- The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has called for accountability for human rights violations committed against people seeking asylum in Greece.
- The Greek Ombudsman has recommended disciplinary action for eight coastguard officers in relation to the Pylos shipwreck.
- A new NGO report has raised serious concerns about the current state of the rule of law in Greece.
- A court on the island of Levos has acquitted a Palestinian refugee who was on trial for people smuggling.
- The European Court of Human Rights has granted a request for urgent action to address the living conditions in the Samos Closed Control Access Centre.
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has called for accountability for human rights violations committed against people seeking asylum in Greece. Following a visit to the country in early February, Michael O’Flaherty encouraged the Greek authorities to take “resolute action” to ensure full criminal and disciplinary accountability for those responsible for the Pylos shipwreck. He also urged the Greek government to take a “zero-tolerance” approach to pushbacks following the recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and urged it to hold those responsible for the practice to account. O’Flaherty also called for improved reception facilities on Rhodes and Crete to accommodate a “sharp increase in arrivals” and for the swift relocation of unaccompanied minors to the mainland. In addition to expressing concerns about the situation of people on the move in Greece, O’Flaherty also noted a “worsening environment” for legal professionals and organisations who support vulnerable people as well as for investigative journalists.
The Greek Ombudsman has recommended disciplinary action for eight coastguard officers in relation to the Pylos shipwreck. The Ombudsman’s investigation into the tragedy, which cost the lives of more than 600 people in June 2023, revealed “clear indications of culpability” of eight senior officers from the Hellenic Coast Guard. It also found that crucial evidence relating to the reported towing of the Adriana fishing vessel by a coastguard ship prior to the former capsizing had not been disclosed “despite repeated relevant requests”. Following the publication of the Ombudsman’s report, the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy issued a statement in which it strongly criticised the independent authority’s findings. A number of NGOs, including ECRE member organisations the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) and Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), issued a joint joint statement on the report and the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy’s reaction to it. They described the Ombudsman’s efforts as the “the first credible and thorough investigation” by an independent Greek body into the Pylos shipwreck whilst denouncing the “impermissible judgments” included in the ministry’s statement as “direct interference in the operation of the institution of the Independent Authority and direct intervention in the judiciary”. They also called for transparency and access to all data related to the tragedy to be guaranteed. “Accountability for the shipwreck of Pylos and justice is the minimum vindication for the victims and is required for our democracy,” they concluded.
A new NGO report has raised serious concerns about the current state of the rule of law in Greece. The report, which was published by a group of organisations, including ECRE member organisations GCR, RSA and HIAS Greece, addresses, inter alia, the absence of accountability and attribution of responsibility to state officials, enforced disappearance and violence against people on the move, and intimidation of human rights defenders. The authors noted that more than 200 investigations into allegations of pushbacks and related human rights violations against people on the move have been undertaken in the past five years without a single prosecution against a public official having been launched. “Criminal investigations into allegations of severe human rights violations by officers of the Hellenic Police and Hellenic Coast Guard, namely killings, (attempted) pushbacks, ill-treatment and failure to rescue people in distress, are still marred by systemic deficiencies yet to be meaningfully addressed,” they wrote. In a press conference to mark the launch of the report on 4 February, Minos Mouzourakis from RSA criticised “the inability of the Greek judiciary to fulfill its duty and hold the state accountable for abuses and criminal offenses it commits”. Alexandros Constantinou from GCR described the importance of the recent ECtHR ruling for highlighting the “ineffectiveness of the Greek criminal justice in investigating cases of refoulement” while Elli Kriona-Sarantis from HIAS Greece denounced “the abusive criminalisation of migrants, human rights defenders and lawyers as smugglers”.
A court on the island of Levos has acquitted a Palestinian refugee who was on trial for people smuggling. The Legal Centre Lesvos, which represented the man referred to as ‘A.H.’, described the attempt to prosecute him as “emblematic of a broader pattern” of the criminalisation of people seeking asylum. The organisation also said that the trial had brought to light “egregious and systematic state violence” from the Hellenic Coast Guard. Witness statements read in the court in Mytilene had revealed that the coastguard had fired live ammunition at the boat and then rammed it, causing it to capsize, before severely beating those on board, particularly A.H. Commenting on the verdict on 6 February, A.H.’s lawyer, Vicky Aggelidou, said: “For the first time, the courts of Mytilene seemed to acknowledge the necropolitics of the Greek government, and the torture A.H. suffered during his arrest”. “Given the numerous cases where people were convicted without sufficient evidence, it is important that today’s court did not follow this precedent, and that A.H. has been acquitted,” she added. The court has referred the case to the Naval Court Prosecutor for investigation while A.H. has filed a complaint for racially motivated torture, serious bodily harm, breach of duty, and violations of his rights.
The ECtHR has granted a request for urgent action to address the living conditions in the Samos Closed Control Access Centre (CCAC). On 6 February, the legal aid organisation Human Rights Legal Project (HRLP) X posted that the ECtHR had granted its request for interim measures against the Greek government regarding the “horrific” living conditions in the so-called “Safe Zone” of the Samos CCAC where unaccompanied minors (UAMs) are detained. HRLP filed the request on behalf of four UAMs who have been detained in the CCAC for up to four months. It argued that their detention conditions amounted to “inhumane and degrading treatment” due to a lack of food, adequate clothing, proper bedding, sanitary conditions and access to medical and psychological care, as well as the “violent and abusive behaviour” of police officers working in the centre. As a result, the ECtHR ordered the Greek government to take “all appropriate measures” to ensure the UAMs’ protection. Despite celebrating the positive outcome for the four minors on whose behalf it had acted, HRLP also acknowledged that “more than 400 minors are currently detained in the same inhuman and degrading conditions”. “The ill-treatment that UAMs are subjected to in the Safe Zone of the Samos CCAC, exposes all of them to imminent risk of irreparable harm,” it wrote.
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