Eλληνικά παρακάτω

In October 2020, nearly 200 people who had departed from Turkey to seek asylum in the European Union were caught in a storm off the coast of Crete, Greece. Finding themselves in a state of emergency, the passengers made a distress call to the Hellenic Coast Guard requesting assistance. Greece confirmed that they received an emergency call on 20 October 2020 from a boat in distress off the coast of Crete. However, what happened next is what is at dispute in the case S.A.A. and Others v Greece (app. no. 22146/21), before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The Applicants, eleven passengers from the boat who are represented by Anastasia Ntailiani of the Legal Centre Lesvos, testified that, following their emergency call, the Greek authorities illegally and violently expelled them towards Turkey, ultimately abandoning them on life rafts at sea. The case was communicated by the ECtHR to Greece in December 2021; to date, the Greek authorities have denied that the pushback took place.

Legal Centre Lesvos publishes today a forensic reconstruction video, linked here, produced by an independent forensic research team. The team held interviews with survivors of the pushback, analysed testimonies and available evidence of the pushback, including evidence from Greek authorities and Frontex, and produced a reconstruction video of the events on 20-21 October 2020. The video demonstrates that the Hellenic Coast Guard, instead of rescuing the approximately 200 people who were in distress at sea, they violently attacked, detained, and ultimately abandoned them at sea in a massive coordinated and illegal pushback operation. 

The Greek state, in its filings before the ECtHR in June and November 2022, completely denies that the pushback took place. It asserts that, after receiving the distress call on 20 October 2020, no fishing boat was found. The State’s principal argument is that because they did not keep (or produce) records of the Applicants’ presence in Greece – as they are mandated to do by law – the Applicants must not have entered Greece and therefore were not pushed back. Furthermore, the State asserts that Greece and its officers – as a matter of policy – do not conduct pushback operations, and thus the expulsion must not have occurred. The State makes these claims without substantively engaging with any of the Applicants’ submitted evidence, which includes GPS locations, photos and videos of their presence within Greek territory and the subsequent attack.  The Greek State also attempts to distract from the Hellenic Coast Guard’s culpability with a red herring: that Turkey is supposedly a safe country, and that the individuals seeking asylum in Europe prior to the State’s pushback should never have attempted the journey. This is not only irrelevant, given that the ECtHR is examining only whether the Greek authorities’ conduct towards the Applicants amounted to abuses of their right to life and the prohibitions on torture and unlawful detention, but is also manifestly untrue. 

The evidence, including the forensic reconstruction published today, not only illustrates that the Greek authorities conducted this violent pushback and therefore is liable for the associated human rights violations, but also that this operation was consistent with the Greek authorities’ systematic practice of collective expulsions that has been extensively documented and reported  – both before and since the time of the events in question.

S.A.A. and Others v Greece is the fifth legal action filed by LCL lawyers before the ECtHR, representing survivors of illegal and violent expulsions from Greece. It is among 32 pushback cases communicated to Greece a year ago by the ECtHR, all of which were filed between December 2020 and August 2021 and concern migrants who had arrived to Greece with the intention to seek asylum and were instead met with violence, humiliation, and torture at the hands of Greek authorities, before being abandoned at sea or violently returned to Turkey via the Evros border. 

As human rights defenders we understand the complex and multifactorial process in order for an application to succeed. However, given the dismal reality of the current national political context, where there is on the one hand a complete denial by the authorities of pushbacks happening at Greece’s sea and land border and on the other hand a continuous attempt to criminalise and marginalise people and organisations in the field and refugees themselves, the ECtHR offers an opportunity to pierce the ongoing impunity and to restore a sense of justice which is more imperative than ever.  In the case of S.A.A. v. Greece, a massive and violent pushback operation took place. The court has, in our opinion, all the necessary evidence at its disposal to condemn the violations committed against the Applicants.

Anastasia Ntailiani, LCL lawyer representing the Applicants in S.A.A.

Press Contacts:

• Anatasia Ntailiani: Natasha@legalcentrelesvos.org , +30 694 425 1704
• Lorraine Leete, lorraine@legalcentrelesvos.org, +30 695 507 4724

Δελτιο Τυπου: Το βιντεο αποτυπωσης και αναπαραστασης που δινεται σημερα στη δημοσιοτητα καταδεικνυει την παρανομη επαναπροωθηση 200 μεταναστων απο τις ελληνικες αρχες στα ανοικτα των ακτων της Κρητης το 2020

Τον Οκτώβριο του 2020, σχεδόν 200 άτομα που είχαν αναχωρήσει από την Τουρκία για να ζητήσουν άσυλο στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση βρέθηκαν εν μέσω καταιγίδας στα ανοιχτά της Κρήτης. Ευρισκόμενοι σε κατάσταση ανάγκης, οι επιβάτες πραγματοποίησαν κλήση έκτακτης ανάγκης στο Λιμενικό Σώμα-Ελληνική Ακτοφυλακή ζητώντας βοήθεια. Το ελληνικό κράτος επιβεβαίωσε ότι το Λιμενικό Σώμα έλαβε κλήση έκτακτης ανάγκης στις 20 Οκτωβρίου 2020 από σκάφος σε κίνδυνο στα ανοιχτά της Κρήτης. Ωστόσο, τα γεγονότα που συνέβησαν στη συνέχεια συνιστούν το επίδικο ζήτημα στην υπόθεση S.A.A. και λοιποί κατά Ελλάδας (αρ. υπόθεσης 22146/21), ενώπιον του Ευρωπαϊκού Δικαστηρίου Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων (ΕΔΔΑ). Οι έντεκα προσφεύγοντες επιβάτες του σκάφους που εκπροσωπούνται από την Αναστασία Νταϊλιάνη, δικηγόρο του Legal Centre Lesvos, ισχυρίζονται ότι, μετά από κλήση έκτακτης ανάγκης, οι ελληνικές αρχές τους επαναπροώθησαν παράνομα και βίαια προς την Τουρκία, εγκαταλείποντάς τους εν τέλει σε φουσκωτές σχεδίες στη θάλασσα. Η υπόθεση κοινοποιήθηκε από το ΕΔΔΑ στην Ελλάδα τον Δεκέμβριο του 2021. Μέχρι σήμερα, οι ελληνικές αρχές αρνούνται ότι έλαβε χώρα επαναπροώθηση.

Το Legal Centre Lesvos (LCL) δημοσιεύει σήμερα ένα βίντεο αποτύπωσης και αναπαράστασης των γεγονότων, που δημιουργήθηκε από ανεξάρτητη ερευνητική ομάδα. Η ομάδα πραγματοποίησε συνεντεύξεις με επιζώντες/ώσες της επαναπροώθησης, ανέλυσε μαρτυρίες και διαθέσιμα στοιχεία για αυτήν, συμπεριλαμβανομένων στοιχείων από τις ελληνικές αρχές και την Frontex, και παρήγαγε ένα βίντεο αναπαράστασης των γεγονότων της 20-21 Οκτωβρίου 2020. Το βίντεο καταδεικνύει ότι το Λιμενικό Σώμα-Ελληνική Ακτοφυλακή, αντί να διασώσει τους περίπου 200 ανθρώπους που βρίσκονταν σε κίνδυνο στη θάλασσα, τους επιτέθηκε βίαια, τους έθεσε υπό κράτηση και τελικά τους εγκατέλειψε στη θάλασσα σε μια μαζική, συντονισμένη και παράνομη επιχείρηση επαναπροώθησης.

Το ελληνικό κράτος, με τους ισχυρισμούς του ενώπιον του ΕΔΔΑ τον Ιούνιο και τον Νοέμβριο του 2022, αρνείται πλήρως ότι έλαβε χώρα η επαναπροώθηση. Ισχυρίζεται συγκεκριμένα ότι μετά τη λήψη της κλήσης έκτακτης ανάγκης στις 20 Οκτωβρίου 2020 δε βρέθηκε αλιευτικό σκάφος. Το κύριο επιχείρημα του ελληνικού κράτους είναι ότι επειδή αυτό δε διατηρεί (ή δεν παρήγαγε) αρχεία για την παρουσία των προσφευγόντων/ουσών στην Ελλάδα – όπως επιβάλλει ο νόμος – αυτοί/ές είναι αδύνατο να έχουν εισέλθει στην Ελλάδα και επομένως δεν επαναπροωθήθηκαν. Περαιτέρω, επαναλαμβανεται ο ισχυρισμός ότι αποτελεί πολιτική του κράτους να μη διεξάγονται επιχειρήσεις επαναπροωθήσεων και επομένως η ομαδική απέλαση αποκλείεται να έχει λάβει χώρα. Το ελληνικό κράτος προβάλλει αυτούς τους ισχυρισμούς αγνοώντας ουσιαστικά όλα τα αποδεικτικά στοιχεία που υποβλήθηκαν από τους προσφεύγοντες/ουσες, τα οποία περιλαμβάνουν τοποθεσίες GPS, καθώς και φωτογραφίες και βίντεο της παρουσίας τους εντός της ελληνικής επικράτειας και της επακόλουθης επιχείρησης. Επιπλέον, το ελληνικό κράτος επιχειρεί να αποσπάσει την προσοχή από την ευθύνη του Λιμενικού Σώματος-Ελληνικής Ακτοφυλακής με μία αβάσιμη επισήμανση: ότι δήθεν η Τουρκία είναι μια ασφαλής χώρα και ότι τα άτομα που ζητούν άσυλο στην Ευρώπη σε ενδεχόμενη επαναπροώθηση δε θα έπρεπε σε κάθε περίπτωση να επιχειρήσουν το ταξίδι. Αυτό όχι μόνο είναι παρελκυστικό, δεδομένου ότι το ΕΔΔΑ εξετάζει μόνο εάν οι πράξεις των ελληνικών αρχών κατά των προσφευγόντων/ουσών ισοδυναμούν με παραβιάσεις του δικαιώματός τους στη ζωή και της απαγόρευσης βασανιστηρίων και παράνομης κράτησης, αλλά είναι επίσης προδήλως αναληθές.

Τα στοιχεία, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της αναπαράστασης των γεγονότων που δημοσιεύεται σήμερα, όχι μόνο καταδεικνύουν ότι οι ελληνικές αρχές διεξήγαγαν αυτή τη βίαιη επαναπροώθηση και επομένως είναι υπεύθυνες για τις σχετικές παραβιάσεις των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων, αλλά επίσης ότι αυτή η επιχείρηση ήταν σύμφωνη με τη συστηματική πρακτική των ελληνικών αρχών να προβαίνουν σε ομαδικές επαναπροωθήσεις, κάτι που έχει αναφερθεί και τεκμηριωθεί εκτενώς – τόσο πριν όσο και κατά την περίοδο των εν λόγω γεγονότων.

