Επαναπροώθηση ΕΛ.ΑΣ-ΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ Έβρος 10/9/2020

• Date of incident: 10-9-2020

• Location: Feres, Evros

• Law enforcement involved: Greek Police Officers / Greek Army 

• Number of people pushed back: 30

• Nationalities : Pakistani, Syrian, Iraqi, Moroccan, Algerian, Somalian

• How many had documents for sure: –

• Demographics (women, children, etc): a family, a woman with their children and other children involved

• Method of expulsion: People were driven to Evros/ Meriç river and they were forced to cross the Greek/ Turkish border.

• Documenting organisation: Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN)

• Description: People were driven to Feres’ army camp, after being threatened and robbed. Then, they were driven to Evros/ Meriç river, where they were forced to cross the river in a dinghy, along a rope stretched from one bank to the other.

• Documents : https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/september-10-2020-1030-feres-greece/ 

10/09/2020

“YOU ARE MUSLIM […] AND WE ARE CHRISTIAN, SO WHY ARE YOU COMING TO OUR COUNTRY, WE DON’T NEED YOU HERE BECAUSE YOU ARE MUSLIM”

Date and time: September 10, 2020 10:30

Location: Feres, Greece

Coordinates: 40.905925, 26.254513

Pushback from: Greece

Pushback to: Turkey

Demographics: 30 person(s), age: 28, from: Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Somalia

Minors involved? Yes

Violence used: beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, pushing people to the ground, insulting, threatening with guns, forcing to undress, theft of personal belongings

Police involved: 6 Greek police officers at initial arrest

Taken to a police station? yes

Treatment at police station or other place of detention: photos taken

Was the intention to ask for asylum expressed? Unknown

Reported by: Anonymous Partner

ORIGINAL REPORT

The respondent is a 28-year-old man from Algeria. On September 9th at 8 pm, he was with a 21-year-old Algerian male friend and three Pakistani men aged 19 to 30 approximately 10 kilometres away from the Greek-North Macedonian border. According to the respondent, they were here.

At this location, they were stopped by 6 Greek police officers, who approached with two cars from both sides of the road, blocking it. Of these officers one was female, five were male. The woman and one man were dressed in civilian clothes, two wore blue police uniforms and the other were dressed in military fatigues and blue police jackets. The cars were Dacias (one Dacia Laguna and another similar model) with tinted windows, each had no police insignia.  However, one vehicle had a flashing blue light and the respondent could see radio intercoms inside.

One of the policemen fired several shots into the air to intimidate the group and to prevent them from fleeing sideways towards the nearby tracks or into the forest. He also shouted at them to sit down, which they did. When the police arrived at the respondent’s group, one officer kicked him in the back and ordered him to stand up, whereupon he asked him about his nationality. The respondent said he was from Palestine to which the policeman gave a dismissive reply: “You look like a Moroccan.” He then started beating him with his baton and kicked him repeatedly. The other members of his group were also beaten with fists and batons.

Additionally, one officer insulted a member of the group with reference to his religion:

“You are Muslim […] and we are Christian, so why are you coming to our country, we don’t need you here because you are Muslim”

After the assault, their hands were zip-tied and they were divided between the two cars. Our respondent was sitting in a car with two Pakistanis. They were then taken to a police station in a drive that lasted 15 minutes. The duration of the drive, together with the site of apprehension, suggests that they were brought to the Polykastro police department.

There the police officers exited the car and left the men locked inside the vehicle for half an hour. The respondent reported that it was too cramped for three people and also very hot because the car was parked in the sun. After the wait, the police officers finally returned and took pictures of the respondent and his group.

He and the two Pakistanis were then brought in the same vehicle to Drama to the Paranesti detention centre. They arrived at 11 pm. In Drama, they were first taken to a caravan, where the police searched their bags, clothes and backpacks. At that time, there was also someone from Morocco in the same caravan, who told them that they were in Drama, as the respondent and his group themselves did not know where they were. This Moroccan person left the caravan only a few minutes later. At that point, the police officers who brought them from Polykastro had left, except for the two officers with army pants who were still guarding them in Drama.

Following the search, police confiscated their valuables, in the case of the respondent 800€ and his smartphone – none of which were returned. They were then forced to strip to only a T-shirt and shorts. The respondent saw plenty of other clothes in the caravan, but when he tried to take some of them, he was slapped in the face by one police officer. When he attempted to retrieve his money from the table where they put it, one officer struck him with a baton.

The men had to sleep one night on the floor of the caravan, which was monitored by cameras, without a blanket.

“it was so cold without any blankets and any beds; they were sleeping on the ground”

The next evening, at 7 pm, the respondent and were put in the back of a white van, which did not have any police insignia on it, along with nine others from Algeria, Morocco and Iraq. They were locked in the back of the van, which was lined with metal and resembled a cell. They were, however, able to sit as the van had chairs in the back. The driver of the van was a Greek police officer wearing a Greek police uniform and with him were the same two officers with army pants who had apprehended the respondent near Polykastro.

They were driving for approximately two and a half hours before reaching a place, that the respondent described as following:

“There is […] close to this army station, the train tracks, so close to it. There are three cells and there are offices on the opposite side of the cells and there is barboil around the place, that’s how it was looking at night.”

As the respondent reported, this army camp is located near Feres.

The respondent’s group was brought inside the camp into a big room, where they found 20-30 other people, including a Somalian family and other women with their children. They were guarded by “huge” men wearing green army uniforms, balaclavas and bulletproof vests. These military personnel told them to strip completely naked and afterwards beat them with batons. The respondent stated:

“he doesn’t care if he hits you in your head or in your face, they are using metal sticks, big metal sticks, […] my body was blue from this beating”

The women and children were spared from this beating.

After this episode, they were brought to the Evros river with two army trucks. The respondent was in the back of one truck together with 18-20 people, among them Syrians, Pakistanis, Moroccans, Algerians and two Somalian teenage sisters, one reportedly “looked 14 years old”.  The two trucks were driven by people in military clothes and were followed by one car.

At the river, there were 6 officers wearing military clothes, one of whom was communicating to the respondent’s group in English, and one other man with black clothes and balaclava, who was seemingly communicating to someone else with a headset.

At that place, they had to cross the river in a dinghy, along a rope stretched from one bank to the other. There was only one dinghy, which was driven by two Pakistanis wearing green safety vests. On every crossing, 9-10 people crossed the river, the women and children were the last ones to cross.

In Turkey, the pushed back group encountered the Turkish army, but the respondent himself fled. He continued walking barefoot for two hours until he reached a village. He slept in the mosque for the night, before making his way back to Istanbul the following day.

The location of the pushback was estimated by the respondent to be here.

Επαναπροώθηση ΕΛ.ΑΣ-ΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ Έβρος 9/9/2020

• Date of incident: 9-9-2020

• Location: Evros / Meriç river

• Law enforcement involved: Greek Police Officers / Greek Army 

• Number of people pushed back: 120

• Nationalities : Afghani, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Palestinian, Syrian, Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian

• How many had documents for sure: 4

• Demographics (women, children, etc): eight women and 16 minors involved

• Method of expulsion: People were driven to Evros/ Meriç river and they were forced to cross the Greek/ Turkish border.

