[Δελτίο τύπου, 26 Απριλίου 2021] Σκανδαλώδης καταδίκη ενός Σύριου πρόσφυγα στην Λέσβο σε 52 χρόνια φυλάκισης. Παρατηρητές της δίκης ασκούν έντονη κριτική στην ποινικοποίηση του να ζητάει κάποιος καταφύγιο από τον πόλεμο.

Δελτίο τύπου από τις Πρωτοβουλίες «You cant evict Solidarity», Christian Peacemaker
Teams-Aegean Migrant Solidarity και borderline-europe, 26 Απριλίου 2021

Σκανδαλώδης καταδίκη ενός Σύριου πρόσφυγα στην Λέσβο σε 52 χρόνια φυλάκισης.
Παρατηρητές της δίκης ασκούν έντονη κριτική στην ποινικοποίηση του να ζητάει κάποιος
καταφύγιο από τον πόλεμο.

Την Παρασκευή 23 Απριλίου 2021, η δίκη του Κ.S., ενός νεαρού πρόσφυγα από την Συρία,
διεξάχθηκε στη Μυτιλήνη. Καταδικάστηκε σε 52 χρόνια φυλάκισης για παράνομη είσοδο
στην χώρα και για διευκόλυνση παράνομης εισόδου. Παρατηρητές της δίκης από τις
Πρωτοβουλίες «You cant evict Solidarity», Christian Peacemaker Teams – Aegean Migrant
Solidarity και borderline-europe θεωρούν την ετυμηγορία σκάνδαλο. Ασκούν κριτική για την άδικη διεξαγωγή της δίκης και για ακόμη μια φορά απαιτούν την άμεση αποφυλάκιση του κατηγορουμένου.

Όπως περιέγραψε στη δίκη, ο Κ.S. εξαναγκάστηκε να φύγει από την Συρία με την οικογένειά
του λόγω του εμφυλίου πολέμου. Από την Συρία πέρασαν στην Τουρκία, οπού ο ίδιος
καθώς αρνήθηκε να συμμετάσχει στην στρατιωτική επιχείρηση της Τουρκίας στην Λιβύη,
βασανίστηκε. Κατάφερε να ξεφύγει με την γυναίκα του και τα τρία τους παιδιά (ηλικίας
τεσσάρων, έξι και εφτά χρονών) θέλοντας να φτάσει στην Ευρώπη. Όταν η οικογένεια
έφτασε στο νησί της Χίου στις αρχές του Μαίου 2020, τους αρνήθηκε το δικαίωμα της
αίτησης ασύλου για έναν μήνα, όπως συνέβαινε και σε όσους και όσες κατέφθαναν στην
Ελλάδα εκείνη τη χρονική περίοδο. Ηταν η περίοδος όπου η ελληνική κυβέρνηση είχε
αναστείλει το δικαίωμα στην αίτηση ασύλου ως μέρος της πολιτικής αντιπαράθεσης μεταξύ
της Τουρκίας και της Ε.Ε. Με αυτήν την πρόφαση η ελληνική κυβέρνηση συστηματικά
κατηγορούσε όσους και όσες κατέφευγαν για προστασία στην Ευρώπη για παράνομη
είσοδο στην χώρα.

Μετά την άφιξή του ο Κ.S. κατηγορήθηκε ότι οδηγούσε την βάρκα με την οποία έφτασαν με
την οικογένειά του στην Χίο. Κατηγορείται όχι μόνο για παράνομη είσοδο στην χώρα, αλλά,
και για διευκόλυνση παράνομης εισόδου (facilitating illegal entry, human smuggling) καθώς
και πρόκληση ναυαγίου θέτοντας σε κίνδυνο ανθρώπινες ζωές.

Ένας παρατηρητή της δίκης εξηγεί για το παρασκήνιο τέτοιων κατηγοριών:
«Η κατάθεση τέτοιων κατηγοριών εναντίον μεταναστών που φτάνουν στα ελληνικά νησιά,
αναγνωρίζοντάς τους υποτίθεται ώς οδηγούς στις βάρκες, χρησιμοποιείται συστηματικά
από το ελληνικό κράτος εδώ και κάποια χρόνια. Βασίζεται στην παράλογη αποδοχή ότι
όποιος οδηγάει την λαστιχένια βάρκα, η οποία είναι γεμάτη με ανθρώπους που αναζητούν
προστασία, είναι ο ίδιος διακινητής. Τις περισσότερες φορές οι κατηγορούμενοι είναι και οι
ίδιοι αιτούντες προστασία που εξαναγκάστηκαν να οδηγήσουν την βάρκα. Στην πράξη, η
δίωξη κάποιου ώς διακινητή, σημαίνει ότι κάποιος από τους επιβάτες της λαστιχένιας
βάρκας κατηγορείται ότι την οδηγούσε, ασχέτως αν το έκανε ή όχι. Χωρίς επαρκείς
αποδείξεις, οι άνθρωποι αυτοί συλλαμβάνονται κατά την άφιξή τους και κρατούνται
προφυλακιστέοι για πολλούς μήνες. Όταν φτάσει η στιγμή να εκδικαστούν οι υποθέσεις
τους, οι δίκες διαρκούν 38 λεπτά και καταδικάζονται με πολύ βαριές ποινές που σε κάποιες
περιπτώσεις ξεπερνούν τα 100 χρόνια. Για το σύνολο των κατηγοριών ο K.S. αντιμετωπίζει ποινή φυλάκισης 93 χρόνων. Οι δίκες αυτές δεν διεξάγονται ούτε δίκαια ούτε συνάδοντας
με το κράτος δικαίου. Γνωρίζουμε εκατοντάδες τέτοιες υποθέσεις ανθρώπων οι οποίοι
κρατούνται στις ελληνικές φυλακές με αυτές τις κατηγορίες όπως δείχνει μια αναφορά των
CPT-Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe και Deportation Monitoring Aegean (1).
Προσφάτως, οι δυο πρόσφυγες Amir και Razouli καταδικάστηκαν σε 50 χρόνια φυλάκισης
σε μία τέτοια δίκη και τώρα περιμένουν την έφεσης της υπόθεσης τους τον Μάρτιο του
2022 (2).»

Αφού κρατήθηκε προφυλακιστέος για πάνω από ένα χρόνο και αφού η δίκη αναβλήθηκε με
συνοπτικές διαδικασίες ( από την Τετάρτη 21 Απριλίου για την Παρασκευή 23 Απριλίου), ο
K.S. καταδικάστηκε μέσα σε λίγες ώρες για «παράνομη είσοδο» και «διευκόλυνση
παράνομης εισόδου» σε 52 χρόνια φυλάκισης. Καταδικάστηκε σε δέκα χρόνια συν ένα
χρόνο για κάθε επιβαίνοντα της βάρκας. Επίσης το δικαστήριο του επέβαλε πρόστιμο
ύψους 242.000 ευρώ. Και όλα αυτά αφού κρίθηκε αθώος για τις κατηγορίες της «απείθιας»
και της «διακινδύνευσης ανθρώπινης ζωής».

