On the 24th of April 2018, at 13:30, the first hearing of the trial about the riot in the camp took place at the Regional court in Harmanli. At already 13:00, journalists had gathered in front of the court house. Some of them were calling the accused people “21 pieces“, not people but “pieces“. This is showing the level of professionalism and objectivity the topic of migrants is being handled with by some of the media in Bulgaria. As a van arrived, packed with the accused migrants, which were accompanid by officers from the Migration Directorate, some journalists ran to take pictures and videos of the accused migrants.
As one could see many of the accused people felt very unconfortable with this situation and tried to avoid being filmed or photographed. 10 of the accused migrants were present at court. They are currently waiting in the pre-trial detention in the closed camp in Lyubimets. Another 11 accused were missing. Most of the migrants were represented by public defenders and there was no representative from the State Agency of Refugees (SAR).
The trial did not start yet, and the hearing was no longer than 30 minutes. The argument was searching for and sending letters to the 11 missing people, who did not appear. The authorities in Bulgaria are accusing the migrants in the refugee detention center of a damaging different things in the value of about 85,000 Leva (42,000 Euro). The accusations are hooliganism and property destruction.
Most of the accused migrants claimed that they are innocent and were gathered randomly from the camp in Harmanli by the police. As reported before, when the police and gendarmerie entered the rooms at the night night after the alleged riot and brutally beat up migrants in the camp manypeople were sleeping. The media „professionals“ fail to notice and report on this small detail.
The next hearing will be on the 5th of June, 2018 at the Regional court in Harmanli at 13:30.
Last friday, 20th of April, the trial against the 37 accused of the Moria35+2 case started on Chios (Greece). The accusation has been read and police wittnesses told their version of the story about the day of the police attack in Moria. The trial will continue on thursday, 26th of April, we exspect testimonies by the defendace.
For background information on the Moria35+2 case we can recommend the fgreshly released video on freethemoria35.wordpress.com.
Unfortunately we dont have so much capacities right now, but we will release a more detailled report on the trial the next days.
And we would like to remind you that on upcoming Friday, 27th of April 2018, the trial against the Petrou Ralli 8 will start in Athens (Greece). Its a case which has a lot of parallels to the one against the Moria35+2. You can find more infos here.
Our passion for freedom is stronger than all prisons!
In the coming weeks there will be 3 trials of migrants protesting inhuman condition in camps and detention centers in Greece (53 migrants in total). Also, a trial against solidarity activists.
We document a solidarity text written by the Balkanroute Network Meeting in Zagreb in March 2018.
Balkanroute Network Solidarity text –
Greece: “borders within borders” and long-term detention
The camps in Greek islands are officially militarized and operate under “prison” rules, always with the cooperation of police, army, judicial authorities and NGOs. In this way, better management of the immigrant population is achieved: strict control of the detained, as well as disciplining those who are “free” (though trapped in the Greek territory) under the threat of imprisonment. In mainland Greece, a basic pillar of migrant management is the concept of administrative detention, a totally vague framework of detention, in which the prisoner does not even know how long (s)he will be detained. So (s)he wakes up every morning hoping that (s)he will be freed, and sleeps every night with the burden of another day in the cage. When detained migrants dare to make even the smallest protest, for example asking for information about the reason and the length of their detention, the State’s response is relentless but organized and deliberate. This is evidenced both by the fabricated charges against the “Petrou Ralli 8” and by the almost simultaneous arrest of the 35 migrants in the camp of Moria, charged for similar felonies, after facing the same repression: fierce beating and random arrests, in short subjects of the same central political decision.
The Petrou Ralli 8
On May 31, 2017, at the Attica Aliens Police Directorate, the infamous Petrou Ralli pre-removal detention centre, 8 immigrants were arrested after they were attacked by police inside their very cells. The reason for the police attack was that detained migrants were asking to contact the head of the detention centre, in order to be informed for how long they would be held there, as they had already been 8 to 10 months in detention. Police response to this simple request was to heavily beat them. As a result, the eight were transferred to hospital with heavy injuries on their heads and broken hands. Police, in order to cover up the beating, immediately filed a case against them. According to the fabricated evidence, the migrants attacked police officers with “improvised razor blades and phone cards” and there has been an “escalation of tension” for “forty minutes”. It is even supposed that during this time, the prisoners tried to escape by hitting themselves on the central door of their cellblock, in order to break it, and that, supposedly, in their attempt to “flee”, they slipped and got injured on their own. Immigrants for their part argue that the cops invaded the cells unprovoked and started beating anyone they found in front of them. The Petrou Ralli 8 migrants are imprisoned in 6 different prisons, all over the country: Volos, Nigrita Serres, Domokos, Malandrino, Nafplio, and Chania. Their trial will take place on April 27, 2018, in Athens.