• Documenting organisation: Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN)

• Description: Respondent and other three men were driven to a police station in Xanthi, where were also other 26 people from various countries. They were stripped of their valuables, clothes and shoes by the officers. Later, the group arrived at what the respondent called a “big army base” where were also 120 other people. Then, they were transferred to the to the Greek-Turkish border, where they were forced to jump into the water of Evros/ Meriç river.
• Documents : https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/september-9-2020-1100-greek-turkish-border-near-edirne/ 

09/09/2020

“DEATHS DURING PUSHBACK AT THE EVROS BORDER”

Date and time: September 9, 2020 11:00

Location: Greek-Turkish border, near Edirne

Coordinates: 41.635139056979, 26.508846283667

Pushback from: Greece

Pushback to: Turkey

Demographics: 120 person(s), age: mixed, from: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Palestine, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia

Minors involved? Yes

Violence used: beating (with batons/hands/other), exposure to air condition and extreme temperature during car ride, forcing to undress, theft of personal belongings

Police involved: 3 Greek Police Officers (Xanthi), 20 Greek Soldiers

Taken to a police station? Υes

Treatment at police station or other place of detention: detention, no translator present, denial of food/water, forced to pay fee

Was the intention to ask for asylum expressed? No

Reported by : Anonymous Partner

ORIGINAL REPORT

This testimony documents violence, torture and extensive human rights violations by the Greek authorities, involving women, children and seniors. If the respondent is to be believed, two people were killed during this push back. 

The respondent is a 50-year-old man from northern Afghanistan. At 11:00 a.m. on the 9th of September 2020, he boarded a bus in Xanthi, north-eastern Greece, bound for Thessaloniki. After a short drive of ten minutes, the bus pulled over and one Greek police officer “dressed in a blue uniform” entered the vehicle. The officer approached the respondent and asked him to produce his “documents”.

According to the respondent, he was in possession of “police paper” – a temporary residency permit of 30 days which is commonly known as khartia in Greece – that was valid. Nevertheless, the officer stated that he “needed to check the document” and requested that the respondent exit the bus. Initially hesitant to leave, the officer reassured him that it was a routine procedure. He was escorted outside where two more Greek police officers were waiting.  

A further three men were brought off the bus by the police. They were Syrian and, like the respondent, allegedly possessed khartia. The three officers then walked the men “some minutes” – to a point which the respondent claimed was purposefully out of sight – handcuffed them, tore up their documents and loaded the group into the back of a white, windowless van.  

Next, the four men were driven to a police station in Xanthi that was “by a motorway.” They were placed in a large cell that contained 26 other people-on-the-move from a wide range of countries; Tunisians, Moroccans, Egyptians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were all present. 

“I am a legal person here”

How the detainees were treated inside Xanthi Police Station is concerning. Not only was the cell described as “filthy” and “overcrowded”, the officers stripped them of their valuables, clothes and shoes. Indeed, despite confiscating their money – the respondent himself had 130 euros seized – the officers told the detainees that they could only buy food and water. “You guys have taken our money, so how are we supposed to buy stuff for ourselves”, the respondent recalled asking the police.

Wider reports have flagged up numerous issues inside Greek pre-removal facilities, including unsanitary conditions, an impossibility of seeing visitors and insufficient access to healthcare. 

Amplifying this anxiety, the detainees were denied a translator or any information from the officers as to what was happening. The respondent said:

“They [the police] were not talking to them … they was just hitting them and throwing them into the room.” 

“Maximum it was for 15 to 18 people … [but] the police [didn’t] care … they just wanted to close them in the van and take them to the border”

Approximately seven hours later, the respondent stated that the police unlocked the cell door and corralled all of the detainees into the back of a van with metal batons. Although the respondent could not relay an exact description of the vehicle, he stated it was a “small minibus”. Meanwhile, from a separate part of the station, four women and four minors were also loaded into the back of the van – two reportedly were below the age of seven. 

“If the car would take another thirty minutes or one hour, there would be some people who would have got unconscious”

Without air-conditioning, and with only a few holes in the roof for ventilation, the back of the van was not only pitch black, but soon became intolerably hot once the journey started. Many vomited from heat stroke, while others had to strip due to the high temperature. The group remained in these conditions for between four to five hours. 

At 9:00 p.m., the group arrived at what the respondent called a “big army base” where 20 Greek soldiers were stationed. “They [the soldiers] covered their faces, they were wearing black uniforms and they were not letting anyone look up,” the respondent recounted. Many were armed.

He continued: “it’s a hidden army base … they [the Greeks] don’t want anyone to know about it or [that] journalists put it in the media.” 

The soldiers led the group into a vast room inside the building, which contained roughly 120 people-on-the-move, and told them to wait. For two and a half hours, during which the respondent observed multiple “beatings,” the group waited until a bus arrived. This vehicle was described by the respondent as one of “the army’s big green buses.”

Like before, the group was transported in dangerous, dehumanising conditions. Although six Syrian and Palestinian families were present, containing around eight women and 16 minors, there was insufficient seating on the bus and those standing up stifled the air of those below them. This time, two people fainted. 

“They were screaming to the bus drivers and they were not stopping the bus”

The group was driven one and a half hours to the Greek-Turkish border. They were led by the soldiers into a concealed, wooded area and made to kneel on the ground. Then, in groups of ten, they were forced to crawl to the banks of the Maritsa River. There a black dinghy waited for them. 

The dinghy was manned by a Pakistani man. Speaking Pashto, the respondent talked to the driver and found that he had been offered documentation by the Greek authorities in exchange for two months manning the vessels. Whether or not this bargain is honoured remains unclear. 

Unusually for the Evros border, the “air pressure boats”, as the respondent called them, were not docked, but floating at a distance from the bank and could only be reached by wading out into the river.  

The dinghy itself was small. Indeed, before boarding, one man warned the soldiers that the group could not fit safely inside, however they responded by beating him and wounding his forehead. “There was too much bleeding”, the respondent noted. Heedless to their warnings, the police proceeded to load the people inside the dingy. “Most of them had big bodies”, the respondent recounted, “like ten people won’t fit in one boat. The police did not care about that.”

In the next moments, the dingy capsized and everyone on board fell into the water. 

“The boat was down, without air, it had holes”

With many of the group unable to swim, panic ensued. As the respondent said: “they started screaming, and the police were saying to them don’t scream.” Under such duress, two men fell unconscious and drowned. This was despite the effort of one member of the group who swam into the water to try and return the others to safety. 

After the survivors returned to the riverbank – thanks, in part, to the effort of this one man – a new dinghy was brought downstream. However, not wishing to create another scene that could alert the Turkish soldiers, the Greek soldiers strung a rope between the bank and the dinghy in the river, so that everyone “could come easily”. 

Once on the Turkish side of the border, the respondent – still without shoes – sought refuge at a petrol station. The first settlement he recalled seeing was Edirne.

