Category Archives: General

Statement from 21/2/2024: After the Moria fire in 2020, the judicial scandal continues – Demand for fair and transparent trial on 4 March 2024 in Lesbos.

Statement 21/2/2024 of the Solidarity Campaign #FreetheMoria6

After the Moria fire in 2020, the judicial scandal continues – Demand for fair and transparent trial on 4 March 2024 in Lesbos.

Four teenagers from Afghanistan have been detained for 3.5 years despite clear evidence of their innocence. They are being made scapegoats of a failed EU migration policy.

On 4 March 2024, the appeal trial of four of the Moria 6, juveniles convicted for the fires that destroyed the infamous Moria camp on 8/9 September 2020, will take place at the Court of Appeal in Mytilene, Lesvos. Originally scheduled for Monday 6 March 2023, the appeal has been postponed for a year. Finally, the crucial new evidence can be presented showing that the testimony of the prosecution’s key witness is completely false.

This new evidence comes from the investigation conducted by Forensic Architecture (FA) and Forensis (commissioned by the lawyers representing the Moria 6), which maps the development of the fire on 8 September 2020. The appeal will also provide an opportunity to interrogate the testimony of the key witness.

Dimitra Andritsou, research coordinator of the FA/Forensis team, stated: “The analysis we conducted […] proves that the young asylum seekers accused of arson were arrested on the basis of weak and contradictory evidence, suggesting that […] the Greek government needed a scapegoat for a disaster that was pre-programmed.”

Only a few days after the fires in September 2020, the police had arrested six teenagers (the Moria 6) and accused them of arson. From the moment of their arrest, they were already presented to the public as guilty.

The Moria 6 were tried in two separate trials that were widely described as a “parody of justice.” Although documents proving their age were available, only two of the six arrested were recognized as minors. The four defendants who were identified as adults were sentenced in the first instance to 10 years in prison in June 2021, convicted of arson endangering human life, with the court refusing to consider any mitigating circumstances.“They did not listen to us at all,” said one lawyer as she left the courtroom, “this verdict was already determined when the defendants were arrested in mid-September 2020.” Immediately after the verdict was announced, the defense filed an appeal.

After the verdict on 11 June 2021, international trial observers criticized the lack of evidence and spoke of an unfair trial. The international trial observers concluded in their comprehensive report on the trial that the defendants’ right to a fair trial was repeatedly violated. Despite the lack of evidence of the four defendants’ involvement in the fires, they were found guilty after a two-day trial. Essential trial documents were not translated for the defendants, so that they were unable to understand the accusations leveled against them. For this reason alone, the trial is formally invalid.

The postponement of the Moria 6 appeal also meant that important new evidence showing that three of the four young men were minors when they were arrested can be examined only now.

It must be emphasized again that the court relied solely on the written testimony of a witness who allegedly could no longer be found. However, his testimony is full of contradictions, as the extensive analysis of the night of the fire now shows. In addition, he only mentioned first names, commonly shared among people living in the camp, on the basis of which the police arrested six teenagers. The “witness” was not present at any trial. It can only be assumed that the court was aware of the fictitious testimony of the only witness, and that they did not want to jeopardize the conviction of the youths in this political trial, despite the lack of evidence.

The fear of a preliminary conviction had already come true when the two Moria 6 youths who were officially recognized as minors, were sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Lesvos Juvenile Court in March 2021. On 7 June 2022, the sentence from the first instance was confirmed by the Juvenile Court of Appeal, although there was still no credible evidence. Τhe sentence was only reduced from five to four years due to “good behavior in prison.” The Legal Centre Lesvos filed an application to annul the unfair sentence. This was rejected by the Supreme Court.. The application will now go to the European Court of Justice. Meanwhile, A.A. was released on parole for good behaviour, and M.H. was taken directly from prison into detention for deportation.

The injustices committed since the arrest of the Moria 6 are unfortunately not isolated cases, but part of the systematic criminalization of asylum seekers in Greece.

The sentencing of the six youths is another shocking example of how people on the move are criminalized to distract from the crime of the EU and Greece of building and maintaining inhumane camps like Moria. Brutally, the reform of the “Common European Asylum System” (CEAS) provides for further camps modeled on Moria at the EU’s external borders.

We stand in solidarity with the Moria 6 and against the deadly EU border regime!

We call on the EU and the Greek state to take responsibility for the inhumane camps they created that result only human suffering!

++Share the info, organize solidarity actions under the hashtag #FreeTheMoria6.

Political and public pressure could increase the chances of their release!

