Migrant rescuers in Greece appear at ‘farcical’ trial
A SYRIAN woman whose migrant rescue missions inspired a Netflix film went on trail yesterday after being accused of spying and smuggling refugees into Greece.
Sarah Mardini is one of 24 aid workers facing the charges after helping migrants cross the Aegean from Turkey between 2016 and 2018.
The trial is taking place on the island of Lesbos, where tens of thousands of asylum seekers have arrived by boat in recent years.
The espionage charges relate to allegations that some of the aid workers illegally intercepted radio channels used by the Greek coast guard and Frontex, the EU border force.
They used the information to locate migrant boats that were in distress as they crossed the sea from Turkey.
They are also accused of using a vehicle with fake military registration plates to enter restricted areas on Lesbos.
Greece has taken a hard line on
‘Stopping rescue operations doesn’t stop people from making dangerous journeys. It makes those journeys more perilous’
unauthorised migration and is anxious not to repeat the 2015-2016 crisis, when nearly a million asylum seekers poured into the country, before travelling through the Balkans towards western Europe.
Ms Mardini and her sister, Yusra, arrived in Greece as refugees in 2015.
They travelled in an overcrowded boat that started sinking. The sisters saved the lives of 19 other passengers by pushing and pulling the boat through the water for three hours until they reached Lesbos.
Yusra swam for the Refugee Team at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics and is now a UN goodwill ambassador. Their story is to be made into the Netflix film The Swimmers.
Her sister was arrested in 2018 and spent 107 days on remand in an Athens prison. She left for Berlin after her release and will be represented by a lawyer at the trial because she is barred from entering Greece.
Rights groups have called the trial “a farce” and the European Parliament described it as “the largest case of criminalisation of solidarity in Europe” in a report in June.
The defendants, affiliated to the Emergency Response Centre International, a non-profit group operating on Lesbos, face up to eight years in prison. They all deny the charges.
The trial was adjourned after a few hours and will be transferred to an appeals court at a later date amid calls from rights groups that authorities drop the “absurd” spy charges.
The defendants also face charges of people smuggling, membership of a criminal group and money laundering, which carry 25-year jail terms.
Nils Muižnieks, director of Amnesty International’s European office, said: “The charges they face are farcical and should never have come to trial.
“Stopping rescue operations doesn’t stop people from making dangerous journeys. It simply makes those journeys more perilous.”