Ο K.S. κρίθηκε όχι για την ενοχή του σχετικά με τα συγκεκριμένα «εγκλήματα» για τα οποία
βρέθηκε κατηγορούμενος, αλλά κρίθηκε παραδειγματικά για να καταδικάσει την
μετανάστευση στην Ευρώπη συνολικά. O K.S. έγινε δέκτης υποτιμητικών σχολίων από το
δικαστήριο, ανακρίθηκε για τα θρησκευτικά του πιστεύω και ρωτήθηκε για το γιατί δεν
έμεινε στη Συρία να πολεμήσει για την χώρα του. Η δίκη ήταν γεμάτη από παρατυπίες όπως
για παράδειγμα η υπόθεση του εισαγγελέα βασίστηκε σε αντιφατικές λίστες για τον αριθμό
των ατόμων στην βάρκα. Ενώ με τη σειρά της η σύζυγος του κατηγορούμενου κατέθεσε και
επιβεβαίωσε ως μάρτυρας ότι ο K.S. δεν οδηγούσε την βάρκα. Όταν αξιωματικός της
Ακτοφυλακής υποστήριξε ότι ο K.S. έπρεπε να απελευθερωθεί γιατί αναζήτησε καταφύγιο
από μια εμπόλεμη ζώνη, ο εισαγγελέας απάντησε ότι θα μπορούσε να παραμείνει στην
Τουρκία! Γεγονός απίστευτο καθώς ο K.S. εκεί φυλακίστηκε και βασανίστηκε.
Οι δικηγόροι του από το Legal Center Lesvos άσκησαν έφεση αμέσως μετά την ετυμηγορία.
Μέχρι τότε ο K.S. πρέπει να περιμένει την έφεση της υπόθεσής του ( πιθανά έναν
χρόνο)πίσω στις φυλακές Κορυδαλλού.

Ο Johannes Körner της εκστρατείας « You cant evict Solidarity» δήλωσε για την απόφαση:
« Εμείς όπως και οι πρωτοβουλίες Christian Peacemaker Teams, Aegean Migrant Solidarity
και borderline-europe θα συνεχίσουμε να στηρίζουμε αλληλέγγυα τον κατηγορούμενο.
Καλούμε την Ελλάδα και την Ε.Ε. να βάλουν τέλος στην αυθαίρετη κράτηση των
μεταναστών και μεταναστριών και απαιτούμε την άμεση απελευθέρωση του
κατηγορούμενου. Επίσης παρόμοιες υποθέσεις θα πρέπει να ακυρωθούν, ή οι δίκες θα
πρέπει να διεξαχθούν κάπου αλλού και όχι στο προκατειλημμένο δικαστήριο της
Μυτιλήνης».

Μέλος των Christian Peacemakers – Aegean Migrant Solidarity πρόσθεσε:
«Μετανάστες που ψάχνουν καταφύγιο στην Ευρώπη και που κατηγορούνται για το έγκλημα
της διευκόλυνσης παράνομης εισόδου δεν μπορούν να περιμένουν μια δίκαιη δίκη από το
δικαστήριο της Μυτιλήνης. Ο K.S. καταδικάστηκε χωρίς στοιχεία. Αυτό είναι ένδειξη ενός συστήματος που τροφοδοτεί τις φωνές μιας τοπικής κοινωνίας που ψάχνει έναν
αποδιοπομπαίο τράγο για την μετανάστευση στο νησί»

Press contact:
Johannes Körner: cantevictsolidarity@riseup.net

1) https://bordermonitoring.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/report-2020-smugglingen_web.pdf
2) https://www.borderline-europe.de/unsere-arbeit/solidarit%C3%A4tsstatement-freiheitf%C3%BCr-amir-und-razuli?l=e

[Press release from 26.4.2021] Scandalous sentencing of a Syrian refugee on the Greek island of Lesvos to 52 years imprisonment +++ Trial observers strongly criticise the criminalisation of flight

Press release from the initiatives “You Can‘t Evict Solidarity”, Christian Peacemaker Teams – Aegean Migrant Solidarity and borderline-europe, 26 April 2021
.
Scandalous sentencing of a Syrian refugee on the Greek island of Lesvos to 52 years imprisonment +++ Trial observers strongly criticise the criminalisation of flight
.
On Friday 23 April 2021, the trial of K. S., a young man who fled Syria, took place in Mytilini on the Greek island of Lesvos. He was sentenced to 52 years imprisonment for “illegal entry” and “facilitating illegal entry”. Trial observers from the initiatives “You Can‘t Evict Solidarity”, Christian Peacemaker Teams – Aegean Migrant Solidarity and borderline-europe consider the verdict a scandal. They criticise the unfair trial and once again demand the immediate release of the accused.
.
As he described in the trial, the defendant K. S. fled with his family from the civil war in Syria to Turkey. There, he refused to participate in the Turkish military operation in the civil war in Libya and was subsequently imprisoned and tortured. He managed to flee further to the EU with his wife and three small children. When the family reached the Greek island of Chios in early March 2020 they were denied the right to asylum for one month, like all people arriving in Greece at that time. The background, which was also described in testimony from CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity at the trial, is that the Greek state had unlawfully suspended the right to asylum as part of a political dispute between Turkey and the EU, and systematically brought criminal charges of “illegal entry” against migrants seeking protection in Europe. In addition, upon arrival, K.S. was falsely accused of steering the boat in which he and his family arrived on Chios and additionally charged with “facilitating illegal entry”(human smuggling) and “provoking a shipwreck”(endangering life).
.
A trial observer explains about the background of the charges: “The filing of such charges against migrants arriving on the Greek islands, allegedly identified as boat drivers, has been a systematic approach of the Greek state for several years. It is based on the absurd notion that anyone who drives an inflatable boat carrying people seeking protection is a smuggler. Often the accused are themselves protection seekers and have been coerced into driving the boat. In practice, prosecuting “smugglers” means accusing someone from an arriving inflatable boat of driving the boat, whether they were or not. They are usually arrested on the spot without sufficient evidence and held in pre-trial detention for months. When their case finally comes to trial, their trials last an average of only 38 minutes, and they are sentenced to long prison terms, in some cases over 100 years in prison with very large fines. For the charges brought against K.S., the average sentence is 93 years. These proceedings are not conducted fairly or according to the rule of law. We know of hundreds of such cases of people in Greek prisons on these charges, as a report by CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe and Deportation Monitoring Aegean shows (1). Most recently, last year, among others, Amir and Razouli, two refugees, were sentenced to 50 years imprisonment in such a trial and are now in Greek prison awaiting their appeal hearing in March 2022 (2).”
.
After more than a year of pre-trial detention and after the trial had been postponed at short notice until Friday, 23 April 2021, the defendant K.S. was sentenced in just a few hours and in camera for “unauthorized entry” and “facilitating illegal entry” to 52 years imprisonment. He was sentenced to 10 years plus one year for each person on the boat. In addition, the court fined him 242,000 euros. This high sentence was imposed even though he was acquitted of the charges of “endangering human life” and “disobedience”. 
.
K.S. was judged not on his guilt for the particular “crimes“ for which he was accused, but as a proxy to condemn migration to Europe in general. K.S. was subject to derogatory statements by the court and jury, being questioned about his Muslim faith and asked why he did not stay in Syria to fight for his country. The trial was riddled with major irregularities. For example, the prosecution’s case was based on contradictory lists of the number of people on the boat. The prosecution’s main witness, a coastguard officer, testified in great detail, but he made no statement on the important question of whether he had seen the defendant driving the boat. In turn, the defendant’s wife testified as a witness and confirmed that he had not driven the boat. When the coastguard officer stated at the end of his testimony that K.S. should be released because he was fleeing a warzone, the prosecutor replied that he could have stayed in Turkey – unbelievable, as K.S. had been imprisoned and tortured there. 
.
His lawyers from the Legal Center Lesvos appealed immediately after the verdict. Until then, K.S. must spend the time until the appeal hearing (presumably in about a year) back in the infamous Korydallos prison on the Greek mainland. 
.
Johannes Körner from the campaign “You can‘t evict Solidarity” said about the verdict: 
    