Η υπόθεση S.A.A. και λοιποί κατά Ελλάδας είναι η πέμπτη προσφυγή που κατατίθεται από δικηγόρους του LCL ενώπιον του ΕΔΔΑ, στο  πλαίσιο εκπροσώπησης θυμάτων παράνομων και βίαιων επαναπροωθήσεων από την Ελλάδα. Είναι μια από τις 32 υποθέσεις παράνομων επαναπροωθήσεων που κοινοποιήθηκαν στην Ελλάδα πριν από ένα χρόνο από το ΕΔΔΑ, το σύνολο των οποίων κατατέθηκαν μεταξύ Δεκεμβρίου 2020 και Αυγούστου 2021 και αφορούν μετανάστες που έφτασαν στην Ελλάδα με σκοπό να ζητήσουν άσυλο και υπέστησαν βία, ταπείνωση και βασανιστήρια από τις ελληνικές αρχές, πριν εγκαταλειφθούν στη θάλασσα ή επιστραφούν βίαια στην Τουρκία μέσω των συνόρων στον Έβρο.

Ως υπερασπιστές των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων κατανοούμε τη σύνθετη και πολυπαραγοντική διαδικασία για να ευδοκιμήσει μια αίτηση. Ωστόσο, δεδομένης της θλιβερής πραγματικότητας του εθνικού πολιτικού πλαισίου, όπου υπάρχει αφενός η πλήρης άρνηση από τις αρχές αναφορικά με επαναπροωθήσεις που συμβαίνουν στα θαλάσσια και χερσαία σύνορα της Ελλάδας και αφετέρου μια συνεχής προσπάθεια ποινικοποίησης και περιθωριοποίησης ανθρώπων και οργανώσεων στο πεδίο και των ίδιων των προσφύγων, το ΕΔΔΑ προσφέρει μια ευκαιρία αναχαίτισης της συνεχιζόμενης ατιμωρησίας και συγχρόνως αποκατάστασης ενός αισθήματος δικαιοσύνης, που είναι σήμερα πιο επιτακτική από ποτέ. Στην περίπτωση της υπόθεσης S.A.A. κατά Ελλάδας, έλαβε χώρα μια μαζική και βίαιη επιχείρηση επαναπροώθησης. Το δικαστήριο έχει, κατά τη γνώμη μας, όλα τα απαραίτητα αποδεικτικά στοιχεία στη διάθεσή του για να καταδικάσει τις παραβιάσεις που διαπράχθηκαν σε βάρος των προσφευγόντων/ουσών.

Η Αναστασία Νταϊλιάνη, δικηγόρος του LCL που εκπροσωπεί τους προσφεύγοντες/ουσες στην υπόθεση S.A.A.

Για επικοινωνία με τον Τύπο:

• Anatasia Ntailiani: Natasha@legalcentrelesvos.org , +30 694 425 1704
• Lorraine Leete, lorraine@legalcentrelesvos.org, +30 695 507 4724

Press release of the initiatives Legal Centre Lesvos, Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe e.V., You can’t evict Solidarity and Deportation Monitoring Aegean on 8 December 2022

Yesterday, 8 December 2022, the twice postponed appeal trial of Amir Zahiri and Akif Razuli took place in Mytilini, Greece. At the end the three judge Appeal Court acquitted Akif, but found Amir guilty of “boat driving” and sentenced him to 8 years in prison. Compared to the first instance decision, his sentence was substantially reduced, which means that he is eligible for early release on parole. The initiatives Legal Centre Lesvos, Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe e.V., You can’t evict Solidarity and Deportation Monitoring Aegean observed the case of the two on Lesvos and welcome their upcoming release from prison.

After a day of suspense as to whether the trial would take place or again be postponed, the trial finally started late on Thursday afternoon. Four witnesses testified for the defendants, who were represented by lawyers from the Legal Center Lesvos and Human Rights Legal Project Samos.

At the close of the trial, the prosecutor proposed that Akif be found not guilty, due to the lack of any evidence that he was driving the boat, and the judges agreed.

Despite doubt being raised as to Amir’s guilt, the Court found Amir guilty of facilitating illegalised entry – i.e. “boat driving”. They rejected the argument that Amir was forced to drive the boat out of necessity to save the life of his family and others on the boat – a legal reason for acquittal. However, the court did reduce his sentence to 8 years based on mitigating circumstances, so he now can apply for early release, given his time earned working and studying while in prison. This result, while insufficient, is welcome news for his family.

Although there was never credible evidence against them, both defendants have now been in prison for almost 3 years.

The Coast Guard witness – the State’s sole witness against Akif and Amir – failed to appear once again to testify in court yesterday. In their scheduled appeal trial in April of 2022, said witness didn’t show up, which was used as an excuse to postpone the trial.

This is unfortunately a common occurance in these “boat driving” cases, where the Coast Guard or police are the only witnesses against the accused. Just this Monday, in the case of A.B., the Mytilene Court postponed A.B.’s trial until May 2023, because the Coast Guard witness did not show up for trial, and did not give any excuse for his absence. While the Court fined the Coast Guard officer 200 Euros for failing to show up, this is a mere slap on the wrist, while A.B.’s life is again kept in limbo for another six months.

Yesterday, the Coast Guard witness who had given written testimony against Amir and Akif again failed attend the trial. This time, fortunately, the case went forward.

It is important to recall that the defendants testified in the first trial that when they reached Greek waters in their journey from Turkey in March 2020, the Hellenic Coast Guard attempted to push them back to Turkey, and in the process damaged the boat causing it to start sinking. According to the defendants’ testimony, the Coast Guard was then forced to take all the passengers on board and bring them to Greece. Of particular importance, yesterday it was the Prosecutor who raised the issue of whether or not there was an attempted pushback by the Coast Guard during Amir and Akif’s crossing, in his questioning of the defendants. The continued absence of the Coast Guard witness is also of note, given the implications that he may have been involved in this attempted pushback – the real crime in this case.

About 40 people from solidarity groups and the press were present inside the courtroom and gathered outside following the trial. At 7pm, when the verdicts and sentences were announced, the two were greeted with banners and chants celebrating their freedom.

Yesterday’s acquittal of Akif Razuli, and reduced sentence for Amir Zahiri was a small victory. But this is a very small step in the context in which there are still thousands of people who are imprisoned in Greece with the same charge, simply because they were looking for a better future. We will stand by all those who are in prison for crossing borders and fight with them for their freedom.

Kim Schneider from the initiative You can`t evict Solidarity.

After almost three years, this result is the bare minimum of what Akif deserves. He came to Greece as a refugee and found himself in prison without any evidence against him. We hope that the unjust anti-smuggling law that he and Amir were charged under will be abolished and that the persecution of refugees in the cogs of the Greek justice system will come to an end.

Vicky Aggelidou, from the Legal Centre Lesvos, who represented Akif Rasuli

If I only consider this one trial, I have nothing to criticise from a procedural point of view. However, the prosecution of Akif Razuli and Amir Zahiri is not made of this one trial. Even if previous violations were corrected by acquitting Akif Razuli, he will not get back any of the nearly three years he spent in prison for no reason. And we must not forget that Amir Zahiri was again found guilty. Although the sentence was drastically reduced and Amir Zahiri now can hope to soon be released on parole, it still is a politically motivated conviction in a trial that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Annina Mullis, Trial Observer from European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights & Swiss Democractic Lawyers

Yesterday’s trial partially restore a great injustice against Amir and Akif. We hope that in the future we will never again see similar cases of people being convicted without evidence and witnesses and without adequate interpretation, as was the case in the first trial of Amir and Akif.

Community Peacemakers Team – Aegean Migrant Solidarity

Press contact:
Lorraine Leete
Legal Centre Lesvos
@legalcentrelesvos.org
Phone: +30 695 5074725

On 20 and 21 September 2022, the Legal Centre Lesvos represented Μ.Μ., a seventeen year old Afghan teenager, who arrived by boat to the Evros region of Northern Greece in order to seek asylum in March 2022. He was arrested immediately upon arrival, and following this arrest was accused of having smuggled 5 people across the border between Greece and Turkey for financial gain, which is a felony. 

Since the day he was arrested, M.M. was at no point provided with an interpreter to communicate in his mother tongue, Dari, or any other language he speaks fluently, as is required by law. M.M.’s initial statement to the police was with the use of a Turkish interpreter, a language M.M. does not speak. Since his arrest, M.M. was not visited by any state-appointed lawyer, although one had been appointed to him. Additionally, the evidence used to bring charges against M.M. is also suspect, as it consists of several identical copy-paste witness statements that were recorded by the police from people who were on the same boat as M.M., which draws suspicion that the testimonies have been written jointly or by the same entity, and just signed by different witnesses. None of this was raised by M.M.’s appointed attorney, who did not meet M.M. before the pre-trial hearing and filed a memo only based on the statement M.M. had made to the police. Following this hearing, it was decided that M.M. would be charged with facilitation of illegal entry to Greece of foreign nationals (human smuggling), and held in pretrial detention. It is important to note here that the accusation of human smuggling is capped with a maximum 10 years prison sentence for each person transferred on the boat, however, if the motive of financial gain is proven, the prison sentence starts from a minimum 10 years per person. In sum, Μ.Μ. was forced to give his initial statement to the police in a language he does not speak, without any legal support, despite the serious charges he was facing, and as a result following a pre-trial hearing he was held in detention for approximately six months awaiting trial.

Given their past involvement defending the rights of criminalised alleged “boat drivers”, the lawyers of the Legal Centre Lesvos undertook legal representation in M.M.’s case. 

M.M.’s trial on the above charges was scheduled for 20 September 2022, and was postponed for a day to find a Dari interpreter, after intervention of Legal Centre Lesvos’s lawyers. Moreover, M.M. was 17 years old when he arrived in Greece. Despite this fact, his case was handled as one of an adult until his appearance in court, after a superficial age-assessment procedure conducted shortly after his arrest found him to be an adult. This age determination was of crucial importance for the progression of the court case since minors are tried in separate courts and potential penalties for minors are less than for adults. In order to prove M.M.’s age to the court, Legal Centre Lesvos obtained the original national identity documents of M.M. from Afghanistan and from the Embassy of Afghanistan in Athens. With the submission of these identification documents, the one Judge Appeal Court of First Instance of Komotini ruled that her court was incompetent to progress with the case by acknowledging that M.M. indeed is a minor. The case was therefore referred to the regional minor’s court, and on motion of the Legal Centre Lesvos, the judge ordered M.M.’s release from prison until his trial.

The court’s decision was the only logical outcome, given the evidence presented. However, all too often we have found that the courts fail to apply their own rules, and foreign nationals in particular find themselves convicted to lengthy prison sentences without any credible evidence, or tried as adults despite certification of their status as minors. M.M’s freedom and recognition as a minor by the Komotini Court is welcome news in an otherwise bleak legal landscape, and we hope that the rule of law and reason will continue to prevail when M.M. is brought to trial in the future. 