Moria Unaccompanied Minors’ Section – November 20, 2017 Revolt
At the southern entrance of the hot spot at Moria is the section of unaccompanied minors with a capacity of about 200 youngsters. In this, under the supervision of cops and NGOs, about 300 children are awaiting their transfer to some hostels in the city of Mytilene or in mainland Greece. However, due to insufficient capacity, many minors are forced to sleep outside the section, which poses serious issues for their safety. Questions also arise regarding the methods of recognizing the “childhood” of many children, with arbitrary methods of age verification used (e.g. dental examinations), which eventually exclude a large proportion of them who are registered as adults. Following the April 2016 protests and riots in Moria, minors from this “secured” section have ensured that they can come in and out from it by using an identification card. However, their entrapment on the island, and the accumulated pressure they feel often leads to reactions. The culmination of these reactions was the small revolt that took place at dawn on Monday 20th November 2017. About 300 minors, during a three-hour period, attacked and broke down whatever reminded them of the condition of devaluation that they are experiencing. The cops arrested 7 of them with charges of arson, disruption of common peace, provocation of pronounced damage, attempted bodily harm, and resistance. Seven of the minors went through a prosecutor and faced restrictive conditions. At the same time, however, a special penitentiary regime operates within the wing by the administration of the center. Minors who have “created problems” within the ward are expelled from the director of Moria’s detention center and are forced to stay in the hot spot among adults. For the housing of unaccompanied minors, but also for minors under 13, a new safe zone has been created since the end of November 2017 on the northern side of the center but has not yet been put into operation. Moria 35+2 On Tuesday, July 18 2017, protesting migrants left the Moria camp to block the main street outside. While shouting slogans outside the camp, polices forces from inside as well as outside the detention centre attacked them with stones, teargas and stun grenades.
The migrants responded by throwing rocks back at the police and starting small fires. After the conflict, the interior of the detention centre had returned to “normality”, yet police forces started a purge inside Moria. The migrants had to face the menace of the riot police, who stormed house-containers, beating anyone indiscriminately until finally arresting 35 people at random. Their sole criterion was skin colour, since they were targeting people of African descent.
Two more people were arrested in August and a new case file was drawn up for the July 10, 2017, riots in Moria (another protest, that took place one week before the Moria 35 case). Their trial will take place on May 11 2018.
In January 2018, preliminary investigation for the Moria 35 was completed. Thirty of the persecuted immigrants continue to be jailed in four different prisons in the country (Korydallos, Avlona, Chios, Malandrino), with their custody being extended for another 6 months after a new decision by the judicial council of Mytilene.
The 35 accused are facing serious charges, many years of imprisonment and exclusion from the asylum process. More specifically, they are charged for:
1. Arson by intent from which a hazard may arise for a person, jointly.
2. Dangerous physical harm, attempted as well as executed to the detriment of police and fire brigade officers, jointly and repeatedly.
3. Damage in form of arson of foreign ownership and of an object that serves a common benefit, jointly and repeatedly.
4. Resistance performed by more than one person, who had their faces covered and carried potentially dangerous objects. The trial of Moria 35 will take place on April 20 on Chios island.
Finally, solidarity is also criminalized, as 3 members of the former No Lager assembly will go on trial on April 23, 2018, in Drama, Greece, accused of “provoking a felony” because of their participation in solidarity visits to the detention center of Paranesti in the Spring of 2015, during a hunger strike of migrants detained there. The 3 (Greek) activists are not facing heavy charges, as the Moria and Petrou Ralli migrants do, but the criminalization of solidarity is quite serious by itself.
Solidarity with Moria and Petrou Ralli detained and prosecuted migrants!
End detention regime!
Open the islands!
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An Overview about the upcoming dates:
Trial of the Moria 35: April 20, Chios island. Trial of No Lager 3: April 23, Courthouse of Drama Trial of Petrou Ralli 8: April 27, Athens Trial for the July 10 (2017) riots in Moria: May 11, 2018.
A transnational solidarity week has been called: Saturday April 14 to Friday April 20
The Harmanli local district court had scheduled the court hearing against 21 Afghans, who are accused of taking part in the riot in November 2016 to start on 24th of April 2018 in Harmanli, Bulgaria.
After the riot, that broke out following a protest against quarantine measures, inhabitants of the camp Harmanli (Bulgaria) accused the gendarmerie of using brutal violence. They publicly stated that the gendarmerie stormed houses while some people were sleeping, who had nothing to do with the riot. Pictures with many injuries were shared by the asylum seekers.
