A new investigation of the BBC on the treatment received by immigrants who try to reach Greece and ask for asylum puts the Coast Guard of the Hellenic country. The report, part of the documentary Dead Calm: Killing in the Med?reveals a clear pattern: in five of the incidents, migrants reported having been thrown directly into the sea by the Greek authorities. In four of these cases, they explained that they had already landed on Greek islands but that the authorities were pursuing them. In several other incidents, migrants said they had been put on unpowered inflatable rafts, which then deflated after appearing to puncture.
Citing testimonies from survivors, the British broadcaster states that “the coast guard has caused the deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean over three years, according to eyewitnesses, including nine who were deliberately thrown into the water,” the report begins. And she continues: “The nine are among the 43 people who have died as a consequence of having been expelled ‘hot’ from Greek territorial waters or returned to the sea after arriving on Greek islands”.
The Greek government has long been accused of forced returnsbut the findings of the BBC show for the first time the number of incidents of this type in which deaths occurred as a result of the actions of the Greek coast guard. The 43 deaths identified belong to 15 incidents that occurred between May 2020 and May 2023. The media’s original sources were mainly local media, NGOs and the Turkish coast guard. Verifying the facts has been extremely difficult, notes British television, which explains that witnesses often disappear or are too afraid to speak. “But in four of these cases we were able to confirm the facts by talking to eyewitnesses“, highlights the research.
Migrants aboard a boat during a rescue operation before their boat capsized in the open sea.
Greek maritime patrol practices include, according to BBC, the forced expulsion from its territorial waters of boats with clandestine migrants on board or their return to the sea after having managed to reach dry land on Greek islands. With the collaboration of NGOs, local media and the Turkish coast guard, the BBC analyzed 15 incidents in the Mediterranean between 2020 and 2023, and concluded that these resulted in the deaths of 43 people.
After the revelation of the BBC A new one also arrived this Monday investigationthis time from Al Jazeera. The Qatari network published a report in which Frontex confirms the video published by the New York Times in May 2023 on a repatriation to Lesbos at the hands of masked men. The video caused a furor at the time, and the organization’s fundamental rights office now confirms that the people involved in the incident “were undoubtedly victims of abuse and pushbacks.” These reports may be just the tip of the iceberg: sources from both Frontex and Greek authorities told Al Jazeera that known cases of this type are only a small part of what occurs in Greek territorial waters.
Handcuffed and thrown into the sea
“I was kidnapped, beaten and thrown into the sea without even a life jacket, a migrant denounces,” says a Cameroonian who claims to have been persecuted by the Greek authorities after arriving on the island of Samos in September 2021. “Like all the people who interviewed, he said he planned to register on Greek soil as an asylum seeker,” says the BBC citing the migrant’s testimony. “There were two police officers dressed in black and three others in plain clothes. They were masked, only their eyes could be seen.” He and two other people—another Cameroonian and a man from the Ivory Coast— They were taken to a Greek coast guard shipas he relates, where events took a horrifying turn.
“They started with the [otro] Cameroonian. They threw him into the water. The Ivorian said: “Save me, I don’t want to die…”, until only his arm protruded to the surface. Little by little he slid down until the water completely covered his body. “The interviewee says that his kidnappers hit him.” The punches rained down on my head. It was like they hit an animal.“. He later says he was also pushed into the water, without a life jacket. He managed to swim to shore, but the bodies of the other two – whose names were Sidy Keita and Didier Martial Kouamou Nana – were recovered on the Turkish coast. The survivor’s lawyers ask Greek authorities to open a double murder case.
[Jornada negra en las costas italianas por 2 naufragios: 11 inmigrantes muertos y más de 60 desaparecidos]
Another man, from Somalia, told Lucile Smith and Ben Steele of the BBC how in March 2021 he was detained by the Greek army upon arrival on the island of Chios, which then handed him over to the coast guard. He said that the coast guard tied his hands behind his back and threw him into the sea: “They tied my hands and threw me into the sea. They wanted me to die”, said. He explained that she managed to survive by floating on her back before he could free her hands. But the sea was rough and three of those who had jumped into the water with him died. The interviewee reached the shore, where he was finally located by the Turkish coast guard.
“In the deadliest incident – which occurred in September 2022 – a boat carrying 85 migrants ran into trouble near the Greek island of Rhodes when its engine shut down,” reports the BBC, citing the testimony of Mohamed, from Syria. The migrants asked the coast guard for help, but they put them on a boat, returned them to Turkish waters and put them in lifeboats. Mohamed claims that the raft they gave him and his family did not have the valve properly closed: “We immediately started sinking, they saw it… They heard us all scream, and still they left“he declared.
“The first child who died was my cousin’s son… Then one after another. Another child, another child, and then my cousin disappeared. In the morning they had died seven or eight children“.”My children had died in the morning… just before the Turkish coast guard arrived,” his story continues.
Brussels reprimands Greece
The news, which made the front page of the BBC Throughout Monday, it has fallen like a bucket of cold water on the Greek country, and has had a great impact. “It’s a slap in the face to the Government”said Monday morning I Ephemerida ton Sintaktón. In Brussels, European Commission urged Greece to investigate ‘terrible allegations’ Of the report. “We just found out about the investigation of the BBC and the terrible allegations made,” said community spokesperson Eric Mamer in his daily press conference. “The Commission’s position is well known: migration must be addressed in a dignified and humane manner. “Efficient border management must be firmly based on respect for fundamental rights, including human dignity and the principle of non-refoulement,” said the same spokesperson.
Police officers secure a march commemorating the shipwreck of Pylos a year ago, on Friday in Thessaloniki.
But the Government of Kiriakos Mitsotakis, which has been left between a rock and a hard place, has immediately rejected the investigation. “What is alleged (in the investigation) is not proven in any of the cases,” the conservative government spokesperson said at a press conference. Pavlos Marinakis, who has described this broadcast as an error, while praising the work of the coast guard who, he said, “rescue dozens of human lives every day.” Along these lines, the spokesperson stressed that the British media has shown “a completely opposite image” to that of the Greek authorities, and that its agents “go beyond the limits of their responsibilities and obligations” to save human lives. Despite denying the accusations, the spokesperson recalled that these complaints are investigated by the country’s Transparency Authority, the Ministry of Immigration and the judicial system.
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