“We as well as the initiatives CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity and borderline.europe will continue to support the accused in solidarity. We call on Greece and the European Union to immediately end the arbitrary detention of migrants and for the acquittal and immediate release of the accused. In addition, the pending comparable cases must be dropped, or trials must take place elsewhere than the biased court of Mytiline.”
.
A member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams – Aegean Migrant Solidarity added:
    
“Migrants seeking sanctuary in Europe who are accused of the crime of facilitating illegal entry cannot expect to receive a fair trial in Mytilene court. K.S. was convicted with no evidence positively identifying him. This is indicative of a justice system catering to the vocal section of local society seeking a scapegoat for migration to the island.”
.
Press contact:
Johannes Körner: cantevictsolidarity@riseup.net
    .

[Press release from 20.04.2021] Flight is not a crime: Imminent sentencing of a Syrian refugee to decades in prison after trial on Lesbos

Press release of the initiatives “You Can`t Evict Solidarity”, CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity and borderline-europe, 20.04.2021

Flight is not a crime: Imminent sentencing of a Syrian refugee to decades in prison after trial on Lesbos +++ The initiatives “You Can`t Evict Solidarity”, CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity and borderline-europe demand the acquittal and immediate release of the defendant

Tomorrow, Wednesday 21 April 2021, the trial of K.S., a young man who fled Syria, will take place in Mytilini on the Greek island of Lesvos. He is accused of “facilitating illegal entry” (smuggling), “illegal entry” and “provoking a shipwreck” (endangering human life). If convicted, he faces several decades in prison. The initiatives You Can‘t Evict Solidarity, CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity and borderline-europe demand the acquittal and immediate release of the accused man.

The accused K.S. fled with his family from the civil war in Syria to Turkey. There he refused to join the Turkish military operation in the civil war in Libya, and as a result was imprisoned and tortured. He managed to flee with his wife and three children (four, six and seven years old) all the way to Europe. When the family reached the Greek island of Chios in early March 2020, they were denied the right to asylum for one month, like all people arriving in Greece at that time. The Greek state had unlawfully suspended the right to asylum as part of a political dispute between Turkey and the EU, and systematically brought criminal charges of “illegal entry” against migrants seeking protection in Europe.

In addition, upon arrival, K.S. was falsely accused of driving the boat in which he arrived with his family on Chios. He is now charged not only with “illegal entry” but also, more seriously, with “facilitating illegal entry” (human smuggling) and “provoking a shipwreck” (endangering life).

The filing of such charges against migrants arriving on the Greek islands, allegedly identified as boat drivers, has been systematically used by the Greek state for several years. It is based on the absurd notion that anyone who drives a dinghy carrying people seeking protection is a smuggler. Often the accused are seeking protection themselves and have been coerced into driving the boat. In practice, the prosecution of “smugglers” means that somebody from an arriving rubber dinghy is accused of driving the boat whether they did so or not. Without sufficient evidence, they are usually arrested upon arrival and kept in pre-trial detention for months. When their case finally comes to court, their trials average only 38 minutes in length, and they are sentenced to heavy prison terms, in some cases over 100 years in prison with very high fines. For the combination of charges K.S. faces, the average sentence is 93 years.

In the view of independent trial observers, these trials are not conducted fairly and according to the rule of law. There are hundreds of known cases of people being held in Greek prisons on these charges, as a report by CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe and Deportation Monitoring Aegean shows (1). Most recently, the two refugees Amir and Razouli were sentenced to 50 years imprisonment in such a trial last year and are now waiting in Chios prison for their appeal date in March 2022 (2).

The accused, K.S., has now been in pre-trial detention for over a year in Korydallos prison in mainland Greece. He will see his children and wife, who live in a camp near Athens, for the first time at the trial. His wife will testify and confirm that he was not driving the boat. In addition, a witness who is a researcher in anthropology from the University of the Aegean, and from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) – Aegean Migrant Solidarity will give expert testimony about the political context in which K.S. crossed to Greece from Turkey. He will be represented by lawyers from the Legal Center Lesvos.

The initiatives You Can‘t Evict Solidarity, CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity and borderline-europe will accompany the trial in solidarity. They call on Greece and the European Union to immediately end the arbitrary detention of refugees and migrants accused of smuggling and for the acquittal and immediate release of the defendant.

Press contact:

Johannes Körner: cantevictsolidarity@riseup.net

1) https://bordermonitoring.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/report-2020-smuggling-en_web.pdf

2) https://www.borderline-europe.de/unsere-arbeit/solidarit%C3%A4tsstatement-freiheit-f%C3%BCr-amir-und-razuli?l=en

 

 

[Lesvos] Outrageous court decision – Two people arbitrarily convicted for setting fire to Moria camp

Justice for the Moria 6!

For a detailed outline of the trial procedure see post of the lawyers by Legal Centre Lesvos: https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2021/03/09/justice-for-the-moria-6/

On 9th of March 2021, A.A. and M.H. were found guilty for “arson with risk to human life” and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, of which they will have to serve two and a half years in Avlona prison on the Greek mainland.

The two young men from Afghanistan had come to Lesvos seeking asylum as unaccompanied minors and were 17 years old at the time of their arrest. They were arrested after Moria camp burnt to the ground on 8th of September 2020 and held for six moths in pre-trial detention.

The court procedure was permeated with irregularities and failed the core standards of fairness – it was obvious that the two defendants had been determined guilty long before the procedure had even started. It is clear that both of them have been used in a politicized game, made to serve as a scapegoat for the events on 8th September, when the camp burned down.  Their conviction should distract from the disastrous situation in the European hotspot camps and the failure of the Greek state to provide adequate protection for refugees that became once again obvious through the fire.

During the trial supporters and friends were sent away by the police, fined or threatened with further repression. For “security reasons” they were not allowed to enter the court room – allegedly in order to protect the identity of defendants in the juvenile court – while 5-7 police officers were constantly present. The supporters were also harrassed while waiting in front of the court. Some were fined 300 Euros for their mere presence. The day before, when the trial was supposed to start but then postponed, one person was even taken to the police station and had his personal belongings searched.

Many people had come from the new Kara Tepe camp to testify in support of the defendants in order to give an alibi, however only two defense witnesses were allowed to participate in the trial. Meanwhile, the prosecution brought 17 witnesses to testify against the defendants. They did not present any credible evidence against them. 