++For information on the legal context, see Legal Centre Lesvos

More information and contacts:
Email: freethemoria6@riseup.net
Twitter: #FreeTheMoria6
Blog: https://freethemoria6.noblogs.org/

 

Press contact
Alice Kleinschmidt, Welcome Office Lesvos: +30 698 872 4982
Nefeli Belavila – Trova, CPT – Aegean Migrant Solidarity: lesvos@cpt.org   

 

 

After the fire in Moria in 2020: Six young migrants are made scapegoats of a failed EU migration policy – Call for fair and transparent trial for the Moria 6 on 6 March 2023 in Lesvos! 

Statement 27/02/2023 from the Solidarity Campaign #FreeTheMoria6

After two of the six accused migrant Teenagers have already been convicted legally binding in June 2022, now on 6 March 2023, the appeal hearing of the last four teenagers will take place on the Greek island of Lesvos. They are accused of having burnt down Moria camp in September 2020. Despite a lack of evidence, they had already been found guilty of arson endangering human life and sentenced to 10 years in prison in the first instance trial on 11 June 2021.

Since the moment of their arrest and before any process of law, they have been presented to the public as the culprits. On 16 September 2020, just one week after the fires, the Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarakis had already stated in an interview with CNN that “the camp was set on fire by six Afghan refugees who were arrested”, thereby violating the teenagers’ right to a fair trial under the presumption of innocence.

Our fear that their right to a fair, just trial will not be guaranteed and that they will instead be made scapegoats for the inhumane EU migration policy has so far proven true.

After the verdict on 11 June 2021, international trial observers criticised the lack of evidence and spoke of an unfair trial from which the public was excluded. Over 70 European organisations and hundreds of individuals had made the call for a fair and transparent trial. Despite a lack of clear evidence of the four defendants’ involvement in the multiple fires, they were found guilty after a two-day trial.

The court relied solely on the written testimony of a witness, who can allegedly no longer be found. He claims to have seen the defendants setting fire to the Moria camp on the first night of the fire. However, his testimony is full of contradictions. For example, the lawyers stated that he had only given common first names of people in the camp, on the basis of which the police arrested six people. In addition, the available documents proving that three of the accused were minors were not accepted.

The concern of a prejudgement had already come true when the two of the six teenagers, those officially accepted as minors, were sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Juvenile Court on Lesvos in March 2021. Even then, observers had spoken of an unfair trial. On 7 June 2022, in what was once again a very hostile and far from impartial trial, the first instance verdict was upheld despite the fact that there is still no credible evidence. Only the sentence was reduced from five to four years because of “good behaviour in prison”. The Legal Center Lesbos filed an application for annulment of the unfair sentence, which will be heard by the Supreme Court on 10 March 2023.

At least one of the accused is in the meantime out of the prison, as his application for release on parole was granted. The other five teenager have now been in prison for almost 2.5 years.

Background

On 8 September 2020, the infamous refugee camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesvos burned down, fanned by a strong wind. The widespread and long-lasting fires, well-documented and almost live-broadcasted via social media, brought the ongoing policy of deterrence through inhumane conditions in Europe’s Hotspot Camps in the Aegean region back into the international media spotlight.

Rather than seeing the fire as an inevitable disaster in the camp’s deadly infrastructure, the Greek state arrested six young Afghan migrants and presented them as the culprits and sole cause for the fire, attempting to stifle further public debate on the living conditions inside the camp and the political responsibility. The fires took place at a time when the number of people living in the camp had reached 12,000, movement restrictions had been in place for almost six months and a growing fear of Covid-19 was spreading inside the camp. One week prior to the fire, the first person had been tested positive. Instead of moving infected people out of the camp and improving the living conditions for the people trapped inside, the government planned to completely seal off the entire camp with a double high-security Nato-wired fence and cracked down violently on any protest.

The sentencing of the six teenager is another shocking example of how people on the move are criminalised shifting public attention away from the EU’s and the Greek state’s crimes of building and maintaining inhumane camps like Moria.

The case of the Moria 6 is not the first time that migrants have been arbitrarily arrested and charged in Greece. This practice has long been part of the inhumane EU border regime. However, in the current political environment, the criminalisation of migration has reached a new level, as have the illegal pushbacks of migrants by the authorities.

We call for fair and transparent trial on 6th of March 2023!

We stand in solidarity with the Moria 6 and against the deadly European border regime!

We call on the EU and the Greek state to take responsibility for the inhuman camps they purposefully created and for the human suffering that is resulting thereof!

