AYS Daily Digest 19/07/21: In Blow to Solidarity Efforts, Human Smuggling Case Opened on Lesvos
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Migration, Digest, Frontex, Refugees, Racism

AYS Daily Digest 19/07/21: In Blow to Solidarity Efforts, Human Smuggling Case Opened on Lesvos

Rescue off Spain // Frontex in Evros // Hunger striker in bad health in Belgium // Racist attack in Germany // Ylva Johansson responds to NGOs’ concerns Are You Syrious? Follow Jul 20 · 10 min read

FEATURE — 10 people, including 4 NGO workers, are caught up in legal case designed to criminalize their work on Lesvos

A screenshot from an article by Stonisi, a local news outlet, which erroneously stated that the 10 individuals had already been arrested. The article has since been changed. (Source: Lena K., Twitter)

Two Greek-language news sites announced yesterday that the government had “dismantled a trafficking ring [a smuggling ring] which involves 4 NGO members & 6 ‘third country nationals.’” The individuals are said to be from Norway, the UK and other European countries, as well as from Syria and Afghanistan, but their identities have not yet been disclosed to the public.

We will remind you that the criminalization of solidarity work in Greece has a long, sordid history stretching back to 2015. The arrest of Sarah Mardini, the Syrian swimmer who returned as an aid worker to Lesvos, is perhaps the most high-profile case.

Back last fall, the Greek government announced they were accusing a total of 35 aid workers of four NGOs in Greece of migrant smuggling and spying. Authorities at the time said the alleged ‘crimes’ dated back to June 2019, with a special focus on the period of high arrivals on Lesvos in August of that year.

Alarm Phone wrote in a press release last October on the announcement that

Even though the press statement does not name the NGOs or the individuals, there were several media reports stating that the Alarm Phone is among the groups that are targeted. For the time being, we refrain from publicly commenting on the ongoing investigation. Instead, we want to point out the real crimes which are ongoing!

The group noted their relationship with the Hellenic Coast Guard “has never been as complicated as it is right now”, and continued:

Human rights violations reached a new level in the Aegean Sea since the beginning of March. This escalation in violations went along with acts of repression against NGOs and all sorts of solidarity structures for refugees and migrants. Obviously, the Greek state wants to eliminate witnesses of the crimes against humanity they commit on a daily basis.

Now it seems these accusations are beginning to bear fruit.

One of the news outlets which reported on the ‘trafficking ring’ this week, Politischios.gr, wrote that the investigation was carried out with the cooperation of the country’s counter-terrorism service, called the Directorate for the Prevention of Special Crimes of Violence.

After “many months of research,” Politischios wrote, authorities determined that the individuals were “active in facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners into Greek territory, through the islands of the Northeast Aegean.”

“The criminal case file of the Mytilene Security Sub-Directorate includes the offenses of facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners into Greek territory, espionage, as well as violations of the Immigration Code,” the article continues.

The article in Stonisi.gr, the other news outlet which reported on this case, erroneously stated that the suspects had already been arrested. However, the article has since been changed. We should note it would be difficult to believe that the arrests had already taken place, as the accused are from several different countries and many are likely no longer in Greece.

Kathimerini, one of the largest newspapers in Greece, also published a short article on the case, lending some credibility to the reporting of the local outlets. Additionally, the police published a press release on the matter, in Greek, from which the Politischios article is copy-pasted.

All of this comes in the wake of increased media attention on pushbacks from Greece. The BBC released a video last week openly naming pushbacks as pushbacks, and the New York Times published an article on pushbacks as a reporter joined a Turkish Coast Guard vessel ferrying pushed-back people from the sea to the Turkish shore. Additionally, the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group within the European Parliament delivered its final “Report on the fact-finding investigation on Frontex concerning alleged fundamental rights violations” on Thursday, July 15.