also used to exchange information on journalists visiting the border area, the report said.
It added that the WhatsApp groups “are placed outside any official means of communication, away from usual surveillance procedures, and there are strong indications that foreign nationals mentioned in the messages continue to be unlawfully obstructed.”
Croatian officials said they could neither confirm nor deny the communication. Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic confirmed the existence of the police corridor operation mentioned in the report, which he said was aimed at curbing illegal immigration and people smuggling.
“We have no way of knowing whether these reports are true,” Bozinovic said. “Corridor II-West is not a covert operation. It is an intensive operation targeting migrant smugglers over the past five years.”
In a separate statement on Thursday, Croatia’s interior ministry reiterated that police were focusing on people smugglers and denied mistreatment of migrants. The statement insisted that the use of communication methods between officers was not prohibited, adding that all policing work was officially recorded.
“Some information was exchanged via encrypted applications, but this does not mean that the police’s practices were in any way criminal or illegal,” the Home Office statement said.
Croatia, an EU member state that joined the travel-free Schengen zone this year, has repeatedly faced allegations of refusing migrants, a practice that is illegal under international refugee treaties.
Frustration is the act of preventing people from exercising their right to apply for international protection – if they fear for their lives or risk of persecution – usually by force or mass deportation.
Migrants try to enter Croatia from neighboring Bosnia or Serbia. They originally came from Turkey or Greece, traveled to North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia, and then followed the so-called Balkan overland route to Western Europe.
The Lighthouse report was done in collaboration with Der Spiegel, Nova TV, Novosti weekly, Telegram news portal and ORF.
In 2019, Lighthouse Reports released video footage of uniformed men wearing balaclavas beating up groups of migrants, saying they were Croatian police. That release led to an investigation and the dismissal of the police. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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