* CPT/Aegean Migrant Solidarity, Borderline Europe, BordermonitoringEU, Encarcerating the Marginalised, The Fight Against Alleged ›Smugglers‹ on the Greek Hotspot Islands, 2020, available at: https://bordermonitoring.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/report-2020-smuggling-en_web.pdf

**********************

Το Μονομελές Εφετείο Κομοτηνής αναγνωρίζει την ανηλικότητα εντολέα του Legal Centre Lesvos και διατάσσει την άρση της προσωρινής του κράτησης σε μια ακόμη δίκη εις βάρος αιτούντος άσυλο  που κατηγορήθηκε ως διακινητής 

Από την ημέρα της σύλληψής του και μέχρι την ανάκριση, δεν υπήρχε διαθέσιμη διερμηνεία στα Νταρί, μητρική γλώσσα του Μ.Μ, όπως απαιτείται από το νόμο. Κατά το στάδιο της προανάκρισης, η απολογία του M.M διεξήχθη παρουσία Τούρκου διερμηνέα στα τουρκικά, γλώσσα που ο M.M. αγνοεί. Επιπλέον, παρά τον αυτεπάγγελτο διορισμό δικηγόρου για την απολογία ενώπιον του Ανακριτή, δεν έλαβε χώρα καμιά συνάντηση μεταξύ της δικηγόρου και του Μ.Μ. πριν από αυτήν. Αντιθέτως, υπεβλήθη από τη συνήγορο απλά υπόμνημα-πιστή αντιγραφή της προανακριτικής απολογίας του M.M, που έλαβε παράνομα χώρα με Τούρκο διερμηνέα.   Επιπλέον, οι ένορκες καταθέσεις των λοιπών επιβαινόντων στη βάρκα στο στάδιο της προανάκρισης ενώπιον των αστυνομικών αρχών ήταν σκανδαλωδώς πανομοιότυπες εγείροντας εύλογα ερωτήματα σχετικά με τη νομιμότητα διεξαγωγής της. Εν τέλει, μετά την απολογία του ενώπιον του Ανακριτή, αποφασίστηκε η προσωρινή κράτηση του Μ.Μ για παράνομη μεταφορά στην Ελλάδα πολιτών τρίτων χωρών με την επιβαρυντική περίσταση της κερδοσκοπίας.  Είναι σημαντικό να σημειωθεί εδώ ότι η κατηγορία της παράνομης μεταφοράς πολιτών τρίτων χωρών στην Ελλάδα έχει ανώτατο όριο τα 10 έτη κάθειρξης για κάθε άτομο που μεταφέρεται, ωστόσο, αν αποδειχθεί το κίνητρο του οικονομικού οφέλους, η ποινή κάθειρξης ξεκινά από τα 10 έτη κατ’ ελάχιστο ανά άτομο. Εν κατακλείδι, ο Μ.Μ. απολογήθηκε ενώπιον του ανακριτή χωρίς ουσιαστική νομική υποστήριξη και επί τη βάσει μαρτυρικών καταθέσεων αμφίβολης αξιοπιστίας. 

Με δεδομένη την πρότερη εμπειρία τους στην υπεράσπιση των δικαιωμάτων των αυθαίρετα κατηγορούμενων ως “χειριστών βαρκών”, οι δικηγόροι του Legal Centre Lesvos ανέλαβαν τη νομική εκπροσώπηση στην υπόθεση του Μ.Μ. 

Η δίκη του M.M. είχε προγραμματιστεί για τις 20 Σεπτεμβρίου 2022 και αναβλήθηκε για μία ημέρα προκειμένου να βρεθεί διερμηνέας Νταρί, μετά από παρέμβαση των δικηγόρων του Legal Centre Lesvos. Επιπλέον, ο Μ.Μ. ήταν 17 ετών όταν έφτασε στην Ελλάδα. Παρά το γεγονός αυτό, αξιολογήθηκε ποινικά ως ενήλικος μέχρι και την διαδικασία στο ακροατήριο, αφού μια παράτυπη διαδικασία εκτίμησης της ηλικίας του, που διενεργήθηκε λίγο μετά τη σύλληψή του, τον έκρινε ενήλικο. Ο ανωτέρω προσδιορισμός της ηλικίας του Μ.Μ. ήταν καθοριστικής δικονομικής σημασίας για την εξέλιξη της υπόθεσης, δεδομένου ότι αν αυτή φερόταν σε Δικαστήριο Ανηλίκων, ο Μ.Μ θα τύγχανε ευνοϊκότερης ποινικής μεταχείρισης.  Προκειμένου να αποδείξει την ηλικία του M.M. στο δικαστήριο, οι δικηγόροι του Legal Centre Lesvos έλαβαν το πρωτότυπο εθνικό έγγραφο ταυτότητας του M.M. από το Αφγανιστάν και πιστοποιητικό γέννησης από την Πρεσβεία του Αφγανιστάν στην Αθήνα. Με την προσκόμιση αυτών των ταυτοποιητικών εγγράφων ως προσαγομένων, το Μονομελές Εφετείο Κομοτηνής έκρινε ότι είναι αναρμόδιο, αναγνωρίζοντας τον Μ.Μ ως ανήλικο. Ως εκ τούτου, η υπόθεση παραπέμφθηκε στο Δικαστήριο Ανηλίκων Ορεστιάδας και κατόπιν αιτήματος των δικηγόρων, η δικαστής διέταξε την άρση της προσωρινής κράτησης του Μ.Μ. μέχρι τη δίκη του.

Η απόφαση του δικαστηρίου ήταν το μόνο λογικό αποτέλεσμα, δεδομένων των στοιχείων που παρουσιάστηκαν. Ωστόσο, πολύ συχνά διαπιστώνουμε ότι τα δικαστήρια δεν εφαρμόζουν την ισχύουσα νομοθεσία και  ιδιαίτερα οι αλλοδαποί πολίτες καταδικάζονται σε μακροχρόνιες ποινές κάθειρξης χωρίς αξιόπιστα αποδεικτικά στοιχεία ή δικάζονται ως ενήλικες παρά την πιστοποίηση της ανηλικότητάς τους. Η άρση της προσωρινής κράτησης  του Μ.Μ. και η αναγνώριση της ανηλικότητάς του από το δικαστήριο της Κομοτηνής είναι ευπρόσδεκτες ειδήσεις σε ένα κατά τα άλλα ζοφερό νομικό τοπίο και ελπίζουμε ότι το κράτος δικαίου και η λογική θα συνεχίσουν να επικρατούν όταν η υπόθεση του Μ.Μ εισαχθεί ενώπιον του Δικαστηρίου Ανηλίκων. 

* CPT/Aegean Migrant Solidarity, Borderline Europe, BordermonitoringEU, Encarcerating the Marginalised, The Fight Against Alleged ›Smugglers‹ on the Greek Hotspot Islands, 2020, available at: https://bordermonitoring.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/report-2020-smuggling-en_web.pdf

Since the spring, Legal Centre Lesvos’ work continued to be instrumental in preventing illegal pushbacks of unregistered asylum seekers newly arrived on Lesvos through the provision of Emergency Legal Assistance. Thanks to coordination with other international actors, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and non profit organisations defending migrants’ rights, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Alarm Phone, this work ensured that asylum seekers who have arrived on Lesvos – sometimes for a few days already, without access to food, water or shelter in extreme weather conditions – have eventually had access to international protection procedures in Greece as well as other critical services such as urgent medical support. This work has been increasingly critical given the persistent, violent, and illegal practice of summary pushbacks at sea carried out by the Greek authorities, to expel and abandon at sea those who manage to arrive to the Greek waters and those who reach the Greek islands. 

Over the last three months, denunciation of pushbacks in the Aegean Sea and across the Evros River has intensified – with the extensive documentation and wide publication of cases where people seeking protection in Greece have instead been hunted down, captured, and taken out to sea where they were abandoned in motorless life rafts or the damaged dinghies they had travelled on, and in some documented cases thrown directly into the sea in a murderous and calous disregard for their lives. As denunciation efforts increased, NGOs and solidarity actors across Greece are also facing increasing pressure, intimidation and criminalisation for their reporting, denouncing and advocating work against these human rights violations. Indeed, officials of the  Greek government, and media platforms continue to tacitly accuse those who advocate against pushbacks of being involved in smuggling networks themselves. 

The efforts of organisations reporting on and advocating against those illegal pushbacks, however, have undoubtedly contributed to a shift in public discourse regarding pushbacks during this period: FRONTEX executive director resigned after a long investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office and media reports revealing how FRONTEX actively covered up pushbacks of the Greek authorities; the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner issued recommendations denouncing pushbacks in different Council of Europe member states, including Greece; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defender published a press statement after her official visit in Greece expressing her concerns about the escalation of criminalisation of actors involved in the advocacy again pushbacks.

Further information on updates from Lesvos and our work can be found in our latest Newsletter, available for download here, and below.

Find details in the attached job notice. Deadline for applications is 28 August 2022.

PRESS RELEASE (στα ελληνικά)

Once again, the courts of Mytilene flouted the basic rules of a fair trial and the rights of the accused, by affirming the conviction of A.A. and M.H. on appeal. The two were minors when they were arrested, and among the six who were accused of the fire that destroyed Moria’s Reception and Identification Centre in 2020. Twenty-six prosecution witnesses paraded through the court today, and none of them identified the two defendants. The court nevertheless decided to confirm the conviction of the two on appeal, without credible evidence.

The only evidence against A.A. was based on the testimony of a “ghost” witness – who was neither summoned by the investigating magistrate nor appeared before the trial court – who named A.A.only by his first name and identified him when his specific photograph was arbitrarily shown to him by the police. As for M.H., the only identifying evidence was a video, which the Athens forensic laboratory said was of such poor quality that no forensic conclusions could be drawn.

The Mytilene Juvenile Court of Appeal finally recognised the defendants’ mitigating circumstances, reducing their sentence because of good behaviour during their time in prison. However, contrary to the usual judicial practice, which is to reduce the sentence by half, the court reduced their sentence by only one year, from five years to four years imprisonment. 

Fortunately, the Athens Juvenile Court of Appeal – which was in parallel deciding on a petition for the two teenagers’ provisional release from prison – today decided in favour of A.A., who will finally be released from prison, following the Kafkaesque suffering he has endured since his arrival in Greece. The same court will decide on 5 July on the petition for the release of M.H.

“The court of Mytilene considers that they can make decisions with no accountability. Fortunately there is the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights” said Vicky Angelidou who, together with Vasilis Psomos and Natasha Dailiani, represent the two minors as lawyers of the Legal Centre Lesvos.

Further information on the trials of the six accused of the Moria fire can be found at: 

• https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2022/06/02/press-release-we-demand-justice-and-freedom-for-the-moria-6/
• https://bit.ly/3mpmICu
• https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2021/03/09/justice-for-the-moria-6/

ΔΕΛΤIΟ ΤYΠΟΥ: AΛΛΗ ΜΙΑ ΑΤΥΧHΣ ΣΤΙΓΜH ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΔΙΚΑΣΤHΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΜΥΤΙΛHΝΗΣ: EΝΟΧΟΙ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΟ ΕΦΕΤEIΟ ΟΙ ΔYΟ ΑΝHΛΙΚΟΙ ΠΟΥ ΣΥΝΕΛHΦΘΗΣΑΝ ΓΙΑ ΤOΝ ΕΜΠΡΗΣΜO ΤΟΥ ΚΥΤ ΜOΡΙΑΣ.