Επαναπροώθηση ΛΣ-ΕΛΑΚΤ Σάμος 8/9/2020

• Date of incident: 8-9-2020

• Location: Samos Island

• Law enforcement involved: Greek police officers

• Number of people pushed back: 18

• Nationalities: Afghani

• How many had documents for sure: –

• Demographics (women, children, etc): 2 unaccompanied children involved

• Method of expulsion: Coast Guard officers drove the ship into the middle of the Aegean Sea, forced the two teenagers into an inflatable, motorless raft and left them to drift.

• Documenting organisation: Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)

• Description: The applicant and another unaccompanied child from the group made their way to the refugee camp in Vathy to apply for asylum. Despite having met representatives of international organizations that work in the camp, the two minors were denied the opportunity to register, and instead were abducted from the camp by Greek officers. The officers escorted them to the port where they were forced aboard a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel, handcuffed, and had their phones and money confiscated. Coast Guard officers drove the ship into the middle of the Aegean Sea, forced the two teenagers into an inflatable, motorless raft and left them to drift. The children paddled with their hands until they were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard.

• Documents : https://www.glanlaw.org/aegean-push-backs?fbclid=IwAR2UpC1j4nGAbY3tX9EdazIDRi_etpP0TV9vEJyIobCtlBEo4ghpPJrHfa0 

THE CASE: Unaccompanied minor challenges systematic pushback practice, alleging torture.

On 3 March 2021, GLAN filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of R, an unaccompanied asylum-seeker child who was apprehended in the Vathy Reception and Identification Centre on Samos and subject to a life-threatening pushback to Turkey, along with another minor, in September 2020. The case challenges the acts of the Hellenic Coast Guard for seriously endangering the lives of two minors by leaving them adrift in an unnavigable life raft in the middle of the Aegean Sea.

Pushbacks on the Aegean carried out by the Greek Coast Guard have become increasingly widespread since the beginning of 2020. Since March in particular, Greek officials have resorted to unprecedented methods of border violence to keep out migrants: asylum-seekers arriving on Greek islands or into Greek territorial waters are dragged out to sea by the Greek Coast Guard, forced into non-navigable inflatable rafts, and left to drift. Thousands of asylum-seekers have found themselves in life-threatening situations as a result of these now systematic practices.      

The highest echelons of the Greek Government have persistently denied the occurrence of migrant pushbacks before domestic and European bodies, obstructing the investigation of scores of domestic complaints made on behalf of victims. The Greek government continues to emphasize its commitment to international law, while praising the Coast Guard and celebrating the reduced ‘flows’ of asylum-seekers.

NGOs such as Aegean Boat Report, Legal Centre Lesvos, and Mare Liberum continue to document almost-daily abuses against migrants at Greece’s islands and maritime borders. Mare Liberum, an organization monitoring refugee rights in the Aegean Sea, reported on a “dramatic increase of violence and ill-treatment of refugees in the Aegean” to the United Nations Human Rights Office. According to the organization, they counted 321 pushbacks involving 9,798 people between March and December 2020. Based on a cross-referenced account of 17 case-studies and interviews with over 50 survivors, the Legal Centre Lesvos concluded that “Greek authorities are continuously and systematically conducting collective expulsions at Greece’s land and sea borders, putting migrants’ lives at grave risk and violating their rights, including the right to seek asylum”. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, and assets belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are often found in the vicinity of, and hence presumptively aware of, or potentially direct participants in collective expulsions.      

A growing number of alleged cases of ‘pushbacks’ by Greek authorities that follow the same pattern have been communicated to the Court since early 2020. Leading media organisations and international press, including Lighthouse Reports, Bellingcat, Der Spiegel, and ARD/Report Mainz, have also investigated and extensively reported on pushbacks from Samos as well as other Aegean islands.

Legal Case

The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and Prakken D’Oliveira lodged a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of R, an unaccompanied asylum-seeker child who was apprehended in the Vathy Reception and Identification Centre on Samos and subject to a life-threatening pushback to Turkey, along with another minor, in September 2020. The case was brought to our attention by Aegean Boat Report, who first documented the pushback incident in September.

The applicant arrived on Samos from Turkey on September 8 with a group of 17 Afghan asylum-seekers. He and another unaccompanied child from the group made their way to the refugee camp in Vathy to apply for asylum.

The following morning, they presented themselves to the authorities in order to register as asylum-seekers. They were taken to a police station inside the camp under the pretext that they would be placed in quarantine for two weeks as a public health measure to ensure that they did not have Covid-19, after which they would be brought back to the camp. They were also told that they could not obtain asylum seeker cards as the Greek Asylum Service was closed due to the pandemic.

Despite having met representatives of international organizations that work in the camp, the two minors were denied the opportunity to register, and instead were abducted from the camp by Greek officers. The officers escorted them to the port where they were forced aboard a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel, handcuffed, and had their phones and money confiscated. Coast Guard officers drove the ship into the middle of the Aegean Sea, forced the two teenagers into an inflatable, motorless raft and left them to drift. The children paddled with their hands until they were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard. They were detained in Turkey for about 9 days, before being released, destitute and without support.

The complaint challenges Greece’s systematic policy of “pushbacks” in the Aegean Sea, and the pattern of abandoning asylum-seekers adrift in non-navigable rafts which, we argue, not only exposes them to refoulement but also amounts to torture. The case relies on the special protection afforded to minors and highlights the systemic nature of this strand of Greece’s collective expulsions policy, and the unprecedented reach of the pushback apparatus inside the camps.

Wider Context

These systematic pushbacks, which amount to serious violations of international and European regional human rights and refugee law, as well as the law of the sea, are occurring within the theatre of Frontex’s Joint Operation Poseidon. The agency is currently under multiple investigations based on independent investigations showing the extent of its complicity in pushbacks. It nevertheless continues to deny its involvement in or acquiescence to such practices. By failing to take action in line with its legal obligations when faced with systematic violations of fundamental rights and ‘serious irregularities’ in Greek border operations, to defund or suspend  its  operations, the agency  legitimises these unprecedented forms of violence at Europe’s borders.  A complaint requesting the EU Commission to initiate an infringement procedure against Greece for its systemic breaches of the EU asylum acquis and fundamental rights is pending.

* Thanks are due to Stefanos Levidis for coining the term ‘drift backs.

06/09/2020: Μηνυτήρια αναφορά για ρατσιστική συμπεριφορά οδηγού ΚΤΕΛ σε βάρος Πακιστανού

ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟ ΤΜΗΜΑ ΑΝΤΙΜΕΤΩΠΙΣΗΣ ΡΑΤΣΙΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΒΙΑΣ

6 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020

Κυρίες/Κύριοι,

Σας υποβάλλουμε άλλη μια μηνυτήρια αναφορά, κατ’ άρθρο 42 ΚΠΔ, στα πλαίσια του προγράμματος του Παρατηρητηρίου Ρατσιστικών Εγκλημάτων, με χθεσινή ανάρτηση στο Facobook του χρήστη Γιάννη Σμοϊλη που ως αυτόπτης μάρτυρας καταγγέλλει χθεσινή ρατσιστική συμπεριφορά οδηγού ΚΤΕΛ σε βάρος Πακιστανού επιβάτη, ανάρτηση η οποία μας επισημάνθηκε από άλλο χρήστη του Facebook.