– Stop the containment of people at the margins of the EU!
– End the EU-Turkey Deal!
– No more Morias!
– Free the Moria 6!

++ Share the information, organise solidarity actions under the hashtag #FreeTheMoria6

 ++ Information about the legal context see Legal Centre Lesvos:

Further information and contacts:
Email: freethemoria6@riseup.net  Twitter: #FreeTheMoria6
Blog: https://freethemoria6.noblogs.org/

 

[Statement 09.02.2023] Unjustified conviction of a desperate mother after suicide attempt

Statement of the initiatives CPT Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe e.V., You can’t evict Solidarity from 09.02.2023:

On 08 February 2023, a 29-year-old woman was convicted of arson and damage to property. She attempted to burn herself to death out of desperation in the notorious Moria 2 camp on the Greek island of Lesbos in the winter 2020 and 2021.

M.M. was acquitted with the charge of arson endangering others. A conviction for this felony would have meant up to 10 years in prison. However, she was found guilty of intentional arson and damage to the property of others, which resulted in a suspended prison sentence of 15 month.

This was unanimously decided by a mixed jury, although even the prosecutor saw it appropriate to drop the accusation. What is scandalous is that the jury did not consider the act as self-harm, which is not punishable in Greece.

The lawyers of the organisation HIAS Greece were initially shocked and disappointed by the verdict. Acknowledging the facts should have led to an acquittal. An act of desperation is not a crime. Therefore, the lawyers will appeal against the verdict.

The court’s decision not to recognise the catastrophic circumstances of the camp, which were the cause of the desperate act and for which the Greek state is responsible, was as politically motivated as the trial itself. Numerous supporters followed the trial, almost 500 people had signed a petition for an acquittal.

The situation in the camp was catastrophic in the winter of 2020/21. The place close to the sea is completely unsuitable for living: The tents repeatedly collapse or are flooded due to strong winds and heavy rain. There is a lack of medical care, privacy, electricity, running water, hot showers, functioning toilets and other hygiene facilities.

The neighbouring residents in the camp rescued her from the burning tent and extinguished the fire with water bottles and towels. M.M. was taken to hospital with severe burns and was directly interrogated by the police and treated like a criminal. Unbelievably, instead of offering help and psychological care to the traumatised family, M.M. was charged after the incident.

Her lawyer points out that a pregnant woman belongs to the vulnerable group, therefore M.M. should have been transferred to a suitable accommodation. The Greek state has already lost several such cases before the European Court of Justice.

The family has since been able to move to Germany with their now four children (aged almost 2, 3, 6 and 8) after a corresponding application by her lawyer. M.M. is still severely traumatised and the whole family is suffering massively from the prosecution. We are glad that M.M. did not attend this trial personally.

For M.M., the verdict does bring a little relief, as she no longer has to report regularly to the Greek embassy.

Nevertheless, the conviction of M.M. for her suicide attempt, which is not punishable under the Greek penal law and has now been brutally classified as intentional arson, is to be seen as a new escalation of the criminalisation of protection seekers. This is primarily intended to deflect attention from the responsibility of the Greek state and the EU to ensure adequate living conditions for people seeking protection.

Alice from borderline-lesvos: “This trial is so twisted.  A call for help, a suicide attempt by a woman is made into a crime. The circumstances that led her to commit this act are the real crime.  At least she doesn’t have to go to prison.  That is a relief, of course, but not justice.”

Kim, You can`t evict Solidarity campaign: “We are shocked by the unjust sentence, instead of an “apology” and a full acquittal, now a conviction. This is not the first time that migrants in Greece have been convicted on absurd grounds, representative of the disastrous conditions in the camps and the brutality of the EU external borders.”

We continue to stand in solidarity with M. M. and her family and against the deadly European border regime!

We call on the Greek state and the EU to take responsibility for the inhumane camps!

  • Stop the criminalisation of  migration!
  • Stop the isolation of people on the edge of the EU!
  • No more Morias!
  • Acquittal for M.M!

[Press release 9.12.2022] Delayed “justice” in appeal trial: Amir and Akif will finally be freed!

Press release 9.12.2022

Press release of the initiatives Legal Centre Lesvos, Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe e.V., You can’t evict Solidarity and Deportation Monitoring Aegean on 8 December 2022

Delayed “justice” in appeal trial: Amir and Akif will finally be freed!