Ακόμα μια φορά τα δικαστήρια της Μυτιλήνης επέλεξαν να κινηθούν πέρα από κάθε έννοια νομιμότητας καταστρατηγώντας με ευκολία τόσο τους κανόνες μιας δίκαιης δίκης όσο και τα δικαιώματα των κατηγορουμένων, καταδικάζοντας σε δεύτερο βαθμό τους δύο ανήλικους, Α.Α. και Μ.Χ., που είχαν κατηγορηθεί για τον εμπρησμό του ΚΥΤ Μόριας το 2020. Είκοσι έξι μάρτυρες κατηγορίας παρέλασαν σήμερα από το δικαστήριο, και κανένας από αυτούς δεν αναγνώρισε τους δύο κατηγορούμενους. Το δικαστήριο παρ’όλα αυτά αποφάσισε να τους καταδικάσει χωρίς στοιχεία και σε δεύτερο βαθμό. 

Όσον αφορά τον Α.Α, βασίστηκε στη κατάθεση ενός μάρτυρα “φαντάσματος” -που ούτε κλήθηκε από τον ανακριτή ούτε εμφανίστηκε στο πρωτοβάθμιο δικαστήριο- ο οποίος τον κατονόμασε  μόνο με το μικρό του όνομα και τον αναγνώρισε, όταν ως δια μαγείας του επιδείχθηκε από την αστυνομία η φωτογραφία του. Όσον αφορά δε τον Μ.Χ, στηρίχθηκε σε ένα βίντεο, για το οποίο το εγκληματολογικό εργαστήριο της Αθήνας ανέφερε ότι είναι τόσο κακής ποιότητας ώστε δεν μπορούν να εξαχθούν εγκληματολογικά συμπεράσματα. 

Το Τριμελές Εφετείο Ανηλίκων Μυτιλήνης, εντέλει, αναγνώρισε στους κατηγορούμενους το ελαφρυντικό της καλής συμπεριφοράς για μεγάλο διάστημα μετά την πράξη, αν και, παρά την συνήθη δικαστηριακή πρακτική, μείωσε την ποινή τους κατά ένα μόνο χρόνο. Περαιτέρω, το Τριμελές Δικαστήριο Ανηλίκων Αθηνών αποφάσισε θετικά σήμερα, μετά από αίτηση, για την υφ’ όρον απόλυση του Α.Α, ο οποίος επιτέλους θα βρεθεί σύντομα εκτός φυλακής μετά την καφκικού τύπου ταλαιπωρία που υπέστη από την στιγμή της άφιξης του στην Ελλάδα. Το ίδιο δικαστήριο θα αποφασίσει στις 5 Ιουλίου για την υφ’ όρον απόλυση του Μ.Χ.

“Τα δικαστήρια της Μυτιλήνης θεωρούν ότι η κρίση τους είναι ανέλεγκτη. Ευτυχώς υπάρχει ο Άρειος Πάγος και το Ευρωπαϊκό Δικαστήριο Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων” δήλωσε η Βίκυ Αγγελίδου που μαζί με τον Βασίλη Ψώμο και τη Νατάσα Νταϊλιάνη εκπροσωπούν τους δύο ανηλίκους, ως δικηγόροι του Legal Centre Lesvos. 

Περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες σχετικά με τις δίκες:

• https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2022/06/02/press-release-we-demand-justice-and-freedom-for-the-moria-6/
• https://bit.ly/3mpmICu
• https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2021/03/09/justice-for-the-moria-6/

Ελληνικά

On Tuesday 7 June 2022, A.A. and M.H, two of the six Afghan teenagers who were accused and convicted for the fires that destroyed Moria refugee camp in September 2020, will have their conviction and sentence re-examined before the Juvenile Appeal Court of Mytilene.

At the time of their arrest in September 2020, the two teenagers, now 18 and 19 years old, were both unaccompanied minors – i.e. children alone without their parents or other caretakers.  On 9 March 2021, in a trial that flouted basic procedural standards, they were found guilty of “arson with risk to human life” by the Three Judge Juvenile Court of Mytilene, despite a blatant lack of credible evidence presented against them. Both were convicted to 5 years in prison, with no recognition of mitigating factors, and have already spent nearly two years in Korinthos Minors prison and later Avlona prison for minors and young adults. Further details on their initial trial can be found in the Legal Centre’s previous publication following the trial. 

A petition for the release of the two young men was submitted by the Legal Centre Lesvos lawyers at the beginning of March 2022, since both are eligible for release due to time earned through working and attending school in prison, and both have a confirmed place to live and a support network outside prison when released.  However, in yet another cruel twist of fate, the hearing to decide on their eligibility to be released from prison based on these petitions was scheduled for the same day as their appeal trial, on 7 June 2022, in an Athens three-judge Juvenile Court, stretching the capacity of the Legal Centre Lesvos team, who will provide legal representation and defense to the two teenagers in both courts.

To further burden the teenagers and their lawyers from the Legal Centre Lesvos, the appeal trial was scheduled with less than 3 weeks notice, due to an error by the court secretary, who apparently forgot to send the first instance decision to the appeal court’s secretary until recently.

As a reminder, the fires that destroyed Moria camp in September 2020 came four and half years after the EU-Turkey Deal turned the Aegean islands into prison islands for those forced to cross the border from Turkey, and Moria camp became the notorious symbol of the EU’s migration policies. The destruction of Moria camp was the inevitable outcome of the cruel policies of dehumanisation and exclusion that created it. In September 2020, the number of people living in the camp had reached over 12,000 persons (despite an official capacity of 3,100), when movement restrictions had been in place for almost six months, and a growing fear of COVID-19 was spreading inside the camp – with government policies exacerbating these fears rather than providing any measures to protect people forced to live there from contracting the virus. The Greek authorities had violently cracked down on camp residents’ protests against the lack of public health measures by blocking the roads around the camp, isolating its residents, and firing tear gas and smoke bombs. Just one week prior to the fires, on 2 September 2020, the first person in the camp tested positive for the virus. Instead of moving infected people out of the camp, deploying medical staff or adopting hygiene measures for the people trapped inside, the Greek authorities announced the total lockdown of the camp, and the very next day signed a contract with a construction company to turn Moria Camp into a detention centre.

The inhumane living conditions in the hell of Moria – otherwise recognised by all participants in the trial – were ignored by the court to reduce the defendants’ sentence. Rather than recognising that the fires of Moria camp were the inevitable consequence of the “hotspot approach” and of the clear mismanagement of those deadly camp infrastructures, in particular during the COVID-19 pandemia crisis, the Greek state conveniently arrested six young Afghan teenagers, the “Moria 6” and presented them as the sole culprits of the fires. 

All six Afghans accused of the fire which destroyed Moria camp in September 2020 had been arrested arbitrarily and declared guilty by the Greek authorities, before their trials even took place, in full disregard of the fundamental principle of presumption of innocence. The Minister of Migration and Asylum himself announced on 15 September 2020, that “Moria arsonists are detained” the day before the arrest warrant was executed for the two minors, and the next day stated in an interview that “the camp was burned by six Afghani refugees who have been arrested”.  In addition to representing the two young minors accused of starting the fire, Legal Centre Lesvos lawyers were among the lawyers that represented the other 4 teenagers who were tried and convicted by the Mixed Jury Court of Chios in June 2021, and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment, despite extensive evidence that mitigated against their guilt. Both trials constituted  gross miscarriages of justice. 

The lawyers of Legal Centre Lesvos representing both young men hope that despite the complete disregard to basic principles of justice for any of the six young men of the Moria 6 up until now, the two men will finally receive a fair trial next week, and that the two will be released, so that one can join his family in Finland, and the other can continue his asylum procedure in Greece.

**

Δελτιο Τυπου: Απαιτουμε δικαιοσυνη και ελευθερια για τους 6 της Μοριας!

Την Τρίτη 7 Ιουνίου 2022, οι Α.Α. και Μ.Χ., δύο από τους έξι Αφγανούς εφήβους που κατηγορήθηκαν και καταδικάστηκαν για τις πυρκαγιές που κατέστρεψαν τον προσφυγικό καταυλισμό της Μόριας τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2020, θα εμφανιστούν ενώπιον του Εφετείου Ανηλίκων Μυτιλήνης όπου θα επανεξεταστεί η καταδίκη και η ποινή που τους επιβλήθηκε στον πρώτο βαθμό.

Κατά τη σύλληψή τους τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2020, οι δύο έφηβοι, ηλικίας σήμερα 18 και 19 ετών, ήταν ασυνόδευτοι ανήλικοι, δηλαδή παιδιά μόνα τους χωρίς τους γονείς τους ή άλλον κηδεμόνα. Στις 9 Μαρτίου 2021, σε μια “άδικη” δίκη που περιφρόνησε βασικές διαδικαστικές και ουσιαστικές εγγυήσεις, κρίθηκαν ένοχοι για “εμπρησμό με κίνδυνο για ανθρώπινη ζωή” από το Τριμελές Δικαστήριο Ανηλίκων Μυτιλήνης, παρά την παντελή έλλειψη αξιόπιστων στοιχείων εναντίον τους. Και οι δύο καταδικάστηκαν σε 5 χρόνια περιορισμό σε κατάστημα κράτησης ανηλίκων, χωρίς να τους αναγνωριστούν ελαφρυντικά, και έχουν εκτίσει σχεδόν δύο χρόνια, αρχικά στις φυλακές ανηλίκων Κορίνθου και αργότερα στις φυλακές Αυλώνας για ανηλίκους και νεαρούς ενήλικες. Περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες σχετικά με την δίκη του πρώτου βαθμού μπορείτε να βρείτε σε προηγούμενη δημοσίευση του Legal Centre Lesvos, που ακολούθησε μετά την δίκη.

Στις αρχές Μαρτίου 2022, οι δικηγόροι του Legal Centre Lesvos υπέβαλαν αίτηση αποφυλάκισης των δύο νεαρών ανδρών, δεδομένου ότι υπήρχε αυτή η δυνατότητα, καθόσον είχαν εκτίσει ήδη τον απαιτούμενο χρόνο προσαυξημένο από την εργασία και τη φοίτηση τους στο σχολείο εντός της φυλακής, ενώ και οι δύο έχουν επιβεβαιωμένο τόπο μόνιμης διαμονής και δίκτυο υποστήριξης εκτός φυλακής, όταν αποφυλακιστούν. Ωστόσο, κατά περίεργη σύμπτωση, η ακρόαση για να αποφασιστεί αν θα αποφυλακιστούν βάσει των ανωτέρω αιτήσεων προγραμματίστηκε για την ίδια ημέρα με τη δίκη της έφεσής τους, στις 7 Ιουνίου 2022, σε δικαστήριο της Αθήνας (Τριμελές Δικαστήριο Ανηλίκων), δυσχεραίνοντας το έργο των δικηγόρων του Legal Centre Lesvos, το οποίο θα παρέχει νομική εκπροσώπηση και υπεράσπιση στους δύο εφήβους και στα δύο δικαστήρια.

