Greece criminalizing humanitarian aid: Human Rights Watch

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - Two activists facing charges, including espionage, are scheduled to go on trial Nov, 18, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The two humanitarian activists, Sarah Mardini and Sean Binder, volunteering with Emergency Response Center International, are among 24 defendants on trial based solely on an 86-page police report that has “blatant factual errors,” according to an investigation conducted by the watchdog.

The police report claims that some activists participated in rescue missions on multiple dates when they were not in Greece.

But an analysis by the watchdog said some of the charges are “misrepresenting the group’s search and rescue operation as a smuggling crime ring violating the Greek law.”

The law that they allegedly violated explicitly provides that the offense does not cover helping asylum seekers.

Accusations against the activists include membership in a criminal organization and monitoring open maritime radio channels and public websites. They were real-time ship tracking websites accessible to anyone that is used for information about refugee and migrant boats in distress. They are charged with violations of government secrets and espionage, even though police acknowledged radio channels are not encrypted and could be accessed by anyone with a VHS device. They are also charged with fundraising for a humanitarian group, regarded as money laundering, according to Human Rights Watch.

Mardini and Binder were detained for 107 days in 2018 and are also charged for holding fake military license plates to enter restricted military areas on Lesvos island.

Witnesses as well as photographic evidence shows the car they were using displayed logos of their rescue group and not the military.

Human Rights Watch said Mardini will not be present and will be represented by a lawyer because she is barred from Greece. Binder will attend the trial.

“This has been a dark three years,” Mardini told the group.

She was held in solitary confinement in a high-security prison in 2018 and received death threats after her release, said Human Rights Watch.

After reviewing the case against the two activists, the watchdog said, “Greek authorities’ misuse of the criminal justice system to harass these humanitarian rescuers seems designed to deter future rescue efforts, which will only put lives at risk.”

“The slipshod investigation and absurd charges, including espionage, against people engaged in life-saving work reeks of politically motivated prosecution,” Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch said in the report.

According to Humans Rights Watch, the investigation and prosecution of the defendants have been described in a European Parliament report as “currently the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe” and prosecutors should request their acquittal.