Yesterday, 8 December 2022, the twice postponed appeal trial of Amir Zahiri and Akif Razuli took place in Mytilini, Greece. At the end the three judge Appeal Court acquitted Akif, but found Amir guilty of “boat driving” and sentenced him to 8 years in prison. Compared to the first instance decision, his sentence was substantially reduced, which means that he is eligible for early release on parole. The initiatives Legal Centre Lesvos, Aegean Migrant Solidarity, borderline-europe e.V., You can’t evict Solidarity and Deportation Monitoring Aegean observed the case of the two on Lesvos and welcome their upcoming release from prison.

After a day of suspense as to whether the trial would take place or again be postponed, the trial finally started late on Thursday afternoon. Four witnesses testified for the defendants, who were represented by lawyers from the Legal Center Lesvos and Human Rights Legal Project Samos.

At the close of the trial, the prosecutor proposed that Akif be found not guilty, due to the lack of any evidence that he was driving the boat, and the judges agreed.

Despite doubt being raised as to Amir’s guilt, the Court found Amir guilty of facilitating illegalised entry – i.e. “boat driving”. They rejected the argument that Amir was forced to drive the boat out of necessity to save the life of his family and others on the boat – a legal reason for acquittal. However, the court did reduce his sentence to 8 years based on mitigating circumstances, so he now can apply for early release, given his time earned working and studying while in prison. This result, while insufficient, is welcome news for his family.

Although there was never credible evidence against them, both defendants have now been in prison for almost 3 years.

The Coast Guard witness – the State’s sole witness against Akif and Amir – failed to appear once again to testify in court yesterday. In their scheduled appeal trial in April of 2022, said witness didn’t show up, which was used as an excuse to postpone the trial.

This is unfortunately a common occurance in these “boat driving” cases, where the Coast Guard or police are the only witnesses against the accused. Just this Monday, in the case of A.B.,[add citation to our joint press release about the case], the Mytilene Court posponed A.B.’s trial until May 2023, because the Coast Guard witness did not show up for trial, and did not give any excuse for his absence. While the Court fined the Coast Guard officer 200 Euros for failing to show up, this is a mere slap on the wrist, while A.B.’s life is again kept in limbo for another six months.

Yesterday, the Coast Guard witness who had given written testimony against Amir and Akif again failed attend the trial. This time, fortunately, the case went forward.

It is important to recall that the defendants testified in the first trial that when they reached Greek waters in their journey from Turkey in March 2020, the Hellenic Coast Guard attempted to push them back to Turkey, and in the process damaged the boat causing it to start sinking. According to the defendants’ testimony, the Coast Guard was then forced to take all the passengers on board and bring them to Greece. Of particular importance, yesterday it was the Prosecutor who raised the issue of whether or not there was an attempted pushback by the Coast Guard during Amir and Akif’s crossing, in his questioning of the defendants. The continued absense of the Coast Guard witness is also of note, given the implications that he may have been involved in this attempted pushback – the real crime in this case.

About 40 people from solidarity groups and the press were present inside the courtroom and gathered outside following the trial. At 7pm, when the verdicts and sentences were announced, the two were greeted with banners and chants celebrating their freedom.

“Yesterday’s acquittal of Akif Razuli, and reduced sentence for Amir Zahiri was a small victory. But this is a very small step in the context in which there are still thousands of people who are imprisoned in Greece with the same charge, simply because they were looking for a better future. We will stand by all those who are in prison for crossing borders and fight with them for their freedom.”, said Kim Schneider from the initiative You can`t evict Solidarity.

Vicky Aggelidou, from the Legal Centre Lesvos, who represented Akif Rasuli stated: “After almost three years, this result is the bare minimum of what Akif deserves. He came to Greece as a refugee and found himself in prison without any evidence against him. We hope that the unjust anti-smuggling law that he and Amir were charged under will be abolished and that the persecution of refugees in the cogs of the Greek justice system will come to an end”.

Annina Mullis, Trial Observer from European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights & Swiss Democractic Lawyers: If I only consider this one trial, I have nothing to criticise from a procedural point of view. However, the prosecution of Akif Razuli and Amir Zahiri is not made of this one trial. Even if previous violations were corrected by acquitting Akif Razuli, he will not get back any of the nearly three years he spent in prison for no reason. And we must not forget that Amir Zahiri was again found guilty. Although the sentence was drastically reduced and Amir Zahiri now can hope to soon be released on parole, it still is a politically motivated conviction in a trial that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

CPT-AMS team stated: “Yesterday’s trial partially restore a great injustice against Amir and Akif. We hope that in the future we will never again see similar cases of people being convicted without evidence and witnesses and without adequate interpretation, as was the case in the first trial of Amir and Akif.”

