They denounce that the Greek coast guard killed the migrants by throwing them into the ocean

The Greek coast guard killed the migrants by throwing them into the water within the open sea within the Aegean. Data, unique to BBC After a protracted investigation, it confirms different investigations of current years by the European media such because the German one Spiegel. The BBC claims the Greek coastguard “triggered the deaths of dozens of migrants within the Mediterranean over a three-year interval”, together with some who intentionally jumped into the water.

Greece denies it, however the complaints are piling up and previously in addition they got here from senior commanders of the German Navy, which participated in operations within the Aegean as a part of Frontex, the European border company. The Greek coast guard would have triggered the dying of no less than 40 individuals.

The BBC investigation appears to be like at 15 incidents that passed off between Could 2020 and Could 2023 and resulted in 43 deaths. It’s based mostly on native media experiences, testimonies from NGOs and the Turkish Coast Guard, whichIn recent times they’ve saved a whole bunch of individuals deserted within the open sea by the Greek coastguard with small inflatable dinghies, virtually seaside toys and no motor. The BBC confirmed this data with direct witnesses of the occasions.

Final October, Spiegel, the investigative portal “Bellingcat” and the Japanese tv “Asahi Information” – with the cooperation of a number of impartial Greek journalists – printed, with the help of movies, paperwork and confidential pictures of Frontex, how the ships of the European company. participated in what is understood in English as a 'pushback', unlawful returns on the excessive seas.

“Pushback” is legally understood because the act of violently forcing barges or zodiacs of refugees or migrants to show round on the excessive seas with out permitting them, as outlined by present legal guidelines, to hunt asylum and with out taking into consideration the person circumstances of every individual. one of many males on the barge. Besides this, These sizzling offshore deportations are against the law as a result of they go in opposition to the regulation of the ocean.

These deportations additionally violate Greek rules, the Geneva Refugee Conference and the European Asylum Directive. All of them ask to be granted asylum and contemplate every individual's circumstances. Additionally they prohibit collective deportations.

The BBC investigation tells the case of a Cameroonian nationwide who arrived on the island of Samos in September 2021. The person says he wished to hunt asylum, however Greek police, some masked, detained him together with one other Cameroonian and an ivory They have been transferred to a Greek Coast Guard vessel, from the place they jumped into the water