Προς περαιτέρω επιβάρυνση των εφήβων και των δικηγόρων τους, η δευτεροβάθμια δίκη ορίστηκε μέσα σε λιγότερο από 3 εβδομάδες, κατόπιν κραυγαλέας κωλυσιεργίας της γραμματείας του πρωτοβάθμιου δικαστηρίου, η οποία καθυστέρησε να στείλει την πρωτοβάθμια απόφαση στη γραμματεία του εφετείου, ώστε να προσδιοριστεί η εφετειακή δίκη.

Υπενθυμίζεται ότι οι πυρκαγιές που κατέστρεψαν το καμπ της Μόριας τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2020 συνέβησαν τεσσεράμισι χρόνια αφότου η συμφωνία ΕΕ-Τουρκίας μετέτρεψε τα νησιά του Αιγαίου σε νησιά-φυλακές για όσους αναγκάζονται να περάσουν τα σύνορα από την Τουρκία και το καμπ της Μόριας έγινε το διαβόητο σύμβολο της απάνθρωπης μεταναστευτικής πολιτικής της ΕΕ. Η πυρκαγιά στο καμπ ήταν το αναπόφευκτο αποτέλεσμα των σκληρών πολιτικών αποκλεισμού που το δημιούργησαν. Τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2020, ο αριθμός των ανθρώπων που ζούσαν σε αυτό ξεπερνούσε τους 12.000 (παρά την επίσημα δηλωμένη χωρητικότητα των 3.100 ατόμων), όταν οι περιορισμοί μετακίνησης είχαν τεθεί σε ισχύ για σχεδόν έξι μήνες, και ένας αυξανόμενος φόβος για τον νέο κορωνοϊό εξαπλωνόταν (κυρίως λόγω έλλειψης ενημέρωσης και προστατευτικών μέτρων) με τις κυβερνητικές πολιτικές να επιτείνουν αυτούς τους φόβους. Οι ελληνικές αρχές είχαν καταστείλει βίαια τις διαμαρτυρίες των κατοίκων του καταυλισμού ενάντια στην έλλειψη μέτρων δημόσιας υγείας, αποκλείοντας τους δρόμους γύρω από αυτό, απομονώνοντας τους κατοίκους του και ρίχνοντας δακρυγόνα και χειροβομβίδες κρότου λάμψης. Μόλις μία εβδομάδα πριν από τις πυρκαγιές, στις 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020, επιβεβαιώθηκε το πρώτο θετικό κρούσμα στο καμπ. Αντί να μετακινήσουν, στο επόμενο χρονικό διάστημα, τα επιβεβαιωμένα κρούσματα από τον χώρο, να αναπτύξουν ιατρικό προσωπικό ή να υιοθετήσουν μέτρα υγιεινής για τους εγκλωβισμένους μέσα στο καμπ, οι ελληνικές αρχές ανακοίνωσαν τον πλήρη αποκλεισμό του χώρου και την επόμενη κιόλας ημέρα υπέγραψαν σύμβαση με κατασκευαστική εταιρεία για την περίκλειση του καμπ και  τη μετατροπή του σε κέντρο κράτησης.

Οι απάνθρωπες συνθήκες διαβίωσης στην κόλαση της Μόριας  -που κατά τα άλλα αναγνωρίστηκαν από όλους τους συμμετέχοντες στις δίκες- αγνοήθηκαν από το δικαστήριο με αποτέλεσμα να μη μειωθεί η ποινή των κατηγορουμένων. Το ελληνικό κράτος θα έπρεπε να αναγνωρίσει ότι οι πυρκαγιές στο καμπ της Μόριας (οι οποίες προφανώς δεν προκλήθηκαν από τους έξι κατηγορούμενους) προέκυψαν ως αναπόφευκτη συνέπεια των χαωδών συνθηκών που επικρατούσαν, ιδίως κατά τη διάρκεια της κρίσης της πανδημίας COVID-19. Αντ’ αυτού, συνελήφθησαν βολικά έξι νεαροί Αφγανοί, οι οποίοι κατηγορήθηκαν ως οι υπαίτιοι των πυρκαγιών.

Και οι έξι Αφγανοί που κατηγορήθηκαν για την πυρκαγιά που κατέστρεψε τον καταυλισμό της Μόριας τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2020 είχαν συλληφθεί αυθαίρετα και είχαν κηρυχθεί ένοχοι από τις ελληνικές αρχές, πριν καν διεξαχθούν οι δίκες τους, κατά πλήρη καταστρατήγηση της θεμελιώδους αρχής του τεκμηρίου της αθωότητας. Ο ίδιος ο Υπουργός Μετανάστευσης και Ασύλου ανακοίνωσε στις 15 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020 ότι “οι εμπρηστές της Μόριας κρατούνται”, μία ημέρα πριν από την εκτέλεση του εντάλματος σύλληψης των δύο ανηλίκων, ενώ την επόμενη ημέρα δήλωσε σε συνέντευξή του ότι “το καμπ κάηκε από έξι Αφγανούς πρόσφυγες που έχουν συλληφθεί”.  Εκτός από την εκπροσώπηση των δύο νεαρών ανηλίκων που κατηγορήθηκαν για την έναρξη της πυρκαγιάς, οι δικηγόροι του Legal Centre Lesvos ήταν μεταξύ των δικηγόρων που εκπροσώπησαν τους άλλους τέσσερις εφήβους που δικάστηκαν ως ενήλικοι και καταδικάστηκαν από το Μικτό Ορκωτό Δικαστήριο Χίου τον Ιούνιο του 2021 σε δεκαετή κάθειρξη, παρά την προσκόμιση από μέρους τους ενώπιον του Δικαστηρίου πληθώρας στοιχείων που κατέρριπταν τα περί ενοχής τους. Και οι δύο δίκες κινήθηκαν στο όριο της κακοδικίας και παραβίασαν κατάφωρα τα δικαιώματα των κατηγορουμένων. 

Οι δικηγόροι του Legal Centre Lesvos που εκπροσωπούν και τους δύο νεαρούς ελπίζουν ότι παρά την πλήρη καταστρατήγηση των βασικών αρχών της νομιμότητας στον πρώτο βαθμό για τους “6 της Μόριας” μέχρι τώρα, οι δύο έφηβοι θα τύχουν επιτέλους δίκαιης δίκης την επόμενη εβδομάδα και θα αφεθούν ελεύθεροι, ώστε ο ένας να μπορέσει να συναντήσει την οικογένειά του στη Φινλανδία και ο άλλος να συνεχίσει τη διαδικασία ασύλου του στην Ελλάδα.

Ελληνικό κείμενο

The organizations Legal Centre Lesvos, Aegean Migrant Solidarity, Borderline Europe e.V., You can’t evict Solidarity and Deportation Monitoring Aegean demand freedom for two young refugees.

The two men from Afghanistan were seeking safety in Europe, but were instead arbitrarily convicted to 50 years imprisonment. The Appeal Trial will take place on 17 March 2022 in Lesvos.

Twitter: @cantevict; #FreeAmirAndRazuli

Amir and Razuli tried to reach Greece on a rubber boat in March 2020. They testified that the Greek coast guard attacked them and tried to push them back to Turkey by force. The attack caused the boat to sink and the coast guard had to take them on board. Amir and Razuli were arbitrarily charged with “facilitating illegal entry” and “provoking a shipwreck”, in addition to their own entry. On the 8th of September 2020 they were sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Amir and Razuli, 25 and 23, fled from Afghanistan trying to reach Europe in search of a life in safety. With Europe’s ever-increasing closure of borders and the lack of safe and legal ways to enter Europe and claim asylum, they were forced to embark on the dangerous journey on a rubber boat across the Aegean Sea. Amongst the other people in the boat was also Amir’s young daughter and his heavily pregnant wife.¹

They made their journey in March 2020, the month in which the Greek government announced the suspension of one of the most fundamental human rights – the right to apply for asylum, and consequently charged people seeking protection with their own “illegal entry”, blatantly contradicting EU law and the Geneva Convention.

In their first trial, Razuli and Amir testified that the Greek coast guard attacked the boat as soon as they had entered Greek waters and tried to push it back into Turkish waters using metal poles. In doing so, they punctured the boat, causing water to enter and putting the life of the people onboard at risk.² As the boat was about to sink, the coast guard eventually took them on board.

Following this deeply traumatizing experience, the coast guard proceeded with heavily beating up Amir and Razuli, arbitrarily accusing the two of being the smugglers. According to Amir’s wife who had to witness all of this together with her daughter, they only stopped when she held up their young child in front of her husband begging the men to stop.

As soon as they arrived at the Greek island of Lesvos, Amir and Razuli were separated from the rest of the group and brought to the police station. The coast guard accused them of their own entry, of facilitating the unauthorized entry of the other people on the boat and of having endangered the people’s lives.

They were since held in pre-trial detention and sentenced to 50 years in prison on 8th of September 2020. Although there is no evidence against them except for the statement of the coast guards, they were only acquitted of the accusation of “provoking a shipwreck”.

The Appeal Trial will take place on 17 March 2022 on Lesvos and lawyers from the Legal Centre Lesvos and the Human Rights Legal Project on Samos will defend Amir and Razuli in the upcoming trial.

Almost every day, people seeking protection are criminalized for their own flight and arbitrarily sentenced to lengthy prison terms and heavy fines. Recently, a survivor of a shipwreck has even been criminalized for the death of his six-year-old son, who died when they tried to cross from Turkey to Greece (see the campaign Free the #Samos2). Suspects, or what we would deem ‘victims’ of this unjust legislation, usually have limited access to legal assistance. Judgments are often pronounced despite lack of evidence and poor quality of translation. In Greece, the average trial in these cases lasts only around 30 minutes, leading to an average sentence of 44 years and fines over 370.000 Euro. According to official numbers by the Greek ministry of justice, almost 2.000 people are currently in Greek prisons for this reason. However, the fates of these people are seldom known. Arrested immediately upon arrival, most of them are locked away unnoticed, without their names known and no access to support from outside.

• We demand a thorough investigation, justice and the release of Amir and Razuli, as well as the dropping of all charges against them!
• We demand freedom for all those imprisoned for “boat driving” and the end of criminalization of people on the move!
• The European Union must stop the arbitrary incarceration of refugees and migrants!