The core witness – an Afghan community leader – who had caused their arrest through his testimony failed to show up at the trial and could not be located by the authorities. Nevertheless, his written testimony was considered credible.

Most of the other witnesses only testified about personal losses caused by the fire that were not focused on positively identifying the defendants. Only two police officers claimed to have identified the defendants based on a video showing two people with similar clothes from behind. However, the officers contradicted themselves in their testimonies, describing one of the defendants as “tiny and short” while he is in fact much taller than the testifying police officer himself. 

In the end, the defendants were at least aquitted of the charge of ‘membership of a criminal group’ – which could have together with the charge of “arson with risk to human life” resulted in a sentence of up to 15 years. Their lawyers from Legal Centre Lesvos will also appeal the conviction. 

Nevertheless, the conviction of the two is another outragous example of how people on the move are criminalized in order to divert attention from those who bear responsibility for the existance of a camp such as Moria and now its successor Kara Tepe. We are sick and tired of watching one case after another of migrants being arbitrarily arrested, beaten, humilitated, detained and sentenced to jail by the so-called “justice system”. This game is as transparent and ridiculous as it is violent, racist and disgusting. Those who have to pay with their lives are the people who enact their right to freedom of movement and are therefore disenfranchised and punished. 

As on so many occasions before, after following court procedures against people on the move, we are sad and angry. The 9th of March was a terrible day for anyone struggling for justice and equality. But we have to keep fighting. Four more people accused for setting Moria on fire will probably have their trials soon. The two sentenced people, A.A. and M.H., will appeal the decision. 

We have to spread the news, scream in the face of those responsible: those who created the hotspot camps and the EU-Turkey deal, those who keep the camps running and those who profit from this system of racism and inequality.

Freedom for the Moria 6!

[Lesvos] Freedom for the imprisoned Moria 6 – Greek state opens trial against two of the six accused after the fire in Moria 2020

Freedom for the imprisoned Moria 6 – Greek state opens trial against two of the six accused after the fire in Moria 2020

Λευτεριά στους 6 φυλακισμένους για τη φωτιά στη Μόρια – Ξεκίνησε η δίκη δύο από τους έξι κατηγορούμενους για την πυρκαγιά στη Μόρια το 2020

——————————-Ελληνικό κείμενο παρακάτω—————————–

Today, on 8th of March, the court of Mytilini, Lesvos, opened the trial against two young men from Afghanistan. The two arrived to Greece as unaccompanied minors, and were only 17 at the time of their arrest. They are part of the group of six people accused of ‘arson with risk to human life’, who were arrested after the events of September 8, 2020, when Moria camp burned to the ground.

The two defendants, who were arrested as minors, have by now been in pre-trial detention for nearly six months – the maximum time for pretrial detention of minors. The court mobilized several witnesses for the trial, among them the camp management, the police and residents of Moria village. Monitoring the trial is made impossible, because of heavy police presence at the court, and strict and disproportionate Covid-19 movement restrictions. Furthermore, because the defendants were minors at the time of their arrest, their trial is closed to the public.

The trial officially started today, but was immediately interrupted because one of the defendants is ill and suffering from fever. It was only postponed until tomorrow.

So far, the public prosecutor’s office has not presented any credible evidence against any of the six defendants that suggests they were at all involved in the desperate act of resistance of setting the multiple fires which ultimately destroyed the inhumane European Hotspot, Moria camp. However, it seems the authorities are intent on scapegoating the Moria 6 for Europe’s deadly border violence.

There is only one witness against all 6 of the defendants – one of the then Afghan community leaders in Moria Camp. It has been a common practice of the police in Lesvos to coerce community leaders into providing information, through threats of arrest, or in exchange for advantages such as being allowed to leave the island. The 6 defendants are all part of the Hazara Shia minority, which has historically been subjected to violent persecution and systematic discrimination by both Tajic and Pashtu Sunni majorities, along class, race, and religious lines. The only witness against them is Pashtu.

Five of the accused were minors at the time of their arrest, and the sixth was only 18. However, three of the five minors had been unlawfully registered as adults when they arrived in Greece. These three presented original national identification documents to the court following their arrest, showing their actual age, and requested age assessments by medical professionals. Despite this, the documents were rejected as fraudulent, the state medical examiner assessed them as adults, and they continue to be treated as adults by the Greek state.

The two defendants facing trial tomorrow are the two who were recognised as minors at the time of their arrest.

It is likely that the facts will not matter in court. The Greek state is determined to find someone guilty for burning down Europe’s pilot project of the “hot spot” model of detention, confinement on the islands in hellish conditions, and deterence. State authorities had already determined their guilt long before any trial took place. Minister of Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, in an interview with CNN on 16 September 2020, stated “the camp was burned by six Afghani refugees who have been arrested.” In response to a question about the welfare of unaccompanied minors made homeless by the fire, Mitarakis responded by saying that two minors had been arrested alongside four others according to police footage for causing the fire and that “the reason they caused the fire was to blackmail the Greek and other governments to move them out of Moria.”

In September 2020, pictures of the burning camp were circulated in international media, drawing attention once again to the cruel and inhuman treatment people are subject to in Greek’s refugee camps. The fire became a symbol of people’s resistance to this treatment and confinement. It not only brought to light the cruelty of the European border regime but also exposed the Greek state’s disastrous failure to provide protection to migrants, as well as its failure to fulfill its role as “shield of Europe” that the EU Commissioner had assigned to Greece in March 2020.

Over the years, numerous criminal prosecutions in Lesvos have shown that the Greek state will crush any resistance to Europe’s border regime through collective punishment, using the police and courts to arbitrarily arrest, then convict and sentence migrants to long prison sentences, without any evidence, following any protest against state opression. For example, in the summer of 2017, the Moria 35 were violently and arbitrarily arrested on the basis of racial profiling after months of escalating protests and collective organising in Mytilene and inside Moria camp. In their trial, held nine months later in the Mixed Jury Court of Chios, 32 of the 35 were found guilty of causing dangerous bodily harm and given a 26-month suspended prison sentence. In a similar case of the Moria 8, those arbitrarily arrested following a fire in Moria, were eventually acquitted, but 1 of the 8 had previously been held in pre-trial detention for months.

We will not accept that the lives of six young people will be destroyed! We will not let the state and media treat them as scapegoats for the brutality and cruelty of the European border policies of confinement! We demand freedom for all imprisoned and accused!

Solidarity with the Moria 6! Your struggle is our struggle!

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Λευτεριά στους 6 φυλακισμένους για τη φωτιά στη Μόρια – Ξεκίνησε η δίκη δύο από τους έξι κατηγορούμενους για την πυρκαγιά στη Μόρια το 2020

Σήμερα, 8 Μαρτίου 2021, στο δικαστήριο της Μυτιλήνης ξεκίνησε η δίκη δύο νεαρών άνδρων από το Αφγανιστάν. Οι δύο τους είχαν φτάσει στην Ελλάδα ως ασυνόδευτοι ανήλικοι και ήταν μόλις 17 ετών τη στιγμή της σύλληψής τους. Είναι οι δύο από τους νεαρούς που κατηγορούνται για «εμπρησμό με κίνδυνο για την ανθρώπινη ζωή», οι οποίοι συνελήφθησαν μετά τα γεγονότα της 8ης Σεπτεμβρίου 2020, όταν το camp της Μόριας καταστράφηκε από φωτιά.