Press contacts:
Lorraine Leete
Legal Centre Lesvos
@legalcentrelesvos.org
Phone: +30 695 5074725

Home

Kim Schneider
You can’t evict Solidarity
cantevictsolidarity@riseup.net
Phone: +49 152 19255205
Twitter: @cantevict; #FreeAmirAndRazuli
Website: https://cantevictsolidarity.noblogs.org/

[Press statement, 7 June 2022] Still no justice for the Moria6

Press statement, 7 June 2022:

Still no justice for the Moria6

Mytilene. Today, Tuesday 7 June 2022, A.A. and M.H., two of the six teenager charged and convicted for the fires in Moria camp in September 2020, stood before the Juvenile Court in Mytilene/Lesvos. In what was once again a very hostile and far from impartial trial, the first instance verdict was upheld despite the fact that there is still no credible evidence. Only the sentence was reduced from five to four years.

The two teenager had come to Lesbos from Afghanistan as unaccompanied minors seeking protection in Europe. They were only 17 years old at the time of their arrest in September 2020. They were arrested after the Moria camp burned down completely on 8 and 9 of September 2020 and have now been in detention for almost 2 years.
On 9 March 2021, they were found guilty of “arson endangering human life” by the Mytilene Juvenile Court in a first trial that disregarded basic procedural standards. Although no credible evidence could be brought against them, both were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment without recognition of mitigating circumstances.(1)

Today’s appeal trial was also riddled with improprieties and procedural errors, even before the trial. As the court forgot to send the first instance verdict to the Court of Appeal, the date for the appeal hearing was set at extremely short notice, leaving very little time for the team of the Legal Center Lesvos to prepare the defence.

While many supporters of the two defendants had gathered in front of the court, the injustices continued in the courtroom: the prosecutor had nominated 26 witnesses – almost all of them are police officers and residents of the village of Moria near the burnt down catastrophic camp Moria. None of them could identify the defendants. At the same time, the two witnesses for the defence, who were supposed to testify about the catastrophic conditions before the fire in the camp, were not admitted by the court.Only one defence witness was admitted, a member of M.H.’s family.
At the end of the trial, the two were found guilty again, but their sentences were reduced from five to four years because of their “good behaviour in prison”.

In the end, the release of at least one of the accused, A.A., could still be obtained today: Already at the beginning of March 2022, the lawyers filed an application for the release of the two teenager, since both had achieved the prerequisites for a reduction of sentence and release according to Greek law through work and school attendance in prison, as well as through proof of a permanent residence. However, the court will not decide on M.H.’s release until 5 July.

Christina Karvouni, CPT Aegean Migrant Solidarity: “We should note once again, two years later, that the crime is that the Moria detention centre existed. Instead of the Greek justice system investigating this crime, it has chosen, with unsubstantiated accusations, to put the burden of its destruction on 6 people, two of them recognized minors.”

Julia from borderline-europe: “While Europe has already forgotten Moria and the fire, two minors have now spent two full years in prison. Hopefully they will be released soon, but Europe has destroyed their lives. Several times.”

Luca Wolf, from the campaign “You can`t evict Solidarity” and part of the Solidarity Campaigne #FreeTheMoria6, which supports the defendants, explains: “We are angry about this renewed injustice. But we will continue to fight and demand freedom for all Moria 6 detainees!”

The appeal hearing against the other four teenager of the Moria6 will take place on the 6.3.2023. The teenager convicted as adults were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a political trial, also without evidence. Also in this case, the only so-called witness did not appear in court. (2)

(1) On the first trial https://cantevictsolidarity.noblogs.org/post/2021/03/10/untragbares-gerichtsurteil-willkurliche-verurteilung-zweier-gefluechteter-fur-den-brand-im-moria-lager/#FreeMoria6 https://pic.twitter.com/1SAfWzybgS

(2) https://freethemoria6.noblogs.org/post/2021/06/15/13-06-2021-press-release-moria-6-sentenced-to-10-years-imprisonment-after-fire-in-moria-camp/ 

Further information and contacts:
Tina Weiß, spokesperson for #FreeTheMoria6
Phone: +49 152 194 240 14
Email: freethemoria6@riseup.net
Twitter: #FreeTheMoria6
Blog: https://freethemoria6.noblogs.org/

[Free the Moria 6] Appeal court against 2 of the Moria 6 on 7 June 2022

Appeal court against 2 of the Moria6 on 7 June 2022

On Tuesday 7 June 2022, two of the six teenagers charged and convicted for the fires that destroyed Moria camp in September 2020, will stand before the Mytilene Juvenile Court on the Greek island of Lesvos. When they were arrested in September 2020, the two teenagers, who are now 18 and 19 years old, were two of the more than 1000 unaccompanied minors in the disastrous Moria camp.