Press Contacts:

• Marion Bouchetel, Legal Centre Lesvos, marion@legalcentrelesvos.org, Phone: +30 697 761 9003
• Kim Schneider, You can’t evict Solidarity, cantevictsolidarity@riseup.net, Phone: +49 152 19255205

1^ Amir’s wife has meanwhile given birth to their second child. After the trial, Amir met his two-month-old baby for the first time and as he held his child for the first time in his arms, the police shouted at him to give the infant back to the mother, causing his family extreme distress.

2^ In the past months, numerous reports emerged bearing testimony to the Greek coast guard’s illegal and cruel practice of violent pushbacks, destroying the engine of refugee boats, disabling the boats, and then leaving the people to their fate in the middle of the sea. Read more about this in the New York Times, the Deutsche Welle and the Spiegel.

**********

Δελτιου Τυπου: Δικαιοσυνη για τους Amir και Razuli!

Οι οργανώσεις Legal Centre Lesvos, Aegean Migrant Solidarity, Borderline Europe e.V, You can’t evict solidarity και Deportation Monitoring Aegean απαιτούμε ελευθερία για δύο νέους πρόσφυγες.

Οι δύο άνδρες από το Αφγανιστάν αναζητούσαν ασφάλεια στην Ευρώπη, αλλά αντιθέτως καταδικαστήκαν αυθαιρέτως σε 50 χρόνια φυλάκιση. Το Εφετείο θα διεξαχθεί στις 17 Μαρτίου 2022.

Twitter: @cantevict; #FreeAmirAndRazuli

Όταν οι Amir και Razuli προσπάθησαν να φτάσουν στην Ελλάδα με πλαστική βάρκα, το Μάρτιο του 2020, δέχθηκαν επίθεση από την ελληνική ακτοφυλακή που προσπάθησε να τους ωθήσει βίαια πίσω στην Τουρκία. Η επίθεση είχε ως αποτέλεσμα τη βύθιση της βάρκας και η ακτοφυλακή αναγκάστηκε να πάρει τους επιβαίνοντες στο δικό της σκάφος. Εκτός από τις δικές τους κατηγορίες για παράνομη είσοδο στη χώρα, ο Amir και ο Razuli κατηγορήθηκαν επιπλέον και αυθαίρετα για “διευκόλυνση παράνομης εισόδου” και “πρόκληση ναυαγίου”. Στις 8 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020 καταδικάστηκαν σε 50 χρόνια φυλάκισης.

Ο Amir και ο Razuli, 25 και 23 χρονών αντίστοιχα, έφυγαν από το Αφγανιστάν προσπαθώντας να φτάσουν στην Ευρώπη αναζητώντας μια ζωή με ασφάλεια. Με το συνεχώς αυξανόμενο κλείσιμο των συνόρων της Ευρώπης και την έλλειψη ασφαλών και νόμιμων τρόπων εισόδου στην Ευρώπη και αναζήτησης ασύλου, αναγκάστηκαν να ξεκινήσουν το επικίνδυνο ταξίδι με πλαστική βάρκα στο Αιγαίο Πέλαγος. Μεταξύ των άλλων ανθρώπων στη βάρκα ήταν επίσης η μικρή κόρη του Amir και η γυναίκα του σε προχωρημένη εγκυμοσύνη¹.

Έκαναν το ταξίδι τους τον Μάρτιο του 2020, τον μήνα κατά τον οποίο η ελληνική κυβέρνηση ανακοίνωσε την αναστολή ενός από τα πλέον θεμελιώδη ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα – το δικαίωμα να υποβάλει κανείς αίτημα ασύλου – και, κατά συνέπεια, κατηγόρησε για «παράνομη είσοδο», τους ανθρώπους που ζητούν προστασία, η στάση αυτή είναι κατάφωρα σε αντίθεση με το Δίκαιο της ΕΕ και τη Σύμβαση της Γενεύης.

Στην πρώτη του δίκη, ο Razuli και ο Amir κατέθεσαν ότι Η ελληνική ακτοφυλακή επιτέθηκε στη βάρκα μόλις μπήκε στα ελληνικά χωρικά ύδατα και προσπάθησαν να την ωθήσουν πίσω στα τουρκικά νερά χρησιμοποιώντας μεταλλικές ράβδους. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο, τρύπησαν την πλαστική βάρκα, η οποία άρχισε να παίρνει νερά, και έθεσαν σε κίνδυνο τη ζωή των επιβαινόντων². Καθώς το σκάφος βυθίζονταν, η ακτοφυλακή τελικά πήρε τους επιβαίνοντες στο δικό της σκάφος.

Μετά από αυτή τη βαθιά τραυματική εμπειρία, η ακτοφυλακή προχώρησε στον ξυλοδαρμό των Amir και Razuli, κατηγορώντας τους αυθαίρετα τους ως διακινητές. Σύμφωνα με τη σύζυγο του Αmir, που έπρεπε να τα ζήσει όλα αυτά μαζί με την κόρη της, οι άντρες της ακτοφυλακής σταμάτησαν μόνο όταν σήκωσε το μικρό παιδί τους μπροστά από τον σύζυγό της, παρακαλώντας τους να σταματήσουν.

Μόλις έφτασαν στο ελληνικό νησί της Λέσβου, οι Amir και ο Razuli χωρίστηκαν από την υπόλοιπη ομάδα και μεταφέρθηκαν στο αστυνομικό τμήμα. Η ακτοφυλακή τους κατηγόρησε για τη δική τους παράνομη είσοδο στη χώρα, για τη διευκόλυνση παράνομης εισόδου των άλλων ανθρώπων στη βάρκα και για έκθεση σε κίνδυνο της ζωής των επιβαινόντων.

Οι δυο τους κρίθηκαν προφυλακιστέοι μέχρι τη δίκη τους και εντέλει καταδικάστηκαν σε ποινή φυλάκισης 50 ετών, στις 8 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020. Παρόλο που δεν υπάρχουν αποδεικτικά στοιχεία εναντίον τους, εκτός από τη δήλωση των ακτοφυλάκων, απαλλάχθηκαν μόνο από την κατηγορία της «πρόκλησης ναυαγίου».

Το Εφετείο θα πραγματοποιηθεί στις 17 Μαρτίου 2022 οι δικηγόροι από το Legal Centre Lesvos και το Human Rights Legal Project θα είναι οι συνήγοροι υπεράσπισης των Amir και Razuli στην επικείμενη δίκη.

Σχεδόν κάθε μέρα, τα άτομα που ζητούν προστασία ποινικοποιούνται για τη φυγή τους και καταδικάζονται αυθαίρετα σε μακρόχρονες ποινές φυλάκισης και βαριά πρόστιμα Προσφάτως ένας επιζών ενός ναυαγίου ποινικοποιήθηκε ακόμη και για το θάνατο του ίδιου του εξάχρονου γιου του, ο οποίος πέθανε όταν προσπάθησαν να περάσουν από την Τουρκία στην Ελλάδα (βλ. Free the Samos 2). Οι ύποπτοι, ή καλυτέρα, τα «θύματα» αυτής της άδικης νομοθεσίας, έχουν συνήθως περιορισμένη πρόσβαση σε νομική συνδρομή. Οι αποφάσεις συχνά εκδίδονται παρά την έλλειψη αποδεικτικών στοιχείων και την κακή ποιότητα της μετάφρασης. Στην Ελλάδα, ο μέσος όρος διάρκειας μια δίκης είναι μόνο περίπου 30 λεπτά, οδηγώντας έναν μέσο όρο ποινών 44 ετών και πρόστιμα άνω των 370.000 ευρώ. Σύμφωνα με επίσημους αριθμούς του ελληνικού υπουργείου Δικαιοσύνης, σχεδόν 2.000 άτομα βρίσκονται σήμερα στις ελληνικές φυλακές για αυτόν τον λόγο. Ωστόσο, η τύχη αυτών των ανθρώπων είναι σπάνια γνωστή. Συλλαμβάνονται αμέσως κατά την άφιξη τους, οι περισσότεροι από αυτούς είναι φυλακισμένοι και απαρατήρητοι, χωρίς να γίνονται γνωστά τα ονόματά τους και χωρίς πρόσβαση σε υποστήριξη από έξω.

• Απαιτούμε πλήρη έρευνα, δικαιοσύνη και την απελευθέρωση των Amir και Razuli, όπως καθώς και την απόσυρση όλων των κατηγοριών εναντίον τους!
• Απαιτούμε την απελευθέρωση όσων φυλακίστηκαν με την κατηγορία της «οδήγησης με βάρκα» και το τέλος της ποινικοποίησης των ανθρώπων που μετακινούνται.
• Η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση πρέπει να σταματήσει την αυθαίρετη φυλάκιση προσφύγων και μεταναστών!

Επικοινωνία:

• Marion Bouchetel, Legal Centre Lesvos, marion@legalcentrelesvos.org, Phone: +30 697 761 9003
• Kim Schneider, You can’t evict Solidarity, cantevictsolidarity@riseup.net, Phone: +49 152 19255205

1^ Σε αυτό το διάστημα η σύζυγος του Amir γέννησε το δεύτερο παιδί τους. Μετά τη δίκη, ο Αmir συνάντησε το δύο μηνών μωρό του για πρώτη φορά και καθώς κράτησε το παιδί του για πρώτη φορά στην αγκαλιά του, η αστυνομία του φώναζε να δώσει το βρέφος πίσω στη μητέρα, προκαλώντας σε όλη την οικογένειά τρομερό πόνο.

2^ Τους τελευταίους μήνες, εμφανίστηκαν πολλές αναφορές που μαρτυρούν την παράνομη και σκληρή πρακτική της ελληνικής ακτοφυλακής να πραγματοποιεί βίαιες επαναπροωθήσεις, καταστρέφοντας τον κινητήρα των προσφυγικών σκαφών, αδρανοποιώντας τα σκάφη και στη συνέχεια αφήνοντας τους ανθρώπους στη μοίρα τους στη μέση της θάλασσας. Διαβάστε περισσότερα για αυτό στους New York Times, στη Deutsche Welle και στο Spiegel.

Download full report here.

Inside a burnt down rubhall in the Lesvos RIC, which used to host 80 to 100 people and was entirely destroyed after one of the fires that broke out in November 2021. Photograph taken by a camp resident.

1. Advocacy and accountability for collective expulsions and other systemic human rights violations   

• 29 October – Interim measures granted by the European Court of Human Rights to ensure protection of the rights of newly arrived asylum seekers to Lesvos   
• 20 December – European Court of Human Rights to examine 32 cases filed against Greece concerning illegal collective expulsions   
• 13 October – One year after the “Golden dawn trial”, No room for complacency towards racist violence   
• 8 December – Continued unjustified rejections from the NGO Registry in Greece       

2. Abysmal conditions in Lesvos’ Reception and Identification Centre persist   

• 1 October – An end to food distribution and cash assistance for many migrants stuck in the Greek camps   
• 15 and 18 November – Fires a common occurrence in the Lesvos RIC   
• 5 December – Migrants’ forbidden from leaving Lesvos’ RIC during the Pope’s visit to Lesvos   

3. Continued work to advocate for fair asylum proceedings   

• Overview of the legal support provided by Legal Centre Lesvos between October and December 2021   
• 8 October – Legal Centre Lesvos participates in Expert Hearing on the European Union’s new Pact on Migration, arranged by MEP Cornelia Ernst   
• 12 November – LCL reports on “Family reunification from Greece: a few hard wins among many bureaucratic and systemic obstacles”   

1. Advocacy and accountability for collective expulsions and other systemic human rights violations

• 29 October – Interim measures granted by the ECtHR to ensure protection of the rights of newly arrived asylum seekers to Lesvos.