The court hearing will take place on the 24th of April 2018 in Rayonen Sad – Harmanli (РАЙОНЕН СЪД) at Yanko Sakazov Street 1, 6450 Tsentar, Harmanli, starting at 1.30 pm.
We document the statement of the FreeTheRöszke11 Campaign:
On March, 14th the court of Szeged confirmed Ahmed to be a “terrorist” and sentenced him to seven years of prison – three years less than in the first verdict.
We didn’t expect a fair trial and unfortunately the verdict proved it.
It was a ridiculous theater: After the final speeches of prosecutor and
defense at the same day the verdict followed. The court did not even try
to avoid the impression of a directed show: the verdict obviously was
rendered and written long before: No need to keep up the appearance of a
formal correct procedure. The judge perfectly assisted Orbán and his
gang. Just a few weeks before the Hungarian elections and in the eve of
Hungary’s National Day this verdict fit perfectly in the government’s
election campaign. One day later tens of thousands applauded to Orbán’s
speech in front of the National Parliament, listening to his fairy tales
about Soros and the 1 Million African Migrants.
The prosecutor according to his own words “focused just on the act of
terrorism”: Ahmed’s only aim had been to violate the border. All his
actions and movements and thoughts were based only on one aim: violating
the border.
The defense required to leave aside any political impact and to decide
strictly juridical. Instead he asked the court to take into account
Ahmed’s aim to accompany his parents and his brother’s family and also
the highly emotional situation at the border. “No matter what he may
did, there is no proof of any aggressive words directed to the Hungarian
police”.
Barandy’s strategy of leaving out the political meaning of the trial
obviously didn’t work out:
Ahmed was found guilty in “complicity in an act of terror” and “illegal
entry as part of a mass riot” and was sentenced to seven years’
imprisonment and expulsion from Hungary for 10 years.
Seven years of sentence minus the prior detention mean two more years in
prison. Both sides appealed the judgement – The show must go on.
Here you can find new Posters and Flyers for the trial against Ahmed H. of the Röszke 11 that will take place on 14th and 19th March in Szeged (Hungary). Print it on your own, write us an Email and we will send it to you, spread it and the news about the case, show solidarity!
Comrades of the FreeTheRöszke11-Solidarity-Campaign from Ljubljana produced a video about the last trial-dates against Ahmed in Szeged. You can find the video on Komunal.org.
The situation in Serbia and Belgrade in terms of migration and refugees
– A report from January 2018 –
In the year of 2015 – as consequence to the so called long summer of migration – thousand of people filled public places in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Empty buildings were occupied for collective housing and as protection against the cold. Parks were used for sleeping and spending the waiting time until a new possibility to continue the journey to the north shows up.
Nowadays, the parks are empty again, squatted halls or bulidings have been evicted or demolished – mainly in spring 2017. Most of the refugees have been brought to camps outside Belgrade. Also the camp in the southern village of Preŝevo still exists. Within the context of the statewise organized corridor in 2015 and 2016 this camp was used as a transit camp to register people on the move. Back then, the situation was a humanitarian catastrophy. Now, according to activists, it appears like an open prison, where around 1000 people are being kept for months. It seems to be hard to leave this camp as public transportation (is forced to) deny taking refugees in direction to Belgrade althought they already entered and registered in Serbia. This opens up a profitable market for mafia-close structures or traffickers to take heaps of money to drive refugees by car or taxi to the desired places – as there is no other option. More over, the police enters the camp on a regular base to demand people to leave „volontarily“ back to Macedonia, it is a cynical form of push-backs. Indeed, people obviously leave back to Macedonia due to better chances to cross the border again with the aid of traffickers without ending up in Preŝevo.
Hungary‘s migration policies make it almost impossible to cross the border from Serbia to Hungary (EU) without being caught by border police or violent border hunters and being arrested, imprisoned or pushed back. So now people try to pass into the North via Croatia. Recently, some hundreds of people on the move got stuck in Sid, at the border crossing from Serbia to Croatia. They built up so called wild camps and protested against the harsh border regime. The response to this protest was the forced encampment of people claiming their right to move. The role of Serbia, but also of Macedonia and Croatia, becomes more and more clear. They function as a buffer zone towards the EU, especially considering the fact that the majority of refugees do not want to stay in these contries, but rather cross them on their way to Northern European states.
In general, the invisibilization of refugees and migration in publicity can be noticed by isolation and imprisonment of the people on the move.