Οι δύο κατηγορούμενοι, οι οποίοι συνελήφθησαν ως ανήλικοι, είναι προφυλακισμένοι εδώ και σχεδόν έξι μήνες — το μέγιστο επιτρεπόμενο χρονικό διάστημα προφυλάκισης ανηλίκων. Το δικαστήριο έχει κλητεύσει αρκετούς μάρτυρες για τη δίκη, μεταξύ των οποίων τη διοίκηση του στρατοπέδου, μπάτσους και κάτοικους του χωριού Μόρια. Η παρακολούθηση της δίκης δεν είναι εφικτή, λόγω της μεγάλης παρουσίας της αστυνομίας στο δικαστήριο και των αυστηρών και δυσανάλογων περιορισμών κίνησης με πρόσχημα τον κορονοϊό. Επιπλέον, επειδή οι κατηγορούμενοι ήταν ανήλικοι κατά τη σύλληψή τους, η δίκη τους είναι κλειστή για το κοινό.
Η δίκη ξεκίνησε επίσημα σήμερα, αλλά διακόπηκε αμέσως επειδή ένας από τους κατηγορούμενους είναι άρρωστος και έχει πυρετό. Αναβλήθηκε μόνο μέχρι αύριο.
Μέχρι στιγμής, η εισαγγελία δεν έχει παρουσιάσει αξιόπιστα αποδεικτικά στοιχεία εναντίον οποιουδήποτε από τους έξι κατηγορούμενους που να στοιχειοθετούν ότι συμμετείχαν με οποιονδήποτε τρόπο στην απεγνωσμένη πράξη αντίστασης των πολλαπλών εστιών φωτιάς που τελικά κατέστρεψαν το απάνθρωπο ευρωπαϊκό hotspot, το camp της Μόριας. Ωστόσο, φαίνεται ότι οι αρχές προτίθενται να χρησιμοποιήσουν τους 6 συλληφθέντες της Μόριας ως αποδιοπομπαίους τράγους έναντι της θανάσιμης βία της Ευρώπης στα σύνορά της.

Υπάρχει μόνο ένας μάρτυρας εναντίον και των 6 κατηγορουμένων: ένας από τους τότε ηγέτες της αφγανικής κοινότητας στο camp της Μόριας. Αποτελούσε κοινή πρακτική της αστυνομίας στη Λέσβο να πιέζει τους ηγέτες της κοινότητας να παρέχουν πληροφορίες, απειλώντας τους με σύλληψη, ή προσφέροντας ανταλλάγματα, όπως η δυνατότητα να φύγουν από το νησί [βλ.: https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2018/09/02/police-coerce-community-leaders-to-turn-over-individuals-responsible-for-violence-in-moria-camp/]. Οι 6 κατηγορούμενοι ανήκουν όλοι τους στη σιιτική μειονότητα της φυλής Χαζαρά, η οποία ιστορικά έχει υποστεί βίαιες διώξεις και συστηματικές ταξικές, φυλετικές και θρησκευτικές διακρίσεις από τις κυρίαρχες σουνιτικές φυλές, τόσο από τους Τατζίκους όσο και από τους Παστού. Ο μόνος μάρτυρας εναντίον τους ανήκει στη φυλή Παστού.

Πέντε από τους κατηγορούμενους ήταν ανήλικοι τη στιγμή της σύλληψής τους και ο έκτος ήταν μόνο 18 ετών. Ωστόσο, τρεις από τους πέντε ανηλίκους είχαν καταχωριστεί παράνομα ως ενήλικες όταν έφτασαν στην Ελλάδα. Και οι τρεις τους, μετά τη σύλληψή τους, παρουσίασαν στο δικαστήριο ταξιδιωτικά έγγραφα που έδειχναν την πραγματική ηλικία τους και ζήτησαν αξιολογήσεις ηλικίας από επαγγελματίες του ιατρικού τομέα. Παρ’ όλα αυτά, τα έγγραφα απορρίφθηκαν ως πλαστά, ο κρατικός γιατρός που τους εξέτασε τους αξιολόγησε ως ενήλικες και εξακολουθούν να αντιμετωπίζονται ως ενήλικες από το ελληνικό κράτος.
Οι δύο κατηγορούμενοι που θα βρεθούν αύριο στο δικαστήριο είναι οι δύο που αναγνωρίστηκαν ως ανήλικοι κατά τη σύλληψή τους.
Είναι πιθανό ότι τα πραγματικά γεγονότα δεν θα έχουν καμία σημασία στο δικαστήριο. Το ελληνικό κράτος είναι αποφασισμένο να βρει κάποιον ένοχο για τη φωτιά που κατέστρεψε το πιλοτικό σχέδιο της Ευρώπης για το πρότυπο «hotspot» αποτροπής μέσω της κράτησης και αποκλεισμού στα νησιά κάτω από απάνθρωπες συνθήκες. Οι κρατικές αρχές είχαν ήδη καθορίσει την ενοχή τους πολύ πριν διεξαχθεί οποιαδήποτε δίκη. Ο υπουργός μετανάστευσης και ασύλου, Νότης Μηταράκης, σε συνέντευξή του στο CNN στις 16 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020, δήλωσε ότι «το στρατόπεδο κάηκε από έξι Αφγανούς πρόσφυγες που συνελήφθησαν». Η απάντησή του στην ερώτηση για τις συνθήκες ζωής των ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων που έμειναν άστεγοι από την πυρκαγιά ήταν ότι δύο ανήλικοι συνελήφθησαν μαζί με τέσσερις άλλους σύμφωνα με τα βίντεο της αστυνομίας ως υπαίτιοι για την πυρκαγιά και ότι «ο λόγος που προκάλεσαν τη φωτιά ήταν για να εκβιαστούν οι ελληνικές και άλλες κυβερνήσεις και να τους απομακρύνουν από τη Μόρια» [βλ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52lWG65Wbq4].

Τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2020, φωτογραφίες από το καμένο camp κυκλοφόρησαν στα διεθνή μέσα ενημέρωσης, τραβώντας την προσοχή στις σκληρές και απάνθρωπες συνθήκες που υποχρώνονται να υποστούν οι έγκλειστοι στα στρατόπεδα προσφύγων της Ελλάδας. Η φωτιά έγινε σύμβολο της αντίστασης σε αυτήν τη μεταχείριση και τον εγκλεισμό. Δεν έφερε στο φως μόνο τη σκληρότητα του ευρωπαϊκού συνοριακού καθεστώτος, αλλά επίσης εξέθεσε την καταστροφική αποτυχία του ελληνικού κράτους να παρέχει προστασία στους μετανάστες, καθώς και το ρόλο της «ασπίδας της Ευρώπης» που είχε αναθέσει τον Μάρτιο 2020 στο ελληνικό κράτος η ευρωπαϊκη επιτροπή.

