Greek justice accuses 24 humanitarian workers of “espionage” and assistance to “illegal immigration”.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
“This kind of trial is really worrying.” The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has asked Greek justice to abandon all the accusations held against humanitarian workers with migrants and whose trial Currently takes place on the island of Lesbos, in Greece.
This “criminalizes the actions that save people’s lives,” said Elizabeth Throssell, a spokesperson for the High Commissioner, during the UN regular briefing in Geneva, Friday, January 13. And to insist:
“Save lives and provide humanitarian aid should never be criminalized. Such actions are, quite simply, a humanitarian imperative and human rights.”
Greek justice accuses 24 humanitarian workers of “espionage” and aid to “illegal immigration”, among which the Syrian refugee Sarah Mardini, who inspired with her sister swimming Olympic a fiction broadcast on Netflix.
A “farce” according to Amnesty International
The Court of Mytilène, chief town of the Greek island of Lesbos, should render its decision during the day on the possible cancellation of part of the procedure, that relating to the accusations of “espionage” in reason for procedural defects. If it was decided, it would put an immediate end to this trial denounced as a “farce” by Amnesty International. The prosecutor asked this cancellation on Friday morning.
M
me Throssel insisted on “the deterrent effect” of this kind of prosecution, “human rights defenders and humanitarian organizations having been forced to suspend their work in favor of human rights in Greece and other EU countries, “she said.
“Despite the critical need for vital assistance in the eastern Mediterranean”, where nearly 500 migrants have died or have disappeared since 2021 according to the International Organization for Migration, “there is currently no civil research organization and rescue operating in Greece, “said M me Throssell.
The High Commission also fears that legislation in a number of European countries “will be used to criminalize both migrants and those who assist them,” she said, adding that “the fight against Migrant traffic rests in the end on the improvement of safe routes for regular migration “.