Amnesty International: Refugees violently taken into custody and pushed back to Turkey

Amnesty International’s report, “Greece: Violence, lies and pushbacks” reveals that the border officials of Greece have violently and illegally deported refugees and migrant groups to Turkey immediately after taking them into custody, in violation of their commitments for human rights in EU and International law. Amnesty International called on Frontex, EU Border Security Agency, to suspend and withdraw its operations in Greece.

Amnesty International presented new evidence regarding torture, ill treatment and illegal pushbacks of migrants. The report titled “Greece: Violence, lies and pushbacks” by Amnesty International is based on interviews conducted with 16 persons who were pushed back in 21 cases. The report documents that Greek officials illegally pushed back people both on land and sea. The report specifically focuses on the illegal operations at Evros region at the land border between Greece and Turkey.

In response to Turkey’s unilaterally opening its land borders in February and March 2020,  Greece had violently pushed back the refugees and migrants. Following the events of that period, the report demonstrates, by documenting the cases occurred during June-December 2020, that violations of human rights at the borders of Greece have continued and have become de facto policy.

"INHUMAN AND HUMILIATING TREATMENT, AND TORTURE IN QUESTION  IN SOME CASES"

Europe Migration Researcher, Adriana Tidona, in a statement about the topic, said “It is evident that many branches of Greek authorities have been specifically coordinated in immediate deporting of the people seeking asylum in Greece by intercepting and taking them into custody, subjecting many of them to violence and taking them near the banks of Evros river.” Tidona continued as follows: “Our research indicates that the violent pushbacks have become de facto border policy in the Evros region of Greece. In the cases we documented, in some, some people have been pushed back more than once, and in others, there are pushbacks in question by the use of informal detention centres. The level of organization required for such deportations affecting approximately one thousand people shows how far Greece had gone to illegally send these people back and then to smother it up.”

A great number of people Amnesty International interviewed told that, in addition to the uniformed Greek officials, they were subjected to violence or witnessed the violence by individuals that they identified as being in civil suits. Amongst the mentioned violence cases, there are heavy injuries by rod and stick blows, kicks, fists, slaps and pushes. Males were mostly subjected to humiliation and aggressive naked searches; and in some cases, such searches were done in front of the eyes of women and children.

In many cases, the mentioned violence acts are in violation of inhuman and humiliating treatment acts of international law. By the level of violence and by the punishing and humiliating aims, there were some situations fitting into a torture case.

BEATEN CRUELLY

Pushed back four times in August 2020, a 25 year-old Syrian, Saif told Amnesty International that, in his second attempt, the group he was with ambushed by black dressed “soldiers” with snow-mask and they were taken to the banks of Evros river at the Greece-Turkey border. Two in the group had tried to escape, but they were stopped by one of the soldiers and they were badly beaten up. Thinking that one had his back-bone broken, Saif said “He wasn’t able to move, he wasn’t able to move his hands.” According to Saif’s story, after these two wounded males were taken to the other side of the river, to Turkey, the soldiers of Turkey came to help the wounded with an ambulance.

One person told Amnesty International that, in one of the push back operations, he and others in the group he was in were forced to jump into the water from a boat near a small island in the middle of Evros river, and they were stranded on that small island for days. A male thrown from the boat cried for help while going up and down in the water as he was not able to swim; he was seen to be taken away by the current. The pushbacks don’t happen only in the border regions. People are intercepted on the main land Greece, are arrested and then they are taken to Evros region to be illegally sent back.

“THEY TORE MY REFUGEE ID CARD”

Amnesty International talked to four people who had been detained in the northern regions of Greece and arbitrarily pushed back to Turkey in crowded groups. A person whose refugee status had been accepted, and another registered refugee who had been living in the main land Greece for about a year were also among them. One of them, a 31 year-old Syrian refugee registered in Greece, Nabil told Amnesty International that  he was taken into custody in Igoumenitsa, a port city in the northern part of Greece. Police told him that he would be taken to Athens and then released, but he was taken to  a second detention centre near Evros land border; he was beaten up, and pushed back together with a group of 70 people comprised of some children too. Nabil told Amnesty International “I showed them my refugee card before I got in the bus, however they took the card and tore it, and told me to get on the bus.”

FRONTEX RESPONSIBLE FOR PREVENTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Adriana Tidona finalized her statement as follows “All the people we interviewed had been pushed back in the regions where Frontex had large number of personnel. Because of this reason, the agency cannot claim that they are not aware of the violations  that we and many other human rights organizations documented. Frontex is responsible for preventing human rights violations; if they are unable to do it effectively, they should withdraw their operations in Greece, or they should suspend them.”

The report published by Amnesty International, titled “Greece: Violence, lies and pushbacks” is based on the interviews conducted with 16 people pushed back in 21 cases. The report specifically focuses on the pushbacks at the Evros border during the period between June and December 2020. According to the witnesses, it is estimated that such illegal operations affected about one thousand people. (EVRENSEL DAILY)