Breaking laws, enduring severe hardships, and spending lots of money. It's all part of the long journey faced by the thousands who try to illegally cross from Bosnia into Croatia. The dream of reaching the European Union is often stopped short by border police, who, more and more, are accused of using violent and abusive force. CGTN's Aljosa Milenkovic takes a closer look at their dire situation, which is being made even more difficult by another imposing obstacle, winter.

The Fall of 2018 is one of this region's warmest autumns in decades. Temperatures have exceeded 20 degrees Celsius, despite the occasional shower. Very favorable conditions for thousands to try to illegally cross the border from Bosnia into Croatia. But because of a strong police presence there, migrants say that is one of the most difficult stretches of road on their journey.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC BOGOVOLJA, CROATIA "Dusk is setting over the border between Bosnia and Croatia. Despite windy conditions here, border police are on the lookout 24/7 for illegal crossings. In this section alone, they say the border is almost completely sealed, yet their presence is needed."

Croatian police officers are making sure they are very visible here. They say the rough terrain and high profile, presence should be enough to deter would-be illegal crossers, but migrants who try to pass through undetected claim it is not just police visibility posing a problem for them. They complain of alleged unprofessional actions by some officers.

MUHAMMED HASSAN MIGRANT FROM BANGLADESH "When they arrest me, they want to kick me out of the border. One time they beat me a lot. They pushed me there and another put me like this. Two policemen beat me, and broke my phone also."

Aljosa question: "That was in Croatia?"

Migrant answer: "In Croatia."

Doctors Without Borders, whose staff work in the makeshift camps on the Bosnian side of the border also addressed the issue.

JULIAN KEOBERER HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICERS, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS "We still see several patients coming to the clinic that are allegedly victims of border violence, that have been allegedly pushed back from Croatia and show signs of ill-treatment, so we can't prove it, because we are not there, but stories they describe are coherent to the wounds that we see."

On the Croatian side of the border, we've presented those claims to the head of the local border police. According to him, it is difficult to prove how such injuries happen, because there are numerous accounts from the Bosnian side, of migrants clashing among themselves.

IVO BENCETIC DEPUTY HEAD, CROATIAN BORDER POLICE "The fact is that the number of accusations has increased, but never have the incidents been confirmed or proven. Every use of force by the police must be warranted. And so far we haven't had any confirmation that our police officers used force like it's been claimed."

And yet, neither the approaching winter nor the difficult terrain, nor the reports of abuse are deterring migrants from trying to reach their European dream.

Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Bogovolja in Croatia.