Τα τελευταία χρόνια, αλλεπάλληλες ποινικές διώξεις στη Λέσβο έχουν δείξει ότι το ελληνικό κράτος είναι αποφασισμένο να συντρίψει οποιαδήποτε αντίσταση στα σύνορα της Ευρώπης, εφαρμόζοντας πρακτικές συλλογικής ευθύνης, χρησιμοποιώντας την αστυνομία και τα δικαστήρια για να συλλάβει αυθαίρετα, να διώξει και να καταδικάσει σε μεγάλες ποινές φυλάκισης και χωρίς κανένα αποδεικτικό στοιχείο μετανάστες που διαμαρτυρήθηκαν ενάντια στην κρατική καταστολή. Για παράδειγμα, το καλοκαίρι του 2017, οι «35 της Μόριας» συνελήφθησαν βίαια και αυθαίρετα βάσει του φυλετικού τους προφίλ, μετά από μήνες κλιμακούμενων διαμαρτυριών και συλλογικής οργάνωσης στο camp της Μόριας και γενικότερα στο νησί αλλά. Στη δίκη τους, που διεξήχθη εννέα μήνες μετά τη σύλληψή τους στο Μεικτό Κακουργοδικείο της Χίου, 32 από τους 35 κρίθηκαν ένοχοι για πρόκληση επικίνδυνων σωματικών βλαβών και τιμωρήθηκαν με ποινή φυλάκισης 26 μηνών. Σε μια παρόμοια υπόθεση, αυτή των «8 της Μόριας», οι μετανάστες συνελήφθησαν αυθαίρετα μετά από μια πυρκαγιά στη Moria, τελικά αθωώθηκαν, αλλά ο ένας από τους 8 είχε προηγουμένως προφυλακιστεί για μήνες [βλ. http://legalcentrelesvos.org/2018/11/29/the-case-of-the-moria-35-a-15-month-timeline-of-injustice-and-impunity/].

Δεν θα ανεχτούμε να καταστραφούν οι ζωές έξι νέων ανθρώπων! Δεν θα αφήσουμε το κράτος και τα μέσα μαζικής ενημέρωσης να τους χρησιμοποιήσουν ως εξιλαστήρια θύματα έναντι της βαρβαρότητας και της σκληρότητας των ευρωπαϊκών πολιτικών εγκλεισμού στα σύνορα!

Απαιτούμε λευτεριά για όλους τους φυλακισμένους και κατηγορούμενους!
Αλληλεγγύη με τους 6 της Μόριας! Ο αγώνας τους είναι και δικός μας!

[Greece] Incarcerating the Marginalized The Fight Against Alleged ›Smugglers‹ on the Greek Hotspot Islands

Parallel to our solidarity work for Amir and Razouli who are accused for “smuggling” in Greece we publish this recherche report of bordermonitoring.eu about the criminalisation of “smuggling” in Greece.

“The following report outlines the system of punishment and incarceration of
migrants who are accused of human smuggling at the EU-external border in
the Aegean. It bears witness to the fates of people who have been sentenced
to life long imprisonment in Greece. Some of them were not aware of having
committed a felony crime by driving a boat with asylum seekers from Greece
to Turkey; others were only crossing the border to seek asylum in the European Union themselves.

Upon arrival, they were arrested, often beaten, and held for months in pre-trial detention, until they were convicted in a court procedure violating basic standards of fairness. The harsh criminalization described in this report cannot be understood outside of the broader framework of the anti-smuggling policies of the European border regime, which will
be analysed in this report alongside narratives on human smuggling, as well as the evolution of anti-smuggling legislation within the European Union.”

The full report can be found here.

The EU and Greek state are guilty – Solidarity with the imprisoned after the fire in Moria!

Moria has burned to the ground. The fires that destroyed Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesvos on September 8 put the world’s spotlight on the EU’s and the Greek state’s inhuman and racist policies at the European borders. The furious reaction of the Greek state to the desperate and self-empowering resistance of people – who were forced to live and suffer in the overcrowded camp in inhuman conditions for years – is again more repression and criminalization.

The events are closely entangled with the ever-worsening politics of incarceration. Since March, the camp has been under lockdown and people were trapped without the most basic supplies. In September, the Greek government concluded a contract with a private company to transform the entire camp into a prison surrounded by double barbed wire fencing and equipped with security gates – financed by the EU. The Covid-19 pandemic has been instrumentalized to push for these plans. Instead of providing appropriate health facilities, the Greek state tried to lock up thousands of people crammed together behind barbed wire. When Corona broke out under these circumstances, the camp started to burn.

Shortly after the fire, the Greek police arbitrarily arrested six people, five of them minors, all six of whom deny participation in setting the fires.

The six were charged with arson with danger to human life, a felony charge, and participation in a criminal group, a misdemeaner charge. On 21 September, all six were also ordered to await trial in pre-trial detention. (https://www.stonisi.gr/post/11598/profylakisteoi-kai-oi-6-kathgoroymenoi-gia-emprhsmo-toy-kyt-morias-realtime)

While 2 of the 6 are registered in Greece as minors, another 3 of the 6 are in fact children, but were registered as adults by FRONTEX when they entered Greece – a common practice within the hotspot camps. They were sent to pre-trial detention despite pre-trial detention being a remedy of last resort, and the state did not present any credible evidence against them in the hearing. One  prosecutor stated that it was the first time they had seen people who are officially recognized as minors sent into pre-trial detention in Mytilene.

The court based the charges on the testimony of a single witness also living in Moria camp. He identified the six young men by providing common first names to police, and identifying them through low-quality photographs taken  for the asylum procedure.

There are a number of reasons to believe that these accusations are not credible. On the one hand, the witness is a community leader within the camp and there have been several cases before in which community leaders were pushed by the authorities to testify against alleged criminals within protest movements and were then rewarded with the possibility to leave Lesvos Island for the mainland. (https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2018/09/02/police-coerce-community-leaders-to-turn-over-individuals-responsible-for-violence-in-moria-camp/) On the other hand, the accused are all from the Hazara community (contrary to the witness), an ethnic minority from Afghanistan that is systematically discriminated and persecuted in the country.

Above all, it is not the first time that randomly selected people are taken to court and accused of alleged crimes during protest movements. (https://dm-aegean.bordermonitoring.eu/2019/02/19/ongoing-criminalization-of-refugee-protests-upcoming-trials-against-migrants-on-lesvos/)

The case of the Moria 35 (http://legalcentrelesvos.org/category/news/moria-35/) clearly shows how people have been arbitrarily arrested and convicted through a trial that broke core principals of the European Charter on Human Rights (http://legalcentrelesvos.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Observation-report-Moria-35-VERSION-COMPLETE-AVEC-LES-ANNEXES.pdf), despite the fact that many of them were not even in the camp at the time of alleged crime. The Moria 8 (https://dm-aegean.bordermonitoring.eu/2019/02/23/moria-8-declared-innocent/) were also arbitrarily arrested after protests in Moria camp. They were eventually released in February 2019 after eleven months of unjust pre-trial detention because they were clearly innocent.

The Greek state’s attempt to now blame a group of boys for the obvious failure of the Greek hotspot system is revolting. At the same time, there are attempts to criminalize supporters and NGOs. However, it is neither the people seeking protection and struggling for a better life nor supporters engaging in human rights work who are guilty for the dramatic situation in the hotspots. The disaster of the camp is the result of the European Union’s and the Greek State’s policies.