Interview with an activist who works with refugees in Belgrade
The interview was made by german activists from the anti-repression campaign You cant evict Solidarity from Germany. Beside many conversations with serbian NoBorder-activists, the following interview was made via email.
Can you tell something about the situation of Refugees in Serbia and Belgrade?
Today in Serbia there are about 4000 to 5000 refugees, mostly living in 18 camps scattered all over the country. About 500 live outside of the official centres in informal settlements. Whether in the so called “jungles” at the border with Hungary or in dismissed factories like in Sid, at the Serbian-Croatien border or in abandoned buildings in Belgrade. They have very limited or no access to main needs, such as water and sanitation. But also whether in or outside of official camps, they live in constant precarity.
The option of requesting asylum in Serbia remain sporadic and very limited. In 2017 only 3 persons received refugees status in the country, the rest have been rejected, but the most do not even manage to apply for asylum because legal and administrative support is very poor and not available in all different camps.
Which (refugee) camps play an important role in this country?
Presevo (Serbian-Macedonian border): The entry point at the border with Macedonia remains under special administration of the Ministry of Labour. Implementing a restrictive regime on the freedom of movement, it is perceived mostly as an open prison by most of refugees. On the contrary, living conditions and access to certain services are better than in other camps.
Obrenovac/Krnjaca (Camp in the South of Belgrade): This camp is identified respectively as camp for single young men and for children under 15 years, which means for unaccompanied minors.
These two camps, both not far from Belgrade, are considered as the main hubs for finding a way out from Serbia. The security and living conditions have deteriorated from last summer. There are gangs and people living in the camps reported several incidents, which are only resolved with violence or harassment by police or KIRS (Commisariat for refugees and migration) employees.
How did the situaton changed since 2015?
Serbia used to be a transit country and now became a place where people remain trapped. Stuck and left alone, they are pushed to take higher risks to find a way out. In 2015 Serbia was just another country to stop by and continue along the route, today it is still a very important crossing point but can be a dead end, from where it seems impossible to leave.
How is the public atmosphere, perception and discourse concerning migration and refugees at the moment? Did it changed during the last years?
I can talk about the public political discourse in Serbia, which after 2016 shifts closer and closer to the V4 countries (Visegrád Countries: Hungary, Slowakia, Czeck Republick and Poland). You can recognize more xenophobia, more discrimination, but at the same time Serbia is trying to remain faithful to the EU and not openly joining the V4, because Serbia must enter into the EU market as soon as possible.
How are repressions and criminalization against refugees, supportive structures and self-organized activists?
Criminalisation of solidarity remains very high, but more subtile and invisible compared to 2016 when the government published an open letter forbidding different organisations to provide food in the city centre.
How is it to work with refugees or on the topic of migration/ refugees/ anti-racism in Belgrade/Serbia?
It is painful but rewarding. However, from the emergency phase we are now in a different stage of the political and humanitarian response. In other words money is going directly to the Ministries and not the NGO sector. This creates a big lack of checks and balances resulting in a deterioration of access to basic services. But also it legitimates the Serbian government politics and more widely the EU policies of exclusion and discrimination, by which it is better to have thousands of people outside of the EU-border rather than including them within the EU asylum system.
Who is working on these topics here?
There are several organisations which remain active but the individuals and self – organised response has been shrinking after more than 2 years of engagement. There is a need of finding new narratives, new struggles because the context has changed and today in Serbia as well as in other European countries, the main issue remains integration, access to services such as rights but also housing, education and work.
What would you like to add as information concerning the situation of refugees/migation/ activism in Serbia?
What we see in Sebia continues to reflect more complex regional dynamics by which the negative effects of the EU migration policies are clearly visible at the external EU borders. Such as the constant use of violence as deterrence at the border, the strategy of encampment, the deterioration of political discourses which continue to legitimize xenophobia and securitisation rather than inclusion as well as clear and safe access.
Report on the anti-repression campaign “ You Can’t Evict Solidarity” and perspectives on solidarity work on the “Balkanroute” in January 2018
The campaign “You Can’t Evict Solidarity” is made up of different people living in Germany and Greece who are active in anti-racist and other political struggles. Many of them were active on the Balkanroute, in Greece or on the outer borders of the European Union in the past 2 ½ years. They started the campaign in the summer of 2016 to promote solidarity beyond borders with (migrants’) squats and housing struggles in Greece and everywhere.
Start of the Campaign in Summer 2016
In July 2016, the Syriza government and the Greek church evicted the three squats “Orfanotrofeio”, “Nikis”, and “Hurriya” in Thessaloniki, Greece, that were established and inhabited by migrants and activists. During the evictions and at protests following in the next days, more than 100 people were arrested. Many migrants previously living in the squats were brought to military camps.