Giannis Smoilis

5 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020, 8:45 μμ

https://archive.vn/MDTrV
https://www.facebook.com/smoilis/posts/10221882715444272

Προ ολίγου σε υπεραστικό λεωφορείο του ΚΤΕΛ Αττικής, συνέβη το εξής ενδιαφέρον περιστατικό : τσαμπουκαλεμένος οδηγός, κουραδόμαγκας και “μαμιάς” (που έλεγε κι ο Σωτήρης Καλυβάτσης) ξυρισμένο κεφάλι, τατουάζ στο μπράτσο, μαύρο γυαλί, υπεροπτικό υφάκι “σας κατουράω όλους”, ενώ έχει αργήσει κάνα δεκάλεπτο να ξεκινήσει το όχημα, μπαίνει μέσα με αναμμένο τσιγάρο, τη μάσκα κατεβασμένη στον λαιμό, και απαγόρευει σε νέο άνδρα, πιθανότατα πακιστανικής καταγωγής, να μπει στο λεωφορείο επειδή κρατάει σακούλα με σουβλάκι. Με αγριεμένο ύφος του λέει : “εδώ μέσα δεν μπαίνεις μ’αυτό, δεν θα μου βρωμίσεις εσύ το αυτοκίνητο”. Ο νεαρός του απαντάει δειλά, με σπαστά ελληνικά, ότι η σακούλα είναι κλειστή και πως δεν έχει σκοπό να φάει μέσα στο όχημα, αφού θα φοράει μάσκα έτσι κι αλλιώς. Ο πολλά βαρύς οδηγός, όμως, συνεχίζει απτόητος να του απαγορεύει την είσοδο και τον υποχρεώνει είτε να πετάξει το φαγητό του είτε να περιμένει να πάρει το επόμενο ΚΤΕΛ που περνά σε δύο ώρες. Δεν είναι μόνο η απαράδεκτη, απάνθρωπη στάση του που εξοργίζει όσο, κυρίως, ο τρομερά απαξιωτικός τρόπος με τον οποίο απευθύνεται στο παιδί, τα “ρε δεν καταλαβαίνεις τι σου λέω;” και “πώς την είδες τώρα, θα μας κρατήσεις καμιά ώρα εδώ;”, αυτή η χαρακτηριστικά χρυσαυγίτικη επιθετικότητα προς το μελαμψό δέρμα και τα σημάδια της ανέχειας, η σκληρή αναλγησία του κακομοίρη φασιστάκου με ψευδαισθήσεις μεγαλείου: βασικά, η εμετική αγένεια του ανθρωπάριου που νομίζει ότι είναι ανώτερος από τον άλλο επειδή σφηνωμένος στο τροχοφόρο μεταλλικό κουτί του – θεωρεί πως – έχει μια ελάχιστη εξουσία, συνεπώς κάνει κουμάντο ΑΥΤΟΣ κι άμα γουστάρετε, χάρη σας κάνει που σας πηγαίνει στον προορισμό σας.

Εκεί που το παιδί με το σουβλάκι είναι έτοιμο να φύγει λοιπόν, κύριος γύρω στα 75, ευθυτενής και κοτσονάτος, λεβεντόγερος της παλιάς σχολής, σηκώνεται πάνω και λέει στον Πακιστανό να του δώσει τη σακούλα του. Την παίρνει και λέει στον ρατσιστή οδηγό: “τώρα μπορεί το παιδί να μπει κι αν θες να βγάλεις έμενα έξω, έλα και δοκίμασε, θέλω να σε δω να προσπαθείς!”. Ο οδηγός κάνει να φωνάξει και να τσακωθεί με τον κύριο αλλά οι αποδοκιμασίες από όλο τον κόσμο στο όχημα (πολλοί βέβαια ήθελαν απλώς να ξεκινήσει επιτέλους) τον κάνουν να μαζευτεί και να βάλει μπρος τη μηχανή, ενώ εξακολουθεί να βρίζει και να απειλεί ότι αυτό “δεν θα περάσει έτσι”. Ο ηλικιωμένος άνδρας τότε τον διαβεβαιώνει : “να είσαι σίγουρος ότι δεν θα περάσει έτσι αυτό γιατί θα μου δώσεις τα στοιχεία σου και θα σε καταγγείλω και στην εταιρεία που δουλεύεις αλλά και στην αστυνομία αν χρειαστεί”. Από εκεί και μετά, το βουλώνει ο “μαμιάς” και βγάζει όλη τη διαδρομή σιωπηλός. Τη στιγμή που ο νεαρός Πακιστανός είναι έτοιμος να κατέβει, ο κύριος του δίνει τη σακούλα του και του λέει : “έλα αγόρι μου, πάρε το φαγητό σου, καλή σου όρεξη”. Παράλληλα, μια κυρία σε διπλανή θέση του περνάει διακριτικά στο χέρι μια γκοφρέτα σοκολάτας, χαμογελώντας του καλοσυνάτα. Τους ευχαριστεί και τους δύο και φεύγει χωρίς να κοιτάξει τον οδηγό.

Σπουδαίοι αυτοί οι απλοί άνθρωποι που, όπως λέει ο Σελίν, κυκλοφορούν με άνεση μέσα στο μεγαλειώδες, μιλάνε “στους αγγέλους με το “συ” και δεν το παίρνεις χαμπάρι”. Καθημερινοί άνθρωποι, άγνωστοι μέσα στο πλήθος, “με αρκετή τρυφερότητα για να ξαναγίνει ο κόσμος από την αρχή και δεν το βλέπει κανένας”.

Όσο υπάρχουν τέτοιοι, υπάρχει ελπίδα.

***

Παρακαλούμε για τις ενέργειές σας καθώς και να μας ενημερώσετε για τον αριθμό πρωτοκόλλου που θα δώσετε στη μήνυση αυτή.

Με τιμή,

Παναγιώτης Δημητράς
Ελληνικό Παρατηρητήριο των Συμφωνιών του Ελσίνκι

Επαναπροώθηση ΕΛ.ΑΣ Αλεξανδρούπολη 6/9/2020

• Date of incident: 6-9-2020

• Location: Alexandroupoli 

• Law enforcement involved: Greek Police Officers

• Number of people pushed back: 80

• Nationalities : Pakistani, Syrian, Moroccan, Algerian, Egyptian

• How many had documents for sure: –

• Demographics (women, children, etc): family with small children involved

• Method of expulsion: People were driven to Evros/ Meriç river and they were forced to cross the Greek/ Turkish border.
• Documenting organisation: Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN)
• Description: People were driven from Alexandroupoli to the detention centre in Didymoteicho, where they were been beaten and some of them tortured. Then, they were transferred to the Turkish side of Evros/ Meriç river, where they were forced to jump into the water.

• Documents : https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/september-6-2020-1700-alexandropouli-bus-station/ 

06/09/2020

“I GOT DRUNK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE TO HAVE THE COURAGE TO TELL THEM, BUT I CAN’T. HOW CAN I TELL THEM THEIR SON IS DEAD!?”