On 9 March 2021, in a trial that disregarded basic procedural standards, they were found guilty of “arson endangering human life” by the Mytilene Juvenile Court, although no credible evidence was presented against them. Both were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment without any mitigating circumstances being recognized.

The scandal continues: Due to a mistake – the court forgot to send the first instance verdict to the court of appeal, the date for the appeal hearing was set at very short notice.

But that was not all: at the beginning of March 2022, the lawyers filed an application for the release of the two youths. Both have achieved a sentence reduction in prison by working and attending school. They have also fulfilled the proof of a permanent residence. This would allow them to be released under Greek law. A decision on their release should have been made long ago. Incriminatingly, the hearing to decide on their applications for release will also take place on 7 June 2022, but in Athens. A challenge also for the team from the Legal Center Lesvos.

We are standing solidarity!

#FreeMoria6

The Dystopia in form of a camp – The “Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos”

published first by  Deportation Monitoring Aegean  on 24. March 2022

The Dystopia in form of a camp – The “Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos”

 

The so-called “Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos” became operational in September 2021, when people were transferred from the old slum-like camp growing out of Vathy town to a remote prison-like complex between the mountains.

Sterile white containers are lined up behind barbed wire, forming a uniform complex of plastic and metal without any apparent signs of individualized or self-determined living. It is a place of total surveillance and control, yet with air-conditioned ISO-boxes, Wi-Fi and laminated floors inside the containers.

Funded by the EU
The security gate of the camp

Reminiscent of border checkpoints, the entry to the camp is only possible through an elaborate security gate, guarded by private security companies and police. Camera masts surround the entire area and some are positioned to even film inside the ISO-boxes. The whole setting is the realization of a dystopian panopticon: drones are planned to be used, in addition to a software which analyses movement of people in order to avoid gatherings.

Migrants on Samos who refuse to live under total control have little choice but to to hide in the old and partly burned barracks of the old camp close to the town. In-between broken barbed wire, hills of rubbish, old children’s toys, dirty blankets and clothes, people have neither access to water nor electricity, but at least some self-determination. It leaves the small chance of living as a human being, compared to being regarded as a number in the high-security prison-like camp.

The remains of the former Vathy Camp
The former registration centre of Vathy
Letter informing the inhabitants that they will be transfered to a new camp

The construction of the camp site had already started at the end of 2019 but was speeded up after the fire in Moria, when the EU provided 276 million Euro to the Greek government to build five so-called “Multiple Purpose Reception and Identification Centers” on the Greek islands. The camp construction site on Samos was financed with 48 million to create the new controlled centre.

The rationality behind the multi-million camp project remains opaque, since the implementation of the EU migration-management technocrats’ wet dreams seems to be rather dysfunctional: in the face of violent pushbacks, hardly anyone arrives on the islands so that ‘only’ roughly 300 people are trapped in the facility that was designed to hold about 2000 people and is still under further construction. Since March 2020, there have been no deportations from Greece to Turkey. Consequently, the specially-designed prison in the back of the camp, the pre-removal section (PROKEKA), also seems to remain useless so far, although it has space for 960 people who can be legally held there for 18 months.

The “Closed Controlled Access Centre of Samos” in the mountain area of Zervoy.

The controlled centre complex leaves no doubts on which path the European migration policies with their double standards are following: while white Ukrainian war refugees are welcomed with open arms, BIPOC racialized migrants are constructed as ‘the others’ and pushed back or locked up in clean, remote detention centers under strict surveillance. They are not only denied protection and a life in dignity, but are actively pushed back and killed in violent operations at sea. Countless fatal pushbacks have been documented, such as a recent pushback operation from Samos leading to the death of two men in February 2022.

[3.3.2022] Press release: Justice for Amir and Razuli!

The organizations Legal Centre Lesvos, Aegean Migrant Solidarity, Borderline Europe e.V., You can’t evict Solidarity and Deportation Monitoring Aegean demand freedom for two young refugees.

The two men from Afghanistan were seeking safety in Europe, but were instead arbitrarily convicted to 50 years imprisonment. The Appeal Trial will take place on 17 March 2022 in Lesvos.