On 29 October, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ordered Greece to guarantee adequate living conditions and access to medical care to a group of newly arrived Somali and Ethiopian asylum seekers at imminent risk of collective expulsion, in response to an urgent request for interim measures filed by LCL. 

The group arrived in Lesvos in the early hours of 29 October, and contacted LCL to request legal assistance in accessing registration and asylum procedures in Greece. Several members of their group were in need of urgent medical care, including a ten-year-old girl who had a pre-existing heart condition and who had not had food or water for over twenty-four hours. In turn, LCL informed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and competent Greek authorities of the group’s presence, and requested an ambulance to attend to them.

In light of both a delay in provision of needed medical care, and the Greek authorities’ extensively documented systematic practice of illegally expelling unregistered migrants who arrive to Greek territory, LCL made an urgent application to the ECtHR. Four hours later, the ECtHR ordered Greece to provide the group with “adequate living conditions and health care compatible with their state of health as per Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.” 

The grant of interim measures on 29 October was a rare, and welcome, success: all of the named applicants were registered and have entered the asylum procedures following the Court’s decision. From this 29 October arrival to Lesvos, at least two women from Somalia, who were later assisted and represented by the LCL in their asylum procedure, have now been granted refugee status in Greece.

• 20 December – European Court of Human Rights to examine 32 cases filed against Greece concerning illegal collective expulsions

On 20 December 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced that 32 cases filed between December 2020 and August 2021 concerning the illegal collective expulsion of 47 asylum seekers from its territory were communicated to Greece. Among those cases, two were filed and are represented by Legal Centre Lesvos lawyers. These are among the first cases to be communicated to Greece since overwhelming evidence began emerging in March 2020 of a widespread and systematic practice of illegal expulsions, or ‘pushbacks’, in the Aegean Sea region. 

The ECtHR’s notification of these cases to Greece means that the Greek State is now required to respond to the extensive evidence submitted in both cases, which show that the Applicants were attacked, arbitrarily detained, psychologically and physically abused, and ultimately expelled from Greek territory, without having their asylum claims individually examined. A Chamber of judges within the ECtHR is expected to take a decision on the cases as early as summer 2022.

The first case, H.T. and Others v Greece (app. no. 4177/21) concerns the repeated illegal expulsion of a Syrian family. The family – parents and their three young children – submitted evidence to the Court that they had entered Greek territory on at least four occasions, with the intent to seek asylum. However, as demonstrated through their testimony and corroborated evidence, they were repeatedly denied access to registration and asylum procedures, and ultimately were subjected to illegal and life-threatening collective expulsions in the Aegean and Evros regions, together with other asylum seekers. 

The second case, S.A.A. and Others v Greece (app. no. 22146/21) concerns an extensively documented and massive collective expulsion of approximately two hundred people that began near the island of Crete. After being caught in a storm at sea, instead of being rescued, the Applicants demonstrate through their submitted evidence that they were held under surveillance at sea for several hours with assurances that they would soon be taken to shore in Greece, before being violently assaulted at night, transferred by force to vessels identified as Hellenic Coast Guard vessels, transferred over 200 km towards Turkish waters, and finally abandoned at sea on inflatable, motorless life rafts.

On a near-daily basis, evidence emerges of Greek authorities carrying out violent and illegal expulsions of people on the move in the Aegean Sea and across the Evros River, often with evidence showing the assistance or complicity of international agencies like Frontex.  It is not uncommon to hear testimonies of people who have been pushed back from Greece six, seven or eight times, each incident both constituting a manifest risk to their lives and compounding the trauma of prior expulsions.   

A positive decision in these two cases could bring partial redress for the named Applicants. However, given the ECtHR’s structural and procedural limitations, the proceedings are insufficient to condemn the systematic nature of collective expulsions, which, as the Legal Centre Lesvos has previously demonstrated, amounts to Crimes Against Humanity. 

Nonetheless, the communication of these cases to Greece marks an important step in what necessarily must be a coordinated effort to obtain accountability for and an end to the ongoing cruel and violent attack against migrants, inherent in maintaining Europe’s borders.

• 13 October 2021 – One year after the “Golden dawn trial”, No room for complacency towards racist violence

One year after the historic conviction of Golden Dawn, Legal Centre Lesvos, as part of the Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN), warned that there is no room for complacency in resisting organized and racist violence, as its modus operandi continues to severely affect social life and cohesion in Greece.

In 2020, despite the landmark decision convicting Golden Dawn, the RVRN recorded an escalating number of racist attacks as compared to the recent past, noting in particular the increased attacks against migrants and human rights defenders.

RVRN continues to call State and local government representatives, as well as media representatives, to refrain from engaging in the racist rhetoric that normalizes and encourages racist reactions. It also calls on the Greek authorities to urgently enhance the protection provided by law to every person and every community member that is being targeted by persons or groups with a racist motivation. 

No crime, motivated solely or cumulatively by bias, should remain unpunished. Read more in the joint press release here. 

• 8 December 2021 – Continued unjustified rejections from the NGO Registry in Greece

The Legal Centre Lesvos joined 18 other organisations active in Greece to express its great concerns regarding the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum denial to register the non-profit civil society organisation “Refugee Support Aegean” (RSA) on the official NGO Registry.

The substantive ground used by the Ministry for such rejection cited that the “development of activity” “in support of persons under deportation” is contrary to Greek legislation”. The provision of mainly legal support to persons facing deportation is part of the daily work of civil society organisations active inter alia in free legal assistance, including several organisations already registered on the NGO Registry. Persons under deportation who are in need of protection in the wider sense as persons of concern, in particular in light of international law provisions prohibiting deportation of foreigners such as Articles 31 and 33 of the Refugee Convention, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture, as well as other provisions mandating assistance to vulnerable cases on humanitarian grounds. Even rejected asylum seekers are persons to whom it is required to provide assistance under EU and domestic legislation, namely Articles 28(3)-(4) and 31(4)-(5) of Law 3907/2011 and the provisions of Directive 2008/115/EC. Activities in support of persons facing deportation are fully in line with applicable legislation, as they ensure the safeguards and rights of persons at risk of deportation and return.

The Ministry of Migration and Asylum rejection decision sets a major negative precedent calling into question the activity of legal assistance to migrants by civil society organisations. It also causes reputational damage to Greece for poor implementation of refugee law, as well as international, EU and domestic law more broadly. For those reasons, the Greek administration is expected to take the necessary steps to correct the aforementioned decision in line with the law.

Read our joint statement on the rejection of RSA from the Greek NGO registry here.

2. Abysmal conditions in Lesvos’ Reception and Identification Centre persist

• 1 October – An end to food distribution and cash assistance for many migrants stuck in the Greek camps 

On 1 October 2021, the Greek state started implementing a new policy depriving both recognised refugees and migrants considered to be “outside of the asylum procedure” from accessing food in state-run facilities on the Greek mainland. As a consequence, organizations estimated that almost 60% of the residents of refugee camps on the Greek mainland no longer had access to either sufficient or suitable food. 

Among those deprived of access to food are persons who have had their asylum claim rejected on appeal, including nationals from five countries (Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh), who may not have even had the opportunity to express the reasons for leaving their country of origin before having their asylum claim rejected, as the concept of the safe-third country has been applied to these individuals following the June 2021 Joint Ministerial Decision adopted by the Greek Government. These asylum seekers who are officially considered to be “outside of the asylum procedure” find themselves in a legal limbo, without access to legal status, rights and basic services, and since October also without access to food. 

The Legal Centre Lesvos joined over twenty-five other civil society organisations to resist the Greek State’s policies and reiterate that no one, irrespective of their legal status, should be deprived of food.

This policy follows the decision by the Greek government in March 2021 to automatically discontinue all material reception conditions, including housing, food and cash assistance provided  for recognised refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection as soon as their protection status was granted. According to this provision, beneficiaries of protection had to leave government run housing facilities (including camps or State-provided apartments) in the first 30 days after the granting of protection. Following this decision, thousands of recognized refugees found themselves without shelter, living in public squares for prolonged periods of time. Without access to integration support or any viable housing alternative, many were thus compelled to return to camps in order to have access to the bare minimum – that is, water, food, and some form of shelter. 

With the termination of the cash assistance programme provided by UNHCR effective since the end of September 2021, all asylum seekers in Greece are left without a minimum financial support to cover their basic needs and subsistence, particularly while being forced to live in camps such as the Lesvos Reception and Identification Centre (RIC), unable to leave the island due to geographic restrictions, and not having legal access to any work (as asylum seekers do not have permission to work for the first six months after they register their application for asylum). Although the Greek government took over the management of the cash assistance programme as of 1 October, only in December the government announced that Christian Relief Services had been contracted to distribute cash assistance in Greece, and to date, no cash assistance has been provided to asylum seekers. 

Those policies and voluntary lack of action are criminal as they lead to food deprivation, enforced homelessness, and legal limbo that deny migrants’ basic rights and confine them to inhuman and degrading conditions. For further information, read the two letters co-signed by LCL that call upon the Greek government and the European Commission to guarantee migrants’ access to food here and here. 

• 15 and 18 November – Fires a common occurrence in the Lesvos RIC

On 15 and on 18 November 2021, large fires broke out among the rub halls in Lesvos’ Reception and Identification Centre (RIC). Two burnt to the ground in a matter of minutes. Dozens of people lost their personal possessions, documents, and allocated shelter. In the immediate aftermath, camp authorities merely instructed the displaced to “stay with friends” – presumably in the other rub halls, tents and containers that make up the RIC.

Rub halls are large, marquee-like structures covered with polyester fabric, that host up to 80 to 100 persons in “rooms” sub-divided by blankets and thin walls. These are common in Lesvos RIC, and serve as accommodation both for single men and for families who have received rejections on their asylum applications. The rub halls are highly flammable, and susceptible of melting in a matter of minutes, as the events of 15 and 18 November demonstrated (see picture below), and yet the authorities have failed to provide adequate evacuation routes or other fire safety measures. There are only two entrances to the structure – one at each end of a central corridor – meaning that, in the event of an emergency, all residents have a few minutes to flee through a shared exit route.