Since the EU-Turkey Deal the Hotspots on the islands have become open-air prisons, with the full political and financial support of the European Commission and EU member states. In the last months of the Covid-19 crisis, the Greek government pushed forward its plans (supported by the EU) to build closed camps at the EU external borders, so called “controlled centers”, by fencing the people in Moria behind barbed wire. Basic human rights were ignored; medical and legal support were increasingly made impossible. Even the right to asylum was suspended and people were illegally pushed back to Turkey. The new Pact on Migration only entrenches and deteriorates this system of systematic disenfranchisement, taking the system of Moria camp as blueprint for their asylum policies.

The detained are not guilty of the crimes for which they are accused! Even if anyone who lived in Moria camp did set the fire, as an act of resistance against a system of deliberate disenfranchisement and destitution, it is clear that the real arsonists are those who make the camp system possible and keep it running.

We demand the immediate release of all the imprisoned accused of setting the fire!

We demand the closure of all camps and detention centers!

Evacuate the islands!

Freedom of movement for all!

We will support the accused in any way we can in the court cases, in the prisons, by publicity…

 

Please donate to following

Rote Hilfe e.V./ OG Hannover

IBAN: DE42 4306 0967 4007 2383 57

BIC: GENODEM1GLS

GLS Bank

Verwendungszweck: Cant evict Solidarity

contact:

cantevictsolidarity(at)riseup(dot)net

[Chios/Greece] CALL FOR DONATIONS of the campaign Cant evict Solidarity: Solidarity without borders against Repression against the protests of refugees in Greece during the COVID-19 pandemic

CALL FOR DONATIONS of the campaign Cant evict Solidarity: Solidarity without borders

Repression against the protests of refugees in Greece during the COVID-19 pandemic

 

Violence and repression against people on the move is becoming increasingly brutal and repressive. The exit restrictions imposed by the pandemic are hitting these people particularly hard. In addition, the pandemic legitimises even more brutal repressive measures on the part of politicians and executive bodies. Exemplarily three spotlights:

– The rage of people locked up in the lockdown due to Covid-19 unleashed itself in protests in Camp Vial on the Greek island of Chios after a 47-year-old woman who had fled Iraq died of a heart attack on April 18, 2020.
.
Two days earlier, she had been taken to hospital with cardiac arrhythmia, tested negative for Covid-19 and given rudimentary medication. Afterwards she was locked up in a container outside the camp as preventive isolation, where she suffered a panic attack and was found dead the day after. When the police arrived to break up the protests, they used tear gas and batons. Some protesters reportedly defended themselves by throwing stones. Hundreds of people tried to flee from the police units and the fire into the surrounding fields, but did not dare leave the camp too far, as the Greek government has introduced a 150 euro fine for violations of exit restrictions since the Corona pandemic. Dozens of people were injured due to the brutal police action. Above all, nine fugitives are now in custody on remand and are currently charged with arson, damage to property, breach of the peace and violations of the weapons law. For a further six persons, remand pending trial has been requested. They are all now facing several years in prison.
.

– At the beginning of April, a hunger strike by detained refugees against the conditions in the deportation prison in the Moria camp on Lesbos and in the deportation prison Paranesti in northern Greece was ended by police violence.

With the hunger strike, prisoners protested against the unfounded imprisonment, the inhumane accommodation and the lack of protection against Covid-19. On the Greek islands, people are not only detained after refusal of the asylum procedure, but many people are imprisoned immediately upon arrival after the dangerous crossing on the basis of their respective nationality. Although deportations from Greece are indefinitely restricted by Covid-19, people are not released from deportation detention. On the contrary, people continue to be detained on purpose.
.
– After Turkish President Erdogan suspended the EU-Turkey deal at the end of February 2020 for power-political reasons and brought people to the border, the wave of racism and right-wing violence against refugees escalated further. In the process, EU border officials* fired deadly shots at the border river Evros. Here, too, there was mass indiscriminate detention of people seeking protection.
Now the government is stirring up a negative mood among the population with fears and additionally justifying its anti-migration policy with preventive measures against the pandemic. In recent weeks, there have also been increasing reports of illegal push-backs by the Greek coast guard on their way to and from the Greek islands.

A violent fight against the protests of refugees in the Greek camps, as well as their subsequent often arbitrary imprisonment and criminalisation, is an integral, structural component of the inhuman migration policy of the EU. This general approach is once again increasingly evident during the current pandemic.
Previous cases of repression against protesters have shown that individuals are arrested and charged in exemplary fashion, often completely independently of any actual involvement in the protests. This should prevent any protest in the camps against the catastrophic situation. In recent years, protests by residents* of the Moria camp on Lesbos have been violently suppressed several times and, as in the case of Moria35 , imprisoned for months without any evidence.

The response of the “You can`t evict Solidarity” campaign to the increasingly brutal repressive policies is a solidarity campaign. This includes public relations work and financial support for the trials of the detainees.

Donations in solidarity are welcome on this account:

Rote Hilfe e.V. / OG Hanover
IBAN: EN42 4306 0967 4007 2383 57
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
GLS Bank
Intended use: Cant evict Solidarity

Contact:

cantevictsolidarity(at)riseup(dot)net

[Evros/Turkey/Greece] Declaration on the death of Muhamad Gulzar, killed at Evros river

Declaration by Muhamads comrades from City Plaza: https://www.facebook.com/1568287556796915/posts/2301742346784762/?app=fbl

“A farewell to our friend Muhamad Gulzar, killed at Evros Border

Bild könnte enthalten: 1 Person, InnenbereichThe rumor of a second refugee killed at the borders, spread three days ago. How could we imagine that it could be our friend? How could this happen? And yesterday the first messages. His wife, appearing in a Sky News reportage. A distant take, outside the hospital, crying and mourning. It was for her, we learned, that Muhamad crossed the borders once again, this time from Greece to Turkey and back to Pakistan. To bring her here and be together.

Last Wednesday, in the morning, our friend Muhamad, our Muhamad from the room 611, was shot dead just for being a migrant. A struggling man, an innocent person, declared as an “enemy” and “invader” of Europe. A civilian shot down like a wild animal.

The bullet came out from a gun at the greek side, a gun that once pointed to the air and once pointed to the group of people crossing the border – was it border police, was it a militia, a greek or foreign fascist volunteer or was it a young soldier ordered by the government to use “live ammunition”?

The government said it’s fake news and turkish propaganda. The European Commissioner the day before said that the Greek government is doing the right thing, it acts as a “shield of Europe”.

We, friends of Muhamad Gulzar, who met him at the squatted hotel City Plaza in Athens three years ago, we say that our brother has been murdered. We cannot find the actual murderer, but we know who is responsible. We cannot know who was carrying the weapon, but we know that Muhamad was killed by a bullet came out from a gun, that once pointed to the air and once pointed at the running people, in a disgraceful human hunting at the borders of Europe in 2020.