Several days after, in July and August, 2016, the first were convicted with high fines and probational jail sentences. Many of the people involved in the “Can’t Evict Solidarity” campaign were at No Border Camp Thessaloniki, which had happened previous to the evictions. After first meeting there, we got together again afterwards and decided together with people affected by the evictions to collect money for the oncoming legal costs, to raise awareness for the evictions, and continue supporting migrant housing struggles. One of the goals of the campaign is therefore to support the creation of other spaces of solidarity and communal life in other places. The importance of this is shown as well by the recent cases of repressions against the solidarity movement in Greece.
What has since happened in Greece…
While the situation for refugees in Greece has overall become worse in the past years and the situation of people living in Greece is marked by the inhuman austerity policy of the EU, 60.000 migrants are stuck there after the militarisation and closing of the Balkanroute. The migration policy of the EU with the EU-Turkey deal and the Greek Syriza government force continuous militarisation and repression against refugees and activists. The crowded camps in Greece usually lack primary health care, food, and sanitary devices. Many camps are situated in remote, former industrial areas, or are made up of tents. Add to this the brutal treatment by police, military, and private security.
Meanwhile, many camps simply resemble prisons. Especially striking are the so-called “Hot-Spots” on the islands of Chios, Lesbos, and Samos, that the EU-Turkey deal turned into a dead end for refugees. Currently, over 15.000 people are stuck on the islands – more than 8.000 have to live under inhumane conditions in Camp Moria on Lesbos, which was constructed for 1.500 people. Again and again, people trapped there have protested with hunger strikes against the conditions in these “open prisons” and demanded the right to move. Most of the protests were stopped violently, the protestors were imprisoned for months or deported. Currently the Petrou Ralli 8 or the Moria 35 are two of such cases, that we are in solidarity with.
In response to these circumstances, houses are squatted not just in Thessaloniki, but also in Athens, other greek cities and on the islands to create the possibility for a self-determined life for refugees and other activists, as an alternative to state-run camps, state violence, and beyond sexist, racist, and nationalist categories. The houses provide spaces for political networking, self-organisation against the EU border regime, and enable solidarity and mutual support, also of the greek society. They present effective alternatives to state and capitalist backlash.
The most well known of these squat would be the former “City Plaza” Hotel in Athens, that since 2015 is home to a community over 400 people living together in solidarity. There are several of these free spaces here in Germany and along the Balkanroute as well, like the OM10 in Göttingen, Germany, or the formerly squatted warehouses in Belgrade, Serbia.
Instead of improving the inhumane conditions refugees have to endure, the Greek government continues their strategy of repression in, a desperate attempt to smash the powerful international solidarity movement. Several times, the government gave order to evict squats on Lesbos, then the refugee squat “Alkiviadou” and the squat “Villa Zografou” in Athens in March 2017, arresting 200 people who lived there. All of this under the instruction of Nikos Toskas, the Greek minister for public order, who wants to speed up the eviction of squats used to house refugees, suggesting a threat to further spaces such as the “City Plaza”. In April, the eviction of a further solidarity squat, the “Albatros”, which was started after the evictions in the summer of 2016, followed in Thessaloniki. Alongside all of the evictions, protests were happening in Greece as well as other countries, sometimes with thousands of participants.
And what is happening along the Balkanroute?
Generally, we’re seeing an increase of repression against refugees and migrants, against supporters, and against alternatives to state-controlled migration policy not just in Greece but everywhere in Europe. This was the case already before the “summer of migration” in 2015, but now the borders between the Balkan states, most prominently the Serbian-Hungarian border, are heavily militarised. Equipped with modern surveillance technology, police and military track refugees, forcefully stop them from crossing the borders, and sometimes unlawfully incarcerated for months. At times, refugees are shot, what happened at the border between Bulgaria and Turkey.
In parallel, repression against refugees has increased in the courtrooms, as in the case of Ahmed H., who was arrested alongside eleven other refugees in Röszke, Hungary, in September 2015 (the “Röske 11”), and in November 2016 was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He and the others were randomly taken out of a crowd protesting at the Serbian-Hungarian border and convicted of terrorism and illegal border-crossing. Even though the sentence was contested at a higher court level, Ahmed remains under arrest and is waiting for his appeal, which is expected for March 2018.