On top of being hazardous, the conditions in those rub halls are wholly inadequate for human habitation. In the event of rain, which is very common in winter in Lesvos, the rub halls frequently flood. Several minors (who had been wrongly registered as adults when they arrived on the island, in yet another example of the dystopian nature of life for migrants in Lesvos) living in one such structure, told LCL that they had to leave their allocated rooms, as leaks and flooding had ruined all of their bedding and possessions. The flimsy plastic structure offers little protection from the near freezing temperatures, and sporadic access to electricity makes it impossible to adequately heat the sleeping areas. Moreover, the heavy winds that have hit the island in recent months batter the rub halls at night, the flimsy walls flapping loudly and making it near-impossible to sleep. The camp’s location, directly facing the sea, only makes matters worse. 

Fatal and non-fatal fires have repeatedly occurred in State-managed accommodation facilities for migrants in Lesvos – both in the present RIC and in the former Moria camp on the island. Many of the residents of Lesvos’ RIC previously resided in Moria camp, and were displaced by the massive fires that destroyed the site in September 2020. These people have already experienced the fear and psychological trauma arising from the blaze and its aftermath, and families have reported how their children’s repeated exposure to such dangers has had a deleterious effect on their mental health. These people’s repeated exposure to life-threatening fires not only compounds the trauma of each event, but also manifests the Greek government and European Union’s fundamental disregard for migrants’ lives and safety. 

• 5 December – Migrants’ forbidden from leaving Lesvos’ RIC during the Pope’s visit to Lesvos 

On 5 December, five years after his first visit to Lesvos, Pope Francis visited the island again and spent about an hour in the Reception and Identification Center (RIC) where he also gave a speech to a select audience. In preparation of the visit, the Lesvos RIC had been under intensive construction and cleaning works for several weeks. As LCL has consistently reported, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, residents of Moria RIC and later Kara Tepe’s RIC (and other camps across Greece) have been subjected to disproportionate and discriminatory restrictions such as curfews, restricted number of exits per week, and ongoing movement certification requirements. Public holidays such as Christmas and New Year, and high profile visits further are used as arbitrary excuses to restrict the movement of those who have no option but to reside in these camps. The visit of the Pope was no exception. 

In addition to the usual disproportionate and discriminatory restrictions of movement imposed on the residents of Lesvos RIC, the camp remained totally closed during 48 hours, preventing its residents from entering or leaving the camp because of the high security visit. Unlike the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Yvla Johansson, who had landed in the camp with an helicopter in March 2021 and did not leave her car afterwards, the Pope arrived by car in the camp surrounded by security guards and walked a few metres down a specially prepared and cleaned aisle of the camp, before settling down and holding a speech under a tent erected on a stage-like level, built only for the occasion and overlooking the ‘blue zone” of the camp. 

Before arriving at the staged tent for his speech, the Pope shook hands and touched the heads of migrants and their children held behind barriers inside the RIC. Empty prefabricated shelters, with no residents inside, had been placed in decoration on the Pope’s path beforehand. 

In his speech before Ms. Sakellaropoúlou, the President of Greece, and Mr. Mitarakis, the Minister of Migration and Asylum, the Pope acknowledged that “after all this time, we see that little has changed with regard to the issue of migration” and that “with deep regret, we must admit that this country, like others, continues to be hard-pressed, and that in Europe there are those who persist in treating the problem as a matter that does not concern them. This is tragic.” He also denounced the conditions imposed on migrants in particular in hotspots like Lesvos: “How many conditions exist that are unworthy of human beings! How many hotspots where migrants and refugees live in borderline conditions, without glimpsing solutions on the horizon! Yet respect for individuals and for human rights, especially on this continent, which is constantly promoting them worldwide, should always be upheld, and the dignity of each person ought to come before all else.”

Although the visit did not change the situation for any migrant in Greece and people forced to live in the detention-like RICs, the visit allowed to draw some media attention around the inhuman situation of migrants in Greece and Europe, which Pope Francis qualified as a “shipwreck of civilization”.

Further details on the Pope’s visit in Lesvos are available in the press.

Pope Francis arriving to the Lesvos RIC followed by a dozen of cars where he was welcomed by the Minister of Migration and Asylum, Panagiotis Mitarakis, 5 December 2021, Photo Credit: ERT 1

3. Continued work to advocate for fair asylum proceedings

• Overview of the legal support provided by Legal Centre Lesvos between October and December 2021

• 8 October – Legal Centre Lesvos participates in Expert Hearing on the European Union’s new Pact on Migration, arranged by MEP Cornelia Ernst

In October, and ahead of the deadline for proposed legislative amendments, LCL joined Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), civil society representatives, and other officials to discuss the urgent changes required to the EU’s proposed Pact on Migration.

Far from a “fresh start on migration,” the legislative proposals contained within the ‘new’ EU Pact replicate many of the worst aspects of the policies of containment, obstructed access to asylum procedures, returns and refoulement tested in the laboratory of Lesvos and other Aegean islands over the past five years. 

The legislative proposal for a Screening Regulation, on which LCL’s intervention was focussed, is largely modelled on the existing Greek reception and identification procedures. It includes a mandatory ‘pre-entry screening’ procedure, throughout which people will not be deemed ‘legally present’ in EU territory. This pre-entry screening seems set to amount to arbitrary detention on arrival, without due process guarantees such as access to legal advice, effective remedy, and no clear process for identifying ‘vulnerable’ individuals. 

For the screening procedure to take place, it is almost inevitable that States will introduce measures of detention while people are being processed. Articles 4 and 6(1), read together, imply that persons undergoing screening will be, as a rule, deprived of their liberty, although the operative part of the Regulation is silent on that point. For the duration of the pre-screening procedure, moreover, persons will be denied access to the asylum procedure and to the concomitant guarantees in it. 

In Lesvos, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greek authorities’ disproportionate and discriminatory use of quarantine measures resulted in vulnerable applicants being denied access to registration and asylum procedures for up to two months and held in effective detention – in a legal situation allegorical to that of persons pending a pre-screening procedure. Those confined in quarantine areas, and denied access to vulnerability assessments, medical care, or the asylum procedure, included an amputee, three children with hereditary blood diseases, sixteen unaccompanied minors, and at least four children with serious physical or cognitive disabilities. They had limited access to legal information, medical care, or other forms of support, were held in overcrowded and unsanitary accommodation, and were therefore at grave risk of physical and psychological deterioration. The suspension of access to the asylum procedure placed them in a situation of legal vulnerability which, in turn, led to their isolation in conditions of physical and practical precarity. It is likely that the implementation of the new Pact could give rise to similar situations.

During this likely period of detention, people will most likely lack adequate access to information on their rights and the procedures that they are subjected to. However, the proposed new Pact seems to suggest that the competent pre-screening authority (whether the police or another agency) could collect information that would strongly affect one’s chances to be granted asylum, and furthermore, pursuant to Article 14(2), read in conjunction with Recitals 9, 15, 16 and 24 and the Annex to the proposed new Pact, that such information may be used in the asylum procedure, for the purposes of both referral or not to accelerated or border procedures, and assessment of the admissibility and substance of the claim. That is to say, information which could have a determinant influence on persons’ access to protection could be collected before they have had access to even basic information on their rights and the prevailing procedures, let alone specific legal counsel. 

Moreover, the proposed Screening Regulation undermines the protections guaranteed to vulnerable applicants and foresees identification of vulnerability only “where relevant” (Article 2). This lowers the prevailing standards set out in the current asylum acquis (see Article 22(1) Reception Conditions Directive; Article 24(1)-(2) Asylum Procedures Directive), which includes a mandatory vulnerability assessment – but which, in any case, is rarely adhered to. 

In Lesvos, and despite being bound by these prevailing standards, Greek and European authorities persistently fail to recognise vulnerabilities – whether that is Frontex’s systematic refusal to register unaccompanied children’s minority status, the ongoing failure to adequately recognise survivors of torture and other forms of sexual, psychological, and gender-based violence, or the continued failure to recognise medical vulnerabilities – and therefore to ensure these applicants’ access to requisite reception and procedural safeguards, as mandated under both Greek and European law. To further debase the provisions and procedures through which vulnerable applicants can be recognised and supported will only compound the trauma to which these persons are exposed and impede their prospects of obtaining protection or necessary support.

The proposals contained in the New Pact – whether on the Screening Procedure or otherwise – are not new, but rather perpetuate the failures that we have already seen at Greece’s borders. The New Pact was proposed alongside a promise of “no more Morias,” but the legislative framework provides for the exact opposite: the multiplication of hotspot camps, the expansion of the fiction of non-entry, and the continued export of migration control to third countries, all constituting and embedded within an ever-more tolerated violent border. 

• 12 November – LCL reports on “Family reunification from Greece: a few hard wins among many bureaucratic and systemic obstacles”

In a new report released in November, LCL documents some of the obstacles faced by migrants in accessing family reunification in Europe, and details several hard-won successes that have led, in recent months, to migrants finally leaving Greece to join relatives in other countries. 

The right to a private and family life is enshrined in European and international law – but in practice, migrants are often denied this right or face numerous challenges to access it. These arise from, among other things, flaws in the asylum procedure, Greek authorities’ failures to identify and submit family reunification requests within relevant deadlines, or by other European States’ bad-faith implementation of family reunification legislation. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to additional challenges to reunification – but has also been used as a catch-all excuse for bureaucratic delays and administrative failures.

Nonetheless, this year, at least ten families represented by the Legal Centre Lesvos have had their family reunification requests accepted or, following an earlier acceptance, have finally travelled to join relatives in other European countries.

These include:

• Mohammed, an unaccompanied minor from Syria, who reunited with his aunt and uncle in Germany after almost two years alone in Greece, in which Greece failed to submit his timely request for reunification or transfer him within the allotted time period, therefore requiring appeals and extensive advocacy efforts;
• Samir, an unaccompanied minor from Afghanistan who was first registered as an adult in Greece, and who – after months of living in a rub hall with unrelated adults in Lesvos’ Temporary Reception and Identification Centre – was ultimately given an age assessment, recognised as a minor, and granted reunification with his brother in Germany;
• Ziad, an unaccompanied minor from the Bidoon (stateless) community in Kuwait, who faced numerous challenges in proving his relationship to his brother in the UK due to their lack of official documentation, and whose transfer was then unduly complicated by Brexit.

Despite the eligibility of each applicant and the compelling reasons for reunification, these cases have typically required over a year of assistance from LCL. Most requests were refused in the first instance and required appeals, litigation, and/or other forms of advocacy.

In any case, the EU’s family reunification legislation cannot be seen in isolation from the region’s wider policies of violent exclusion, control of migrants’ movement, and denial of migrants’ rights. The Dublin Regulation itself is an instrument of the Common European Asylum System that seeks to contain migrants at Europe’s peripheries, and prevent their free movement throughout the continent.

To redress the failures outlined in this report and the associated, ongoing trauma inflicted upon migrant families, calls for reform or abolition of the EU’s asylum system and must look beyond the Dublin Regulation itself and engage with its wider operational context.

Read the report in full on our website or download it here.