Legal Centre Lesvos Quarterly Report: January – March 2023
Latest News
About us
The Legal Centre Lesvos AMKE is a civil non-profit organisation, registered in Greece and previously operative as a restricted fund under the auspices of Prism the Gift Fund (UK).
Since August 2016, we provide free and individual legal information and assistance to migrants who arrived by sea to Lesvos, where our office is based. Beyond this continuous and direct support, we work on documenting violations of migrants’ rights and engage in advocacy and strategic litigation to hold the Greek government, Member States of the European Union, and European institutions to account. In addition, we advocate for equal access to safe and legal routes of migration in Greece, Europe and globally.
We are partnered with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.
Forensic Reconstruction of Massive Pushback off Coast of Crete, Greece in 2020 (ελληνικά στο λινκ 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. 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. Following their illegal expulsion, they submitted an application before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Greece, which was communicated by the ECtHR to Greece in December 2021 in the case in the case of S.A.A. and Others v Greece (app. no. 22146/21). To date, the Greek authorities have denied that pushbacks take place.
You can find the details in the news section, here.
Elèna Santioli – Message to the ”Festival of Solidarity” in Florence
Elèna Santioli is a Case Worker at LCL, and she was invited to the Festival of Solidarity in Florence in Italy, she took the opportunity to speak about the unacceptable context of the Greek islands.
Documentary by Fellipe Lopes.
DOCUMENTARY – MORIA 35
A documentary produced by Joinda Production in collaboration with the Legal Centre which chronicles the months of organized resistance by migrants in Moria Refugee Camp in 2017, prior to the 18 July 2017 violent police raid and arbitrary arrest of 35 men who face trumped up criminal charges. The “Moria 35” will go to trial in Chios 20 April 2018.
Documentary – Inadmissable
A documentary produced by Thraedable in collaboration with the Legal Centre which highlights the various and severe breaches of human rights on the island of Lesvos.