Still, many people are taking this dangerous route and in turn get stuck in the so-called “hotspots” on the Greek islands or mainly in Serbia, live on the streets or are illegally deported. Houses squatted out of necessity are evicted, such as the warehouses in Belgrade in the spring of 2017, and activists working in solidarity are arrested as traffickers, as in Croatia in the fall of 2016. Because of the militarisation of the borders and the criminalisation of support for refugees through new laws, e.g. long prison sentences for “human trafficking”, it became almost impossible for activists to directly aid people on their way.
However, resistance is still visible. Again and again, refugees are protesting against these conditions and for open borders and their right to move. In 2016, a protest march from Belgrade to the Croatian Border took place, and just last December, a protest camp was established by refugees at the Serbian-Croatian border near Sid. Most of the time, these acts of resistance are quickly brought to an end by police and military, and the protesters spread across state-controlled camps all over the country.
What did we do to support the resistance and what is currently happening?
The campaign was started in the fall of 2016 and got a lot of support through people organising solidarity parties in many cities, donating money, and raising public awareness. Several thousand Euros were collected already and sent to people affected by repression in Greece. Money was spent to pay lawyers and legal fees, and for publicity around these issues (leaflets, stickers, posters).
In Thessaloniki, the first convictions of the squatters of “Nikis” in July 2016 were followed in 2017 by court dates for the 82 activists of the “Hurriya” and “Orfanotrofeio” squats. The “Orfanotrofeio” activists had been accused of “disturbing the peace of the church” because of an action happening during a ceremony but were cleared of all charges in the appeal trial, and in addition, five further squatters of the “Orfanotrofeio” were cleared of all charges on May 31. The trial against the 58 squatters of “Hurriya” was postponed already several times and is now set for September 2018. In December 2017, all nine squatters of “Albatros” were convicted to 6 month in prison on probation for 3 years, they are now appealing this decision.
We accompanied all of these trials with reporting and otherwise, and supported also people affected by new cases of repression. In addition, several people are facing charges after the evictions of “Alkiviadou” and “Villa Zografou” squats in Athens. We also financially supported the “Steki” social center for migrants in Thessaloniki, that while not being a squat, was endangered by closing through the Greek state, and the squatters of the “Turtle Corner” squat in Thessaloniki, who were convicted after the eviction that already happened in the spring of 2016. At the same time, the current developments in Greece and the ongoing court cases show that the campaign remains necessary and that we have to continue to organise solidarity and support.
What does the future of the campaign look like?
We met in December 2017 to discuss the (re)orientation of the campaign. Since state repression against refugees increases all along the Balkanroute and the outer EU borders, not just in Greece and not stopping at borders, and since there are simultaneous big solidarity networks across all borders, we will expand the campaign. The money collected so far will be used to support the remaining trials and people not yet convicted in Greece, and to enable publicity work. We want to increase international anti-repression work to support people struggling in anti-racist issues at the EU-borders. We want to raise awareness for their struggles and call for donations. People in need of support, as well as people interested in helping with the campaign are invited to contact us!
More information on the campaign and possibilities to get in contact can be found online at
[There are two media players because there are two files. One is the complete interview and the other is a question we added in the end of the interview. As soon as we have the technical equipment we will combine the two.]
Interview with an activist from the FreeTheRöszke11-solidarity campaign in Hungary.
We want to do an interview with an activist from the FreeTheRöszke11-Solidarity Campaign in Hungary. And we are the Can’t Evict Solidarity Campaign, we’re doing financial support and public work on repression and trials throughout the Balkanroute.
Q – So maybe you can tell me something about the trial of Ahmed that is taking place right now in Szeged – so what are the Roeszke11-trials about and who is Ahmed?
A – The trial is about eleven people who were arrested in 2015 September after a protest which happened at Roeszke-Horgos-bordercrossing. It is the border of Hungary and Serbia. It was the time when the fence [between the Hungarian and Serbian border] was finished and they closed the border and thousands of people get stuck on the other side of the border and they started to protest. On the second day of the protest there was a clash with the police, where there was stones thrown from one side and the police was using teargas and water cannons and after this the situation came down. They tricked the people and they entered to, they took away the cordon [barricade] from in front of the gate of the fence and people entered to Hungary. They were very happy, celebrating, saying “Thank you Hungary!” and they thought that they are allowed to pass now. But counterterrorist police forces attacked them and beat them up and arrested eleven people. At the place they arrested 10 people, they had their trials already. They get between twelve and fourteen months of prison and expulsion from Hungary. They singled out one person, Ahmed H., and they charged him with terrorism and also, like the others, illegal bordercrossing during mass riot. And he was catched a few years, eh, few days later at a train station.
Q – You also visited the trials against Ahmed in Szeged – what did you experience there?
A – It’s already the second time that they are having the first level court trial, so the trials are going on more than two years ago. And the first level court was much more harsh than now, like they were really treating him as a terrorist. He was in chains and handcuffs and there was a lot of security and police all over and around. They were blocking the road to the courtroom and now it changed a bit. Also the judge seems more fair than the one before. The one who he had before, she was very much connected to the FIDESZ government, to the government of the country there was a lot of connection also. After she gave him ten years of prison, she was elected and she get – how do you say this – she get some promotions after.
And now it seems different, the trials, but still it is one person charged with terrorism for being part of a protest and they just use him to justify the government propaganda. So it’s crazy and it’s a show trial, especially in the beginning the first court was going on, it was only the police who could testify. They were making fake translations of the people who were on the trial and now also, they can only use the evidences which was used before, so there are no new evidences brought up, even though there were many volunteers, media that time on the border who could testify with other opinion, who could show video materials but it’s not allowed to be shown. So it’s continuing more or less the same way how it was before.
Q – So, how is the trial and Ahmed H. treated by the Hungarian government and the media?
A – The Hungarian government made up a lot of platforms, for example the wikipedia-page called “The Battle of Roeszke” where they are showing that this aggressive people want to break into Hungary and attacking the Hungarian police. Also a few days ago they made a new facebook page, where the title is “Ahmed H. is a terrorist” and it’s made by the government and they own a very very big part of the media in Hungary now, it’s a monopol in the hand of the government and everywhere they just put that he is a terrorist, so the propaganda is very strong against him.
Q – How is the public perception of Ahmeds case in Hungary?
A – Mostly people only know “Ah, this is the guy who threw stones to the police.” That’s all the information they have and also because there is no other media where they can read other things about it. They only hear the propaganda version, so they believe it.
Q – You also visited Ahmed in prison. How is his situation, how would you describe it?
A – Me, I didn’t visit. They didn’t allow to any Hungarian yet to visit him in the prison. After more than two years in December finally some people could visit him from Austria and they rejected all the applications of Hungarians who wanted to visit him. But from what he says, (…) he don’t have any connection to other people. If he goes out, which is allowed for him one hour per week to go to the yard and he fought a lot for this, to have this right, to be able to go out from his cell one hour per week but when he goes out everyone else has to be locked away or if he wants to buy something from the shop everyone has to be locked, so he is totally alone. Before he couldn’t even have any visitors and he is saying he has strong pain in his back because of the conditions.
He is missing his family a lot a lot, he is suffering a lot from that. But otherwise he says that since the second level court deleted the decision of the first level court which found him guilty of terrorism and gave him ten years – but the second level court said that they didn’t deal well with the evidences, so it has to be restarted. So since this decision was made he says the workers of the prison treat him much better. Like it seems they also believe now that he is not guilty and they don’t treat him as a terrorist anymore. And he is sharing a cell with one other person who also speaks Arabic, so it’s kind of – now it’s better than before.
Q – So, how would you describe the general situation for migrants and refugees in Hungary and how did the public perception concerning migration changed in the last few years since 2015?
A – Now in Hungary everyone is locked in detention centers in transit zones/transit camps made of containers at the Serbian-Hungarian border. There are two transit camps there.
It is around 500 people there, families, children – everyone in Hungary. Everyone who is above 14 years old, they consider them as adults, like for the refugees. And they treat them as criminals, like all asylum seekers are treated like criminals. They are surrounded by barbed wire, fences, there is police there, there is the army there and conditions are very bad. They have very bad food, unnutritious, even if they want to go the doctor they bring them in handcuffs. There are cameras everywhere, random police checks in the middle of the night and they are just staying there for many many months and waiting for the decision of their application, which is usually negative because they say that Serbia is a safe country and then they just send them back to Serbia. And that’s how is the situation now for asylum seekers.
Q – And how would you say that the Hungarian people see refugees, migrants, migration?
A – In 2015 it was a lot of people, thousands of people who went to show their solidarity, who wanted to help to people, giving food, giving clothes, helping whatever they can and it changed, this people are very quiet now. I think it is also because of the propaganda, that from everywhere you can hear that this people are dangerous, they will rape our women and children and they are criminals/terrorists, so on and so on. And they just heard it so many times that some of them might have believed it. And also if you try to do something for this people then you have to face repression from the government and there are not so many things to do, because the people are locked away, it is not possible to go in the transit zone, it is – the media is not allowed to go, people are not allowed to go. It is not possible to even get close to the fences. They just send people away, everyone who tries to get any connection with this people. It changed a lot now, so it is big silence.