Muhamad, for you, for your wife and family, for all of us and for the children to be born. For all the people, despite nationalities, skin colour and religions, we are saying that we will struggle more and we will fight harder. We shall overcome the barbarism spreading so fast in the world. And we will remember you running free over the bloody borders. In Greece, in Turkey, in Europe and everywhere in the world, everywhere where people struggle for a better life, without war and racism, without oppression and humiliation of the people.

Your friends and comrades from the ex City Plaza squat, Athens!”

“

[Evros/Turkey/Greece] Shootings and Huntings – The Fascistisation of the European Border Regime

Published by our comrades from dm-agegean: https://dm-aegean.bordermonitoring.eu/2020/03/07/shootings-and-hunting-the-fascistisation-of-the-european-border-regime/

Shootings, Torture and Push-Backs at the Borders

News about people being shot by Greek border guards on the Greek-Turkish land border appear with increasing frequency. On social media information circulate about at least 8 people brought to hospital with gunshot wounds. Videos how that people have been killed, being stripped naked, beaten and tortured and pushed back from Greece to Turkey in mass expulsions. The murder of a young Syrian on Monday has already been analysed in detail by Forensic Architecture. In some areas around the Evros river people were blocked from two sides when special units of the Turkish police were mobilised to oppose the Greek pushbacks. Migrants report that they have been beaten also from the Turkish side and a video shows how families were transported to the border in busses and forced to get out.

The Greek government also announced a so-called “exercise with heavy weapons” carried out on the coast of Lesbos towards the sea in the direction of Turkey by the Greek government. Furthermore, a restricted navigation in the sea came into power, which bans any type of non-commercial or private activities in the waters around the northern Aegaen Islands. At the same time, there are more and more reports about refugees being brutally attacked by groups of masked people in cooperation with the Greek coast guard in the Aegean Sea. The engines of rubber dinghies were destroyed, boats pierced in the open sea or attempted to be capsized. Shots were fired at people in rubber dinghies. A child drowned. To an extent, the Turkish coast guard is still active in the sea, even carrying out pull-backs from Greek waters. Meanwhile, the Frontex units stationed in the Aegean were passively holding back.

Video on attacks of refugees in the Aegean by the Greek Coast Guard and masked forces, first released by Turkish TV.

Criminalization of Migrants and Suspension of Asylum Law

Adding to this, the Greek government announced that the right for asylum will be suspended for all new arrivals. Already about 500 people who arrived on Lesbos are currently held in the port of Mytilene and scheduled to be brought to a closed camp on the mainland on Saturday, 7th of March, presumably to be held in a military base in the town of Serres. From there, they will be deported without any asylum procedure.

Moreover, people seeking protection have also been criminalized and prosecuted. The number of cases is unclear but some newspapers reported about 17, others 45 and even about 183 people who crossed the border in Evros region and have been sentenced with charges of 3 to 4 years of prison with fines around 10,000 Euros. On Monday, seven men were sentenced to 3 years imprisonment on Lesvos for “illegal entry”, where three more trials are planned against unaccompanied minors in May. Many other trials are expected to follow.

People who arrived at the port of Lesvos. March 2020. Source: Legal Centre Lesvos

Fascists Hunting Down People on Lesvos

Meanwhile, the hell of fascist violence has broken loose on Lesvos and Chios. Right-wing groups are hunting migrants and building blockades along the streets to check cars and their occupants. If they are not Greek or supposedly working for NGOs they are attacked and their vehicles have been smashed. The escalation of violence started after the Greek government announced the plan to construct new closed camps on the islands. Soon after the camp Stage 2 in the northern part of Lesvos was set on fire. Even the UNHCR was not spared from violence and several aid workers and volunteers were intimidated and decided to leave the islands. People were injured, their photos shared on Facebook among fascists groups and advertised for hunt. Shoreline response and sea monitoring teams who have been doing emergency response and monitoring for years were also attacked, while the police frequently disrupts their work. Simultaneously, right-wing groups prevented asylum seekers from landing and disembarking the boats.

Road blockade on Lesvos during protests against the planned closed camp on Lesvos near Karavas. Source: Mare Liberum.

Declaration of bankruptcy by the European Union

What is the EU’s stance on these developments? It should be self-evident that the brutal violence and the shooting of people in Europe would cause investigations for murder. It would be expectable that the suspension of the fundamental right for asylum, which directly violates the European Human Rights Charter and the Geneva Refugee Convention, should be seen as a scandal to be immediately sanctioned by the EU. At least that the EU should speak against the horrifying fascist violence unleashed against their own humanitarian organisations.

But none of that is happening. The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, does not seem to be particularly concerned about the brutalized violence within Europe. She praised Greece for being the “European shield” because “this border is not only a Greek border, it is also a European border” and promised Greece financial support of 700 million. Border reinforcement will be further strengthened through a RABIT operation by the European border and coast guard agency Frontex.

The eternal mantra that the events of 2015 must not repeat has become so deeply imprinted into the public’s mind that any violence seems to have become acceptable as long as refugees are prevented from entering Europe. This is visible not only through the absurd hysteria about refugees at the border, but also the almost fascinating irrationality. With its violent isolationist policy, the EU is not only exposing its much-vaunted fundamental human rights values to ridicule, but is also becomes the toy of the Erdogan government.

Accompanied by a chess-like played media coverage, refugees were released from deportation centres and collectively transported with buses to the Evros border and the Turkish coast while others joined on their own. The departing boats were filmed by state television companies and sent to the EU as a threat. It was a military counter-strike in the Syrian war. Refugees are being abused as a bargaining chip by the Turkish government to blackmail the EU and NATO to cooperate in the Syrian war.

The EU panics, although the EU-Turkey Deal is not even suspended. Deportations to Turkey continue and Turkish border guards are at least partially active. The estimated 130,000 people who would have crossed the border were never registered in the EU, and within three days only around one thousand refugees arrived to the islands. The absolute numbers of crossings in the Evros border remain low.

What’s much more frightening than Turkish power politics is the helplessness of the EU: Receiving the approximately 13,000 people from the border would be an easily achievable and legally required act for the EU with its almost 450 million inhabitants. But today, it apparently rather accepts those seeking protection to be shot than to break its dependency on Erdogan.

Sticking to the Birth Defect of European Migration Policy

While people are dying, beaten and instrumentalized in a dirty geopolitical game, the core failure is that the EU continues to firmly hold on to the EU-Turkey deal. Instead of learning from the fatal errors, the architect of the deal Gerald Knaus now speaks of an “Agreement 2.0 between the EU and Turkey”. Apparently, there can be no thinking out of the box, since the basic principles of the European border policy are based on blackmail and dependency on authoritarian regimes that do the dirty work for them. As soon as this relationship begins to falter, it becomes obvious that the policy is built on the basis of disenfranchisement. Shooting people at the border is only the logical consequence of a policy that systematically denies access to asylum.

In doing so, the EU fails to recognise the real dangers: Its policies lead not only to the death of refugees, but also to the fascistisation of Europe. A direct line can be drawn from the racist murders in Hanau to fascists hunting refugees and attacking support structures on Lesvos. It is therefore not surprising that right-wing networks in Germany are calling for people to go into battle at the EU’s external border and hunt people down. Luckily, they are received roughly by the local Antifa.

V.H.