Two dozen humanitarian workers facing 20 years in prison finally got their day in court on December 4 and 5 on the Greek island of Lesbos after a seven-year wait. We were there. The hearings quickly revealed just how baseless the case against them is.
The defendants were associated with a small search and rescue group, Emergency Response Center International, working to save the lives of asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees making the perilous sea crossing from Turkey.
The central allegation, based on an investigation by a senior police detective, is that from 2016 to 2018, the organization was a smuggling crime ring, facilitating irregular migration.
Shockingly, the detective testified that he knew nothing of the group’s extensive, years-long cooperation with the Hellenic Coast Guard.
A Greek Coast Guard official testified that one of the defendants had regularly informed the Greek Coast Guard whenever the group learned of migrant boats in Greek waters. The group coordinated search and rescue operations with the Coast Guard, which included the group’s rescue boats as potential assets in its own plans. In fact, the group won awards from the Coast Guard and from the European Union border agency Frontex.
The rest of the case is similarly groundless. The detective alleged, without evidence, that the group must have received information about migrant boats from smugglers in Turkey. In reality, this information was shared by migrants’ relatives already on Lesbos, or through chat apps and social media by passengers.
He said the group suspiciously used “encrypted communications,” though they were members of WhatsApp groups set up to coordinate search and rescue and first reception. One group, set up by the United Nations refugee agency, had over 100 members.
The detective testified that defendants who expressed “anxiety” via WhatsApp about boats arriving safely must be smugglers, who wouldn’t get paid unless the boats reached shore. In reality, they were worried about people drowning.
Since 2018, abusive prosecutions have forced virtually all such groups to halt these search and rescue operations. Hundreds of migrants have since drowned.
The hearings will continue in mid-January. As one defendant, Sara Mardini, put it: “I hope that after justice is delivered to us, that will be the closing chapter for Lesbos and the long stories of prosecuting activists who come here.”