Q – So, how is the situation concerning repression, criminalization of migrants and other activists and protest in Hungary?
A – Migrants are generally criminalized, there are this case for example against the Roeszke11 where there were trials against them and how they treat them in the transit zone and if there is some trial it is like if you are a migrant it’s.. they look at you like you as a criminal from the start.
And there is also big repression against solidarity structures or NGOs who work with refugees. For example the security policy expert was saying in television that everyone who is helping migrants they are traitors of the country, they are war criminals, they are human traffickers and they should be without any court case just killed and it was in television and also politicians from FIDESZ are saying things in media and we can feel this. After Ahmed got the ten years sentence we made a protest and after that we had to go to court ourselves, we were facing trials, also now this time when Ahmed was having the trials we were contributing [distributing] leaflets and giving leaflets on the streets and very fast a lot of policecars arrived and borderhunters and undercover police with guns and there were searches against us and they treat you as a criminal if you show your solidarity in any way.
Q – So, in general how is it for activists or refugee support structures to work in Hungary?
A – Very hard, also now there is a very strong propaganda when they say that all people who try to work with refugees they are paid by Soros, Gyoergy Soros. There is this theory of the government that Gyoergy Soros wants to bring every year, I don’t know, one million people from Africa to Europe to change whole Europe and it’s his evil plan. And everyone who works with refugees is paid by him and they are evil foreign forces, everyone who is trying to work with refugees.
Q – Like a conspiracy theory somehow?
A – Yes, but most of the groups they were giving humanitarian help, to involve with politics, they are scared to do it.
Q – What are you as the FreeTheRöszke11-solidarity-campaign are doing and who are you and how can people support you?
A – Well, we are there in trials, monitoring the trials, also making campaign, trying to reach the people of Hungary to tell them what’s going on, to tell them another point of view than the governments fake propaganda. Also in other countries in Europe, in the European parliament we could reach some people to talk about it, to put pressure or at least try to stop the pressure of the government or the court. Also with legal support we are trying to help, we were collecting donations for the cost of the lawyers, visiting Ahmed in the jail, and what is needed, what the people tell us from the Roszke11-people, what they need we try to help with everything.
And what we need, of course donations to be able to continue and Ahmed is very very happy if he can get some letters and feels some support, it gives him lot of strength to continue and also if people organize solidarity events, it’s very helpful, even connected with some cases from their community or their country, to put things together. Because very similar things are happening in all over Europe. It is not something that only happens in Hungary, so to connect and to make solidarity events and to be in solidarity with each other. And maybe writing letters to Hungarian embassy, it can also be possible.
Q – Thank you very much!
A – Thank you, too!
Write letters to Ahmed:
Verein zur Förderung feministischer Projekte
Kleeblattgasse 7
1010 Vienna
Austria
Donations for the FreeTheRoeszke11-campaign:
Receiver: Rote Hilfe e.V. Ortsgruppe Frankfurt
IBAN: DE24 4306 0967 4007 2383 90
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Subject: Röszke 11
More information:
www.cantevictsolidarity.noblogs.org
www.freetheroszke11.weebly.com
www.helsinki.hu/en
Last friday, 20th of April, the trial against the 37 accused of the Moria35+2 case started on Chios (Greece). The accusation has been read and police wittnesses told their version of the story about the day of the police attack in Moria. The trial will continue on thursday, 26th of April, we exspect testimonies by the defendace.
The camps in Greek islands are officially militarized and operate under “prison” rules, always with the cooperation of police, army, judicial authorities and NGOs. In this way, better management of the immigrant population is achieved: strict control of the detained, as well as disciplining those who are “free” (though trapped in the Greek territory) under the threat of imprisonment. In mainland Greece, a basic pillar of migrant management is the concept of administrative detention, a totally vague framework of detention, in which the prisoner does not even know how long (s)he will be detained. So (s)he wakes up every morning hoping that (s)he will be freed, and sleeps every night with the burden of another day in the cage. When detained migrants dare to make even the smallest protest, for example asking for information about the reason and the length of their detention, the State’s response is relentless but organized and deliberate. This is evidenced both by the fabricated charges against the “Petrou Ralli 8” and by the almost simultaneous arrest of the 35 migrants in the camp of Moria, charged for similar felonies, after facing the same repression: fierce beating and random arrests, in short subjects of the same central political decision.
On Tuesday, July 18 2017, protesting migrants left the Moria camp to block the main street outside. While shouting slogans outside the camp, polices forces from inside as well as outside the detention centre attacked them with stones, teargas and stun grenades.