Date and time: September 6, 2020 17:00

Location: Alexandropouli bus station

Coordinates: 40.8457193, 25.873962

Pushback from: Greece

Pushback to: Turkey

Demographics: 80 person(s), age: 3 years to unknown, from: Pakistan, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt

Minors involved? Yes

Violence used: beating (with batons/hands/other), forcing to undress, theft of personal belongings, burned with a cigarette

Police involved: 2 officers in Greek police uniform, 2 plainclothes officers, 12 men dressed in black wearing balaclavas, one white car

Taken to a police station? Yes

Treatment at police station or other place of detention: detention, denial of food/water

Was the intention to ask for asylum expressed? No

Reported by : josoor

ORIGINAL REPORT

On the 31st of August, 2020, a group of 16 people crossed the border from Meric, Turkey. 12 of them made an onward journey by car, the respondent and three of his friends continued by foot. They walked six days and reached Alexandropouli.

Their plan was to walk to Thessaloniki but shortly before they reached Alexandropouli, one of the groups injured his ankle. He told the others to leave him there and continue, but they refused and carried him to the bus station in Alexandropouli to continue by bus. They arrived there at around 05:00 on 5th September 2020.

They were able to purchase the tickets and get on the bus but then, Greek police arrived. The respondents believed that the people at the ticket counter had called the police. The officers came in a white car. Two police officers were wearing blue uniforms with Greek flags and boots. They got out of the car. Two in civilian clothes stayed inside the car.

The uniformed officers got on the bus and asked them where they were from and if they had passports or other IDs. When they said they did not have either, they were handcuffed and taken off the bus and into the car.

They point out that they were not beaten at the bus stop because there were many people present, and they had their handcuffs removed inside the car.

They were driven to Didymoteicho. In the detention site there, the respondent did not want to enter and pleaded with the officers not to be returned to Turkey. One of the officers took him by his feet and dragged him across the floor, another burned him with his cigarette.

There was a Syrian family with small children, Egyptians, Pakistani, Algerians, and many Moroccans. In total around 70 or 80 people, all naked. There was one big room with a very smelly toilet. There were some short, thin mattresses. They said the room did not look like a normal prison or police station but more like a stable. On the toilet there was a small window outside. The respondent says when he looked outside through this window, he saw four cars with German license plates (they described the EU flag and D on the license plate). He cannot describe anything about the rest of the cars because the window was so small, he only saw the license plates.

They were kept there for around 24 hours and then 8-10 masked men dressed in black came and told them to get into a van – all 70 or 80 of them into one black vehicle, brutally crammed on top of each other. This vehicle was driving with the lights off, very fast and recklessly, in total for around 20min.

When they arrived at Evros river on the 6th of September, 2020, they had to hide themselves. Several of the masked men were checking the other side of the river with what appeared to be night vision binoculars. Others got one dinghy ready.

They started boarding around 10 people at once onto the boat. The respondent describes:

“They drove us to the middle of the river – and then they told us to jump. Into the water. Some couldn’t swim and we told them, but they did not care!”

Only the Syrian family was taken to the other shore, everyone else had to swim.

The two other friends the respondents had crossed the border with disappeared in the river, and he has not heard from them since. At the time of interview, the respondent stated that the men’s families keep calling him asking how they are doing. He could not bring himself to tell the real story, as he feared them to be dead.

“I tried. I got drunk for the first time in my life to have the courage to tell them, but I can’t. How can I tell them their child has died!?”

On the Turkish side, the group who made it to the bank were suddenly approached by a group of people in civilian clothes he thought to be locals. They were carrying guns and started shooting into the ground around them and asked them for money and phones – they did not have anything left anymore.

Επαναπροώθηση ΕΛ.ΑΣ-ΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ Θεσσαλονίκη 4/9/2020

• Date of incident: 4-9-2020

• Location: Diavata Camp, Thessaloniki

• Law enforcement involved: Greek Police Officers / Greek Army 

• Number of people pushed back: 110

• Nationalities: Afghani, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Syrian, Moroccan, Algerian, Libya, Lebanese, Turkish (Kurdish)

• How many had documents for sure: –

• Demographics (women, children, etc): –

• Method of expulsion: People were driven to Evros/ Meriç river and they were forced to cross the Greek/ Turkish border.

• Documenting organisation: Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN)

• Description: The respondent was at the Diavata camp of Thessaloniki when, two police officers entered the tent and told the respondent and the other man in the tent, that they should get out. (The reported that the two police officers started to communicate in Greek with each other, confirming that 30 people in total have been taken into custody and thus “the operation” would be complete now, enabling them to leave.) They then put the eight people into a white van and they told the driver to bring the people to the police station. At the police station, they took the personal belongings of the respondent and the other seven people. Afterward, he was brought into one of the cells at the police station, where were also people coming from the Diavata camp. After about three to four hours, everyone was taken away from the police station to a building that he described as the “Kordello prison”. Afterward, the detainees were handcuffed, put on the bus and been driven to another police station. Later, five men, described as army soldiers, opened the cell and told the people to get into a truck which, after a ten to fifteen minutes’ drive, stopped at the Meric River along the Greek/Turkish border.

• Documents : https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/september-4-2020-2300-ipsala-turkey/ 

04/09/2020

“THEY PUT ME INTO THE VAN LIKE AN ANIMAL”

Date and time: September 4, 2020 23:00

Location: Ipsala, Turkey

Coordinates: 40.943838977088, 26.357152321134

Pushback from: Greece

Pushback to: Turkey

Demographics: 110 person(s), age: 20-45 years old, from: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Lebanon, Turkey (Kurdish)

Minors involved? Unknown

Violence used: beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, pushing people to the ground, forcing to undress, theft of personal belongings

Police involved: 5 greek army soldiers, wearing black masks and helmets, one truck and one riot bus, one van.

Taken to a police station? yes

Treatment at police station or other place of detention: detention, denial of access to toilets, denial of food/water

Was the intention to ask for asylum expressed? No

Reported by: Mobile Info Team

ORIGINAL REPORT

On Friday morning, September 4th, 2020, the respondent, a 35-year-old man from Pakistan, was sleeping in a shared tent at the Diavata camp of Thessaloniki. Between 7:00-8:00 am, while other people in the camp were still sleeping, two police officers, one man and one woman dressed in black uniforms, entered the tent and told the respondent and the other man in the tent, that they were from the Greek police and that the two of them should get out of the tent. After they left the tent, the police officers told him that he should not take a bag with him, because they will come back with him later to get it. 

Subsequently, the two men were then handcuffed and brought near the management office of the camp, where already six other people were sitting in handcuffs, four men from Morocco, as well as an older Lebanese woman with her adult son. The respondent, who was living in Greece for two years and therefore speaks Greek, reported that the two police officers started to communicate in Greek with each other, confirming that 30 people in total have been taken into custody and thus “the operation” would be complete now, enabling them to leave. They then put the eight people into a white van, which had metal windows on the side and a small hole in the roof for air circulation. Another police officer, also dressed in black clothing, was driving the van. The respondent remembered that the two officers were telling the driver to bring the people to the police station. He estimated that the car ride took about 10 minutes.

Once the respondent and the other seven people reached the police station, the police officer, who was driving the van, escorted all of them into the police station, which was on the first floor of the building, and left. Seven or eight police officers, who were dressed in casual clothes, were at the police station and started to take the personal belongings of the respondent and the other seven people. 

The respondent stated that the police took “everything, each and everything”, including all of the money in his pockets, which amounted to about 270 euros, and his mobile phone. The officers told him that he was supposed to give everything in his possession to them. They then took his personal belongings and put them into a plastic bag together with a piece of paper, on which they wrote the number 15. The respondent did not receive his belongings back from the police. 

Afterward, he was brought into one of the cells at the police station, in which about 35 people have been detained with him. He was able to recognize some of the persons in the cell as also coming from the Diavata camp. In the cell were some of the other men from the van in which he was brought from the camp to the police station, as well as other people he had not seen before. In the cell were only young men, whose age the respondent estimated to be from 25 to 36 years old. The respondent recalled the men being from Pakistan, Turkey (Kurdish), Morocco, Algeria, and Syria. No women were in the cell of the respondent, and the Lebanese woman that was also brought to the police station from the camp was sitting on a chair in front of the cell. In regard to the condition of the cell, the respondent described it as “hell on earth”, and that he was not able to sleep in it, because it was a “very dirty place” which “smelled very bad”.

After about three to four hours, everyone was taken away from the police station. The respondent recalled that first the detainees from the other cell were brought away, and after about 30 minutes he and the people in his cell were taken to a building that he described as the “Kordello prison”. Since he was at police stations in Greece before, he recognized the building as being a police station. The transport was conducted in a white van with no windows, that looked similar to the one in which the respondent was transferred from the Diavata camp to the police station, and two officers in black police uniforms were responsible for the transfer. One of them was driving, and the other one was sitting with the detainees in the back of the van. Once the van reached the courtyard of the “prison”, the two policemen put the men out of the white van and left the scene.

The respondent estimated being in the courtyard of the “Kordello prison” for about ten to fifteen minutes, and that due to the sunlight, the time of the day must have been around 14:00. When the men left the white van, they were awaited by five men, dressed in casual clothes, who were standing in front of a big blue bus. The detainees were told to come out of the white van and to stand up in one line in front of the bus. Four of the unidentified men started to search the pockets of the detainees and ordered them to remove their clothes to conduct body searches. The respondent did not want to allow a body search, and perceived the conduct as very shameful, but cooperated anyway due to his fear of getting beaten by the police officers. He was also asked by one of the four men whether he had anything in his pocket, which he denied by explaining that the police at the police station had already taken all of his belongings.

Afterward, the detainees were handcuffed and put on the bus. The bus had eight to ten small rooms, which each fitted 4 men inside. One of the five men, who has not been conducting the body searches, was responsible for opening and locking the doors inside the bus. The respondent did not recall seeing any woman in the courtyard or inside the blue bus.

They were driving for about three hours before the bus stopped on a road near the highway. While driving, the respondent looked out of the window of the bus and saw that they were driving in the direction of Xanthi. The detainees were let out of the bus by an unidentified number of officers, who were dressed in casual clothes and armed with guns and metal batons. The men were told to quickly go into a van that was parked next to the blue bus and to sit down there. The respondent had the impression that the officers were “look[ing] around to see if no one was watching”. Around 34 men were put inside the white van, that had no windows and only a small hole in the roof for the air to circulate through. The respondent described the seating capacity in the van as being for 20 people and the air in the van as not being enough – “they put me into the van like an animal”. 

The detainees were in the white van for about one and a half to two hours, before they reached a building that the respondent described as a police station. When they left the van, there was still sunlight outside and five police officers were awaiting them. The detainees were checked once more and ordered to remove their shoes. The shoes of the respondent, as well as the ones of the other detainees were taken away by the police and put into a bin. He was then pushed into a cell, where already around 250 to 280 people were sitting inside. The respondent described most of the men inside the cell being between 20 and 35 years old. He estimated that the men came from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Algeria, Syria and that a few people were from Libya and Lebanon. The cell itself was described by the respondent as being “not very big”, having no adequate space to sit or sleep, and with “a lot of dirty toilets” of which “water [was] coming out”. The respondent did not receive any water or food. Women and families were put into another room, which the respondent described as “a room for the police”, instead of a cell.

After three to four hours, five men, described as army soldiers who were wearing black masks covering their face and neck, helmets, as well as long and short guns, opened the cell and told the people to get into a truck. It was already dark outside. Around 70 to 75 people were put into a small truck and then driven off. Afterward came a van in which another 40 to 45 people had to go in. Everyone had to stand in the van because there was no space for everyone to sit down.

After a ten to fifteen minutes’ drive, the van in which the respondent was standing in stopped at the Meric River along the Greek/Turkish border. The soldiers told everyone to come out and to silently sit down in a line near the river. The people were transported in groups of twelve to fifteen people with a dinghy to the Turkish side. Four men from Afghanistan and Pakistan were cooperating with the soldiers to bring the people to the other side of the river. On the Greek side were the Greek army soldiers, while two of the men were driving the dinghy, and the other two were waiting on the Turkish side of the river to help the people out of the boat.

Once the respondent was brought to the other side of the river, he waited for his friend who was in the line behind him. He was not able to see the Greek side of the river due to the lack of light, but he was able to hear people screaming. After three days of walking without shoes, the respondent reached Istanbul together with a man from Afghanistan.

03/09/2020: Υπουργός Δικαιοσύνης σε Βελόπουλο για μηνύσεις ΕΠΣΕ: ρητορική μίσους δεν έχει θέση σε δημοκρατία – υποχρέωση η αναφορά αξιόποινων πράξεων σε εισαγγελία

Βλασφημία και ρητορική μίσους, Μακρόν και “Τα Νέα”

Στο άρθρο γίνεται λανθασμένη ταύτιση της βλασφημίας (προσβολή θρησκείας) με τη ρητορική μίσους (προσβολή προσωπικότητας λόγω θρησκευτικών ή άλλων χαρακτηριστικών). Ο Μακρόν υπερασπίσθηκε την “ελευθερία της βλασφημίας” όπως έχει επίσης δηλώσει πως “θα καταπολεμήσουμε τον αντισημιτισμό, το ρατσισμό και κάθε ρητορική μίσους που έρχεται να διχάσει την κοινωνία μας και να αρνηθεί και αυτές τις θεμελιώδεις αρχές της.” Στις 24 Ιουνίου 2020 επίσης υπέγραψε το “Νόμο για την καταπολέμηση των διαδικτυακών κειμένων μίσους.”

Σε ό,τι αφορά την Ελλάδα, στις 26 Αυγούστου 2016 η Επιτροπή του ΟΗΕ για την Εξάλειψη Κάθε Μορφής Ρατσιστικών Διακρίσεων (CERD) ζήτησε από την Ελλάδα “να καταργήσει τα άρθρα 198 και 199 περί βλασφημίας από τον Ποινικό Κώδικα” και ταυτόχρονα “να λάβει μέτρα αποτελεσματικής πρόληψης, καταπολέμησης και τιμωρίας της ρατσιστικής ρητορικής μίσους και των ρατσιστικών εγκλημάτων μίσους (…): (α) Να λάβει τα κατάλληλα μέτρα για τη δίωξη ατόμων, συμπεριλαμβανομένων πολιτικών και να παράσχει πληροφορίες στην επόμενη έκθεση της σχετικά με τις έρευνες της αστυνομίας, τις ποινικές διαδικασίες, και τις ποινές.” Πρόσθεσε δε “Η Επιτροπή επιθυμεί να τονίσει ότι το θεμελιώδες δικαίωμα της ελευθερίας της έκφρασης δεν πρέπει να υπονομεύει τις αρχές της αξιοπρέπειας, της ανεκτικότητας, της ισότητας και της μη διάκρισης, καθώς η άσκηση του δικαιώματος στην ελευθερία της έκφρασης φέρει μαζί της ιδιαίτερες ευθύνες, μεταξύ των οποίων είναι η υποχρέωση της μη διάδοσης ιδεών βασισμένων στη φυλετική ανωτερότητα ή στο φυλετικό μίσος.”

Οι συστάσεις αυτές ακολούθησαν έκθεση που είχαμε υποβάλει στην Επιτροπή. Χαιρόμαστε ιδιαίτερα πως η πανευρωπαϊκή καμπάνια που κάναμε οδήγησε επιτέλους στην κατάργηση το 2019 των άρθρων για τη βλασφημία. Εκκρεμεί η συμμόρφωση της Ελλάδας με τη σύσταση για την αυστηροποίηση του αντιρατσιστικού νόμου.

Ανάλογες επισημάνσεις είχε κάνει το 2015 και Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή κατά του Ρατσισμού και της Μισαλλοδοξίας (ECRI) στο Συμβούλιο της Ευρώπης, πως ο αντιρατσιστικός νόμος “δεν αντιμετωπίζει … τις ύβρεις και τη δυσφήμηση ή τη δημόσια διάδοση, δημόσια διανομή ή παραγωγή ή αποθήκευση ρατσιστικού υλικού… η σχετική ποινική νομοθεσία δεν εφαρμόζεται πάντα και η κατάσταση χειροτερεύει από τη μη καταδίκη των ομιλιών μίσους… Η ECRI συνιστά ο νόμος 927/1979 να εφαρμόζεται πάντα σε περιπτώσεις ομιλιών μίσους στα ΜΜΕ.”

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Το άρθρο από τον τοίχο του Ανδρέας Πανταζόπουλος όπου δημοσιεύσαμε το παραπάνω σχόλιο:

Μια ψεύτικη ελευθερία
του Ηλία Κανέλλη
ΤΑ ΝΕΑ 3.09.2020
Οπως θα έχετε πληροφορηθεί, στη Γαλλία άρχισε η δίκη για την επίθεση στη σατιρική εφημερίδα «Charlie Hebdo», τον Ιανουάριο 2015, όπου δολοφονήθηκαν από εξτρεμιστές ισλαμιστές δώδεκα άνθρωποι – ανάμεσά τους σπουδαίοι γελοιογράφοι. Παρότι η κινητοποίηση των πολιτών που δήλωναν Σαρλί («Je sui Charlie») ήταν τεράστια, έκτοτε το βλάσφημο χιούμορ υπέστειλε τη δυναμική του, και όχι μόνο στη Γαλλία αλλά σε ολόκληρο τον δυτικό κόσμο. Πού να μπλέκεις με φανατικούς με τα καλάσνικοφ. Και πού να μπλέκεις με την τζιχάντ της πολιτικής ορθότητας.
Η σύνταξη της εφημερίδας, πριν από την έναρξη της δίκης, αποφάσισε να ξαναμπλέξει, γι’ αυτό αναδημοσίευσε στην πρώτη σελίδα της μερικά από τα βλάσφημα σκίτσα για τον Μωάμεθ. Ως εκδήλωση ελεύθερου πνεύματος, οι συντελεστές του φύλλου δήλωσαν ότι οι ελευθερίες που ο δυτικός κόσμος έχει κατακτήσει δεν παζαρεύονται και δεν υποχωρούν μπροστά στη σκοταδιστική βία. Για να μην ενθαρρυνθούν, μάλιστα, όσοι εκτιμούν ότι, δεν βαριέσαι, ας μην προκαλούμε τους τρελούς του θεού, ο Εμανουέλ Μακρόν έκανε μια ξεκάθαρη δήλωση για τον τρόπο με τον οποίο αντιλαμβάνονται στη Γαλλία τα όρια της ελευθερίας. «Η ελευθερία της βλασφημίας πάει μαζί με την ελευθερία της συνείδησης», τόνισε ο γάλλος πρόεδρος. «Εργο μου είναι να προστατεύω την ελευθερία, παντού. Δεν είναι δουλειά μου να χαρακτηρίζω και να αξιολογώ τις επιλογές των δημοσιογράφων».
Η δήλωση του Μακρόν δεν είναι πρωτόγνωρη για τα δεδομένα της χώρας του, όπου η δημοκρατία, το κοσμικό κράτος που θεμελιώνεται στη λαϊκή κυριαρχία, έχει τους κανόνες του. Ο βασικότερος κανόνας είναι ότι δεν υπάρχει καμία υποχρέωση από κανέναν να στρογγυλεύει ή να αποσιωπά τις εκφράσεις του για να μην κατηγορηθεί ότι θίγει δόγματα, άρα προσβάλλει τους πιστούς τους. Ο Μακρόν ήταν σαφής. Είναι γούστο και καπέλο οποιουδήποτε εκφράζεται δημοσίως να μη στρογγυλεύει τον λόγο του. Αν αρέσει. Αν δεν αρέσει, μη διαβάζετε ή, καλύτερα, μην καταναλώνετε, μην αγοράζετε. Αυτό σημαίνει δημοκρατία.
Ο Μακρόν δεν έκανε τον κόπο να αποδεχθεί τις κατηγορίες κατά των σκίτσων στο Facebook. Δεν υπολόγισε τους πολιτικώς ορθούς, τους «ταρτούφους» (όπως προσωπικότητες σαν τον Πασκάλ Μπρικνέρ ή τον Πιερ-Αντρέ Ταγκιέφ έχουν αποκαλέσει ένα κίνημα πολιτικής ορθότητας, που θεωρεί ισλαμοφοβία την υπεράσπιση των παραδόσεων ελευθερίας της δημοκρατίας), όσους θεωρούν ότι η αντιπαράθεση με τον πολιτισμικό εξαιρετισμό του τζιχάντ είναι «έλλειψη ανοχής» και κατανόηση του διαφορετικού ή όσους αποκαλούν ακροδεξιούς και νεοαντιδραστικούς εκείνους που κάνουν λόγο για την εθνική ταυτότητα.
Στην Ελλάδα, προσαρμοσμένα ανάλογα, τα ίδια ρεύματα είναι κυρίαρχα. Μόνο που δεν θα βρεθεί πολιτικός να υπερασπίσει το δικαίωμα στη βλασφημία. Καλά καλά, δεν θα βρεθεί δημοσιογράφος να υπερασπίσει την ελευθερία της έκφρασης. Φωνάξαμε όλοι «Ζε σουί Σαρλί», αλλά γενικώς υπερασπίζουμε μια ψεύτικη ελευθερία.
Η ελευθερία του Τύπου είναι για τα δύσκολα. Δεν υπάρχει θέμα όταν όλοι γράφουμε την ίδια γενικολογία, όταν αλληλοσυγχαιρόμαστε ή όταν αυτολογοκρινόμαστε για να μη φανούμε ενοχλητικοί. Το θέμα αρχίζει από εκεί και μετά, όταν κάποια δημόσια φωνή ακούγεται ενοχλητική, όταν διαταράσσει την ομοιομορφία υποτίθεται της ευπρέπειας. Το θέμα αρχίζει με τη διαφορετικότητα που δεν είναι της μόδας, τη διαφορετικότητα που δεν γράφει λιβανωτούς για τα συμπαρομαρτούντα της πολιτικής ορθότητας, συχνά μάλιστα την αντιστρατεύεται. Το θέμα αρχίζει, δηλαδή, όταν η διαφορετικότητα που προβάλλεται δεν είναι αυτή την οποία προωθεί η δική μας στρατευμένη αντίληψη για τον δημόσιο λόγο.

Επαναπροώθηση ΕΛ.ΑΣ Αλεξανδρούπολη 2/9/2020

• Date of incident: 2-9-2020

• Location: outside Alexandropouli

• Law enforcement involved: Greek Police Officers 

• Number of people pushed back: 120

• Nationalities : Afghani, Palestinian, Syrian, Moroccan

• How many had documents for sure: –

• Demographics (women, children, etc): women involved 

• Method of expulsion: People were driven to the Turkish side of the Evros / Meriç river and they were forced to cross the Greek/ Turkish border.

• Documenting organisation: Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN)

• Description: A group of four Moroccans and two Palestinians having recently arrived in Greece, were being arrested by Greek Police Officers. They were driven to a detention site in Alexandroupoli, after being repeatedly hit and bullied. Inside the room between 110 and 120 people had been detained already, many nationalities mixed. Later, around 50 or 60 people from the detention space were crammed into a vehicle. Everyone was hit with a baton. The rest of the group had to wait for the same vehicle to return. The authorities drove them to the river, with the lights of the vehicle turned off.

• Documents : https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/september-2-2020-0700-30min-drive-outside-alexandropouli/ 

02/09/2020

“THEY WERE LAUGHING WHILE THEY WERE HITTING US. LAUGHING SO MUCH. NO NORMAL PERSON CAN DO THAT.”

Date and time: September 2, 2020 19:00

Location: 30min drive outside Alexandropouli

Coordinates: 41.034521683302, 26.019530847656

Push-back from: Greece

Push-back to: Turkey

Demographics: 120 person(s), age: unknown, from: Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Morocco

Minors involved? Unknown

Violence used: beating (with batons/hands/other), kicking, insulting, gunshots, forcing to undress, theft of personal belongings

Police involved: 14 men in black clothes and balaclavas, 2 of them speaking German; 16-17 police officers in blue uniform, all Greek; white van

Taken to a police station: yes

Treatment at police station or other place of detention: detention, denial of food/water

Was the intention to ask for asylum expressed: No

Reported by: josoor

ORIGINAL REPORT

On 28th August 2020, a group of four Moroccans and two Palestinians crossed the border to Greece with a rubber dinghy on the Evros river in the area of the Turkish town of Meric. On the Greek side, they continued by foot for four days. On the fourth day, early in the morning when it was still dark, they were apprehended by six men in black clothes wearing balaclavas. Four cars were hidden behind some trees, one was big with big wheels stated the respondent.

The masked men started shooting into the ground with guns around the group, yelling “get on the ground, get on the ground!”. When the transit group complied, the men approached and started beating them with batons and kicking them on the head, face, torso, legs. Then the men told them to get up and get into one of the cars, it was white. When the transit group entered, each of them was beaten one more time with the baton.

The respondent had previously lived in Germany for four years and is fluent in German (the testimony was taken in German). He recounts that at least two of the masked men who caught them in the forest spoke German with each other. The other four spoke Greek.

One of the masked men asked the group where they were from. When one of the people replied saying he was from Palestine, one of the other masked men (Greek speaker) approached him aggressively and said “I’m a Jew. I hate Palestine!”. The masked man then proceeded to kick the Palestinian man in the face.

The respondent did not reveal his German language skills to the masked men out of fear, but he remembers them talking about him and the others, referring to them as rats and terrorists. He describes that they were laughing while hitting them, seeming to take enjoyment from the episode. The respondent also explained that at his previous transit attempt around two months ago, he saw two unmarked cars, Volkswagen and Opel, with German license plates at the detention site (next to several cars of the Greek police).

The masked men took the group to a detention site around thirty minutes away, which some of the other people detained there told the respondent was located in Alexandropouli. The respondent said it was a police station and they were detained in a big room. Before they were taken into that room, they were told to get undressed:

“Like the last times, they told us to get naked – completely naked. And they kept hitting us with a baton while telling us to undress. They were hitting us everywhere.”

When they were naked, the transit group were told to enter that big room. There was no furniture whatsoever, only one toilet which was dirty and stank. The only water they could drink was from that toilet.

“It stank really bad, but you still have to drink it because the thirst is just too strong.”

Inside the room between 110 and 120 people had been detained already, many nationalities mixed. The respondent talked to several Syrians and Afghans. Both men and women were present, everybody completely naked. One of the women had tried to hide her phone in her vagina. During a body search, it was found and she was subsequently beaten heavily. The others had to carry her as she could not walk anymore.

The respondent described that there were 16 or 17 officers present at that site in total. These “officers” were wearing blue clothes, like police uniforms, but there were no flags on them. He is not sure whether there were any numbers or signs of them, only that there was no flag. All of them were wearing black balaclavas, he could not see a single face. The respondent describes that they were laughing when hitting the people:

“They were laughing while they were hitting us. Laughing so much. No normal person can do that. Maybe they are taking drugs, cocaine, I don’t know – no normal human can do that. No way.”

The detainees were kept in the facility for the whole day. At around 18:00, some of the people in blue clothes came to the room and threw a bunch of clothes in there. Everybody had to get dressed, not really taking their own clothes but whatever they could find. They were not given back their shoes.

When they all were dressed, eight or nine men dressed in black and wearing balaclavas came, carrying guns. They told the detainees to go outside. A big white vehicle was waiting there, and one of the masked men was standing next to the door. Around 50 or 60 people from the detention space were crammed into this vehicle. Everyone was hit with a baton by the masked men standing next to it when they entered the vehicle. According to the respondent, this transfer of 50/60 people occurred two times to move around 120 people. The rest of the group had to wait for the same vehicle to return.

The authorities drove them to the river, with the lights of the vehicle turned off. The respondent says that at this point, the masked men were talking to them very nicely. One of them was asking him “where did you want to go, Albania? Try again next time!” They also told them not to speak.

The masked men readied one small dinghy and drove the people across, seven or eight at once. There were two people handling the boat, the respondent things they were either Afghans or Pakistani. When he reached the Turkish side of the river, the respondent started cursing the men on the Greek side. They walked for a while and found some houses. They knocked on several doors and were given water, bread and slippers. They went to a bus stop. They didn’t have any money so they started asking people for money and after a while had enough money for the trip to Istanbul.