Earlier today, the trial of 24 volunteer relief workers commenced, on charges that could lead to a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. The volunteers went on trial for aiding migrants and refugees during the 2016 and 2017 crises on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos in the Aegean sea, including the distribution of life jackets and water to refugees upon their arrival by boat.
The Greek Prosecutor accuses aid workers of “human trafficking,” among other things. However, the trial that began today is fixating on other allegations, primarily “forgery and espionage,” all of which could lead to sentences of up to eight years. All charges, including some that will be addressed in a separate trial, could result in the suspects receiving sentences of up to 25 years.
During today’s session, and after consideration of a request for adjournment from one of the defendants and its subsequent denial, objections to the case were presented to the judges, leading to the trial’s adjournment with proceedings resuming next Friday. Although the trial has finally commenced after nearly 5 years of waiting, this postponement further prolongs the legal impasse surrounding the accused.
Among the defendants facing multiple charges are Seán Binder, a German-Irish rescue diver, and Sarah Mardini, the Syrian refugee who helped rescue 19 passengers aboard the boat she and her sister sailed on from Turkey to Greece in 2015—a story that served as inspiration for the Netflix film “The Swimmers.” Both Sean and Sarah volunteered at the now-defunct NGO, the Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI), and endured over a hundred days of pre-trial detention after their arrest in 2018.
The European Parliament criticized the trial, describing it as “the largest criminalization case of solidarity in Europe,” and drew attention to the strict border protection laws in Greece. Additionally, Amnesty International, in a press statement, described the lawsuit as absurd and stated that rescuing people is not a crime, calling for all charges to be dropped.
Before the trial began, Seán Binder addressed journalists, saying, “We need to ensure that search and rescue is permitted, we need to ensure that people have the right to seek asylum. Quite simply, we have to follow the rule of law and I hope that the prosecution will do that today.”
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the charges are based on a Greek that contains factual errors, including claims that some of the accused participated in rescue missions on multiple dates when they were not in Greece. The indictments sent to the accused list a variety of charges against various individuals but refer to them with the numbers 1 to 24, with no explanation of whom each number represents, leaving the defendants to guess which charges they are facing. The indictments are missing pages and were not translated for defendants who do not know Greek into a language they understand. Lawyers familiar with the case have said that some of the defendants never received an indictment or summons. Mardini, who lives in Germany, was previously barred from entering Greece to be present at her trial.
Karolína Babická, the legal advisor at the International Commission of Jurists, states: “Here, the severity of the threatened sanctions and administrative measures, is clearly capable of having a significant chilling effect on the civil society organizations committed to search and rescue activities. Not only are there violations of the human rights of the volunteers prosecuted, but such prosecutions, by discouraging humanitarian assistance, may contribute to more deaths at sea and to violations of State obligations under the international law of the sea and of the principle of non-refoulement.”
Over the years, Greece has failed to address serious allegations related to pushbacks and violence against individuals at its borders, which is what the European Court of Human Rights recently confirmed.