Twitter: @cantevict; #FreeAmirAndRazuli

Amir and Razuli tried to reach Greece on a rubber boat in March 2020. They testified that the Greek coast guard attacked them and tried to push them back to Turkey by force. The attack caused the boat to sink and the coast guard had to take them on board. Amir and Razuli were arbitrarily charged with “facilitating illegal entry” and “provoking a shipwreck”, in addition to their own entry. On the 8th of September 2020 they were sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Amir and Razuli, 25 and 23, fled from Afghanistan trying to reach Europe in search of a life in safety. With Europe’s ever-increasing closure of borders and the lack of safe and legal ways to enter Europe and claim asylum, they were forced to embark on the dangerous journey on a rubber boat across the Aegean Sea. Amongst the other people in the boat was also Amir’s young daughter and his heavily pregnant wife.1

They made their journey in March 2020, the month in which the Greek government announced the suspension of one of the most fundamental human rights – the right to apply for asylum, and consequently charged people seeking protection with their own “illegal entry”, blatantly contradicting EU law and the Geneva Convention.

In their first trial, Razuli and Amir testified that the Greek coast guard attacked the boat as soon as they had entered Greek waters and tried to push it back into Turkish waters using metal poles. In doing so, they punctured the boat, causing water to enter and putting the life of the people onboard at risk.2 As the boat was about to sink, the coast guard eventually took them on board.

Following this deeply traumatizing experience, the coast guard proceeded with heavily beating up Amir and Razuli, arbitrarily accusing the two of being the smugglers. According to Amir’s wife who had to witness all of this together with her daughter, they only stopped when she held up their young child in front of her husband begging the men to stop.

As soon as they arrived at the Greek island of Lesvos, Amir and Razuli were separated from the rest of the group and brought to the police station. The coast guard accused them of their own entry, of facilitating the unauthorized entry of the other people on the boat and of having endangered the people’s lives.

They were since held in pre-trial detention and sentenced to 50 years in prison on 8th of September 2020. Although there is no evidence against them except for the statement of the coast guards, they were only acquitted of the accusation of “provoking a shipwreck”.

The Appeal Trial will take place on 17 March 2022 on Lesvos and lawyers from the Legal Centre Lesvos and the Human Rights Legal Project on Samos will defend Amir and Razuli in the upcoming trial.

Almost every day, people seeking protection are criminalized for their own flight and arbitrarily sentenced to lengthy prison terms and heavy fines. Recently, a survivor of a shipwreck has even been criminalized for the death of his six-year-old son, who died when they tried to cross from Turkey to Greece (see the campaign Free the #Samos2). Suspects, or what we would deem ‘victims’ of this unjust legislation, usually have limited access to legal assistance. Judgments are often pronounced despite lack of evidence and poor quality of translation. In Greece, the average trial in these cases lasts only around 30 minutes, leading to an average sentence of 44 years and fines over 370.000 Euro. According to official numbers by the Greek ministry of justice, almost 2.000 people are currently in Greek prisons for this reason. However, the fates of these people are seldom known. Arrested immediately upon arrival, most of them are locked away unnoticed, without their names known and no access to support from outside.

We demand a thorough investigation, justice and the release of Amir and Razuli, as well as the dropping of all charges against them!

We demand freedom for all those imprisoned for “boat driving” and the end of criminalization of people on the move!

The European Union must stop the arbitrary incarceration of refugees and migrants!

Press Contacts:

Legal Centre Lesvos

lorraine@legalcentrelesvos.org

You can’t evict Solidarity

cantevictsolidarity@riseup.net

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1 Amir’s wife has meanwhile given birth to their second child. After the trial, Amir met his two-month-old baby for the first time and as he held his child for the first time in his arms, the police shouted at him to give the infant back to the mother, causing his family extreme distress.

2 In the past months, numerous reports emerged bearing testimony to the Greek coast guard’s illegal and cruel practice of violent pushbacks, destroying the engine of refugee boats, disabling the boats, and then leaving the people to their fate in the middle of the sea. Read more about this in the New York Times, the Deutsche Welle and the Spiegel.

Statement & callout from Calais: We will not let ourselves be taken away!

n short, there is
a huge building being besieged (alongside other occupied buildings), and
we are calling for support inside and outside, now and for the days to
come. Attached are images from the roof of the building, and the two
previous statements. Following is the most recent statement.

Statement – We will not let ourselves be taken away!

Since Friday 4 February, we have been occupying a building in Rue
d’Ajaccio, which has been uninhabited for a year. This occupation took
place within the framework of the commemoraction, an international day
of mobilization initiated by the families and relatives of people who
have died at the border, to denounce the murderous migration policies of
the UK, France and the EU.

