Greek coast guard throws migrants into sea

In charge of him The deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean in space Three years old The coastguard “shows” the BBC that it claims nine people were deliberately thrown into the water, citing witnesses.

Nine were among the more than 40 who died as a result forcing them out of Greek territorial waters or when trying to take them back to sea after reaching the Greek islands.

Coast Guard said BBC He categorically denies all allegations of illegal activities.

“We showed footage of the Greek Coast Guard taking 12 people on board. Abandon them in a boat, to a former senior officer of the Greek Coast Guard. When he got up from his chair, with the microphone still on, he said it was clearly illegal and an international crime,” the BBC reported.

The Greek government has long been accused of forced repatriation – Deporting people to Turkey, where they crossed over, is illegal under international law, the report added.

The BBC calculates the death toll for the first time

This is the first time that the BBC Calculates the number Incidents to support it The deaths resulted from the actions of the Greek Coast Guard.

The investigation analyzed 15 incidents – dated May 2020-23 43 deaths. Original sources were important Local media, NGOs and the Turkish Coast Guard.

The BBC reports that it is very difficult to verify such accounts because witnesses often disappear or are afraid to speak. However, in four of these cases we were able to confirm the accounts by talking to eyewitnesses.

is a BBC investigation Excerpt from the documentary “Dead Com: Killing in the Med”. And found a clear pattern: in five incidents, migrants said they were thrown directly into the sea by Greek authorities. In four of these cases they explained that they had already landed on the Greek islands but were chased away by the authorities. In several other incidents, migrants said they were loaded onto inflatable rafts without a motor, then ejected because they appeared to have holes.

Shocking testimonies of survivors

One of the most shocking accounts was given by a Cameroonian who says he was chased by Greek authorities after his arrival. Samos Island, in September 2021. “Like everyone we interviewed, he said he planned to register as an asylum seeker on Greek soil,” notes the BBC, later quoting the migrant’s testimony: “We just arrived and the police came behind us. There were two police in black and 3 in civilian clothes. They were masked and you could only see their eyes.” He and two others – another from Cameroon and a man from the Ivory Coast – were taken to a Greek coastguard boat and, as he put it, described the horror of what happened:

“They started with him [άλλο] Cameroonian. They threw him into the water. The man from Ivory Coast said: “Save me, I don’t want to die… At last only his hand was above the water and his body below. Slowly his hand slipped from the bottom and the water surrounded him.” He also said that his captors attacked him. “I was raining punches on my head. It was like stabbing an animal,” he says later He too was thrown into the water – without a life jacket. He himself managed to swim to the shore, but the bodies of the other two – whose names CD Geeta And Didier Martial Guamo Nana – Recovered on the Turkish coast.

The survivor’s lawyers are asking the Greek authorities to open up A case of double murder.

Later, another man from Somalia, who told the BBC his own story, was arrested by the Greek army on his arrival in March 2021. The island of ChiosHe then handed him over to the Coast Guard. He said it The Coast Guard tied his hands behind his back and threw him into the sea: “They tied me up and threw me into the middle of the sea. They wanted me to die,” he said characteristically.

He explained that He survived by floating on his back, before releasing his hands. But the sea was rough and three of those who went into the water with him died. The interviewee made it to shore, where he was eventually found by the Turkish Coast Guard.

“In the biggest casualty incident – in September 2022 – a boat carrying 85 migrants ran into trouble when its engine cut off near the Greek island of Rhodes,” notes the BBC and goes on to his testimony. Mohammedfrom Syria

The migrants called the coastguard for help – but they put them on a boat, turned it into the Turkish sea and put them in lifeboats. Muhammad said The raft provided to him and his family was not properly valved: “We immediately began to sink, and they saw it … they heard our screams, and yet they let us go.”

“The first child who died was my cousin’s son. Then one after the other. Another child, another child, and then my cousin disappeared on her own. By morning seven or eight children had died“. “Just before the Turkish Coast Guard arrived, my children died in the morning,” he continued.

Masked people and illegal return

“Greek law allows all migrants seeking asylum to submit their applications at special registration centers on several islands. But interviewees for the BBC report – contacted with the help of the migrant support organization Consolidated Rescue Group – said they were arrested before they reached these centres. The men, who were not in uniform and They said they were often masked and operating undercover,” the BBC points out, later citing human rights campaigners who say thousands of asylum seekers in Europe have been illegally returned to Turkey from Greece. He denied them the right to seek asylum, which, he insists, is enshrined in international and EU law.

At the same time, it represents a forced return, which was filmed and published in the New York Times. A group including women and children were unloaded from the back of a truck and taken to a jetty in a small boat. They were then taken further from the beach to a Greek coast guard, taken out to sea and then placed in a dinghy where they were allowed to float.

We showed this footage verified by the BBC Dimitris Baltago, former head of special operations of the Greek Coast Guard. During the interview, he refused to talk about what the footage showed – insisting that the Greek coast guard would never be called upon to do anything illegal. But during a break, he was recorded saying to someone off-screen in Greek: “I didn’t tell them much, did I? It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? This is not nuclear physics. Don’t know why they did it in broad daylight…it’s…obviously illegal. It is an international crime“.

The Department of Shipping and Islands Policy told the BBC that the video is currently being investigated by the independent National Transparency Commission.

An investigative journalist interviewed by reporters from the island of Samos explained that he had started chatting with a member of the Greek special forces through the dating app Tinder. Calling her from what she described as a “battleship,” Romy von Parson asked more about his job — and what would happen if his troops found a boatload of refugees. He replied “We’re taking them back.” He said that They received such orders from the “Minister”.He also said that if they do not stop the boats with the migrants, they will be punished.

“Greece has always denied that a so-called ‘push back’ is taking place”, the BBC continues, underlining: “Greece is the gateway to Europe for many migrants. Last year, 263,048 sea arrivals were recorded in Europe, of which Greece received 41,561 (16%). Turkey in 2016 received EU migrants and It signed an agreement to prevent refugees from entering Greece, but said it could no longer be enforced in 2020. We submitted the findings of our investigation to the Greek Coast Guard, who responded that their personnel had worked tirelessly with a ‘high degree of professionalism, a strong sense of responsibility and respect for human life and fundamental rights’. And they are ‘in full compliance with the country’s international obligations,'” they replied.

The Greek Coast Guard also told the BBC: “It should be noted that from 2015 to 2024, the Greek Coast Guard rescued 250,834 refugees/migrants in 6,161 incidents at sea. The flawless execution of this noble task has been positively recognized by the international community”.

Finally, the report closes with the Pylos shipwreck, where more than 600 people are estimated to have lost their lives: “The Greek Coast Guard has been criticized in the past for its role in the largest migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean in a decade. More than 600 people are feared dead after Adriana sank in Greece’s limited rescue zone last June. “Greece authorities said the vessel was not in trouble and was safely on its way to Italy, so the coastguard did not attempt a rescue.”