Council of Europe report slams Croatia on migrant treatment

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — The Council of Europe’s committee on torture has harshly criticized Croatia over “severe ill-treatment” of migrants entering the country, and urged authorities to take immediate action to stop the practice. The report published Friday says the committee’s delegation encountered problems in cooperation and obstruction during a visit in Aug. 2020. Croatia has repeatedly denied allegations of systematic abuse of migrants trying to cross into the European Union nation from Bosnia. The committee’s report said it found injuries “indisputably compatible” with police ill-treatment. Examples of alleged ill-treatment include “migrants being forced to march through the forest to the border barefoot and being thrown with their hands still zip-locked into” a river between Croatia and Bosnia.