World: Greek coastguard accused of killing migrants in Aegean

World: Greek coastguard accused of killing migrants in Aegean

World: Migrant advocates and media reports allege the Greek coastguard forced migrants back to sea over three years, leading to dozens of deaths, including nine claimed to be deliberately thrown overboard.

The Greek coastguard has vehemently denied all accusations of wrongdoing in response to a BBC investigation titled.

The BBC mentions that it documented 15 incidents from May 2020 to May 2023, where 42 migrants died at sea after alleged interactions with the Greek coastguard.

The primary sources were local media, NGOs, and the Turkish coastguard. Verifying these accounts proved challenging due to witness disappearances and fear of reprisal, but the BBC corroborated details in four cases.

The investigation suggests a pattern of pushbacks, a practice deemed illegal under international law.

Five separate incidents involved migrants alleging direct expulsion into the sea by Greek forces, with four of these cases reportedly occurring after initial landings on Greek islands, followed by what appeared to be targeted operations.

Other incidents involved migrants being placed on life rafts deemed unfit for navigation.

A survivor from a September 2021 incident described masked Greek authorities hunting him down on Samos island. He claims they beat him and threw two fellow migrants overboard, whose bodies were later recovered in Turkey. He was subsequently thrown overboard too, without a life jacket. His lawyers are pursuing a double murder case.

A separate incident in June 2023 involved a capsized trawler with over 600 migrants within sight of a Greek coastguard patrol boat, with 600 victims. The investigation raises questions about potential coastguard culpability in this tragedy.

The Greek government has long faced accusations of forced returns of migrants back to Turkey. BBC’s investigation, however, marks the first attempt to quantify the alleged death toll resulting from such actions.

(information and picture from the BBC)


Source: in-cyprus.philenews.com