UK Edition
Greece accused of deploying masked commandos to push asylum seekers back towards Turkey
Lawyers claim the pushback operation was ruthless and well coordinated, involving several Greek vessels
Masked commandos from Greek coast guard vessels beat up a group of migrants and refugees as they tried to cross the Aegean, a human rights organisation has claimed in a case filed to the European Court of Human Rights.
The group of around 200 asylum seekers were on a fishing boat, hoping to reach the coast of Italy, when they were allegedly intercepted by Greek vessels off the coast of Crete in October last year.
The fishing boat had run into trouble during a storm and the group had put out a distress signal, requesting help.
The migrants and refugees, including Syrians, thought they were going to be rescued but instead, after a five hour wait, they were allegedly boarded by masked men wearing black uniforms.
The “commandos” assaulted them, beating up some of the men and verbally abusing the women, according to Legal Centre Lesvos, a non-profit organisation which provides legal help to migrants arriving on the Greek islands.
“We don’t know who the commandos were because they were not wearing any identifiable insignia,” Natasha Ntailiani of Legal Centre Lesvos told The Telegraph.
“We think they are either connected to the coast guard or they may be special forces or police. They severely beat some of the men, including the driver of the fishing boat.”
The migrants, including at least 40 children, were then “violently pushed” from the fishing boat into two Greek coast guard patrol vessels, where they spent the night on the deck without food or water.
After that they were pushed onto life rafts and dumped near the Turkish coast, 200 kilometres away, the LCL alleges.
There have been repeated claims of Greek coast guard and navy vessels forcibly pushing migrants back to Turkey but this was an unusually large, well planned operation, according to the migrants’ testimony.
It was “a violent and massive coordinated operation… involving multiple vessels of the Hellenic Coast Guard,” the LCL said in presenting the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
“The Greek authorities repeatedly lied to the passengers of the fishing boat – who were in a vulnerable state of distress after surviving a storm and losing their supplies overboard – repeatedly misleading them into believing they would be rescued, and instead attacked and collectively expelled them to Turkey.”
The Greek government has yet to respond to the allegations, but in general denies authorising the pushback of migrants who try to cross the Aegean from Turkey, despite a growing volume of reports and investigations which indicate that such expulsions are commonplace.
“There’s been no response but it is early days. We are waiting for the court to acknowledge the case and then they will exchange material with the Greek authorities,” said Ms Ntailiani.