In Calais, about 1500 people are living on the streets in unacceptable
living conditions. Displaced people occupy wastelands and have no access
to basic services: housing, sanitation, water, food and medical care.
The state imposes conditions of extreme precariousness and invisibility
through illegal evictions every 48 hours, the theft of personal
belongings by the police, the illegal dismantling of living sites
without the possibility of defense in front of a judge, and recurrent
police violence. The French and British governments, alongside Natacha
Bouchard and all their other friends, have deliberately turned a
political issue into a humanitarian crisis, keeping people who want to
cross the border in a context of survival.

But displaced people are not the only ones experiencing precariousness
and lack of access to housing in the Calais region. The entire housing
estate which the building is part of is due to be evicted and then
destroyed. While some people, including those in the building we
occupied, have already been evicted, others are still opposing their
eviction in the absence of any alternative proposals from the town hall.
It is in this context that, when the first police officers arrived on
Monday 7th, many residents came to show their support for the
occupation. We were thus able to express our refusal of the discourse of
war between the poor. French or foreign, with or without papers, a roof
is a right. Moreover, the police refused, on several occasions, to see
the evidence of occupation.

Since 2pm today, a disproportionate police presence has surrounded the
building. The police are not allowing anyone to enter, nor are they
allowing food, water or equipment to be provided.

We restate our demands: we demand an end to all evictions in Calais. We
demand an end to the harassment of people blocked at the border by the
police. We demand the regularisation of all squats in the city. Finally,
we demand the immediate requisition of all empty buildings in Calais,
and that sustainable solutions be provided to all inhabitants, whatever
their administrative status or vulnerability.

Until our demands are met, we will not leave these premises. We refuse
to be intimidated by this police pressure and remind you that the time
limit for ‘délit de flagrance’ is over: there can be no eviction without
an enforceable court decision. We will not let ourselves be taken away!

We call on everyone who is in solidarity with the people on the street
and those blocked at the border, and on everyone who believes in the
right to housing to come and help us defend the buildings we occupy!

The inhabitants”

Justice for the Moria 16!

 

Justice for the Moria 16!

On 10.07.2018, 16 people were arbitrarily arrested by the police after a dispute escalated in the former hot-spot Camp Moria on the island of Lesvos, with which none of the arrested had anything to do. The arrest was followed by charges of arson, dangerous bodily harm and damaging other people’s property. Now, on 07.02.2022, three and a half years later, the case is being heard on appeal at the court in Mytilini, Lesvos.

This approach of the Greek repressive organs has a system: as soon as refugees protest against the catastrophic accommodation conditions or the inhumanity of the European asylum policy, the police react with fierce violence and arbitrary arrests, as for example in the case of the Moria35 and the Moria8 – also in spring 2018.

Mostly, when there are conflicts or disputes in the camp the police does not intervene, but then, after the fact and in a brutal police operation, arbitrarily arrest people without evidence of their involvement in the incident.

The trials that follow such arrests are downright cynical caricatures of court proceedings: Exculpatory witnesses are not admitted. The defendants do not receive translation at all or only partially, so that they often cannot even understand what is happening. Finally, contradictory statements by representatives of the police, fire department or coast guard and dubious witnesses lead to convictions with extreme penalties. For example, in the Moria6 case in March and June 2021, six young people were accused as scapegoats without any evidence for the fires that finally destroyed the Camp Moria in September 2020 and sentenced to long prison terms.

Also in the first trial of the Moria16, another deterrent example should be made, regardless of what really happened in the camp on 10/7/2018. One of the defendants describes the situation of the arrest as follows:

“There was a fight in the camp between a few people that lasted more than two hours […] The policemen were laughing at the people. For them it was like an online movie. We asked them for help, but they just laughed at us, took pictures and recorded us […] Finally, they rushed into the camp, but to the people who were not involved in this fight, and they attacked the innocent people. We had no possibilities to escape, […]. The police took us to the police station, beat us, treated us very badly and called us attackers. For several hours our hands and feet were tied. We couldn’t communicate with them because we didn’t know their language and they opened a case for each of us for no reason.”

Now the previous verdict may be revised on 07.02.2022. Critical trial observation and a counter-publicity are urgently needed so that the defendants of the Moria16 case finally receive justice. The criminalization and arbitrary court cases in which people are made scapegoats of the failed migration policies and their consequences must be brought into public focus.

We will stand in solidarity with the criminalized people in this case and others, support them as much as possible and work to make their stories visible.

We demand justice and freedom for the Moria16 – and for all others who are sentenced to years of imprisonment in unfair trials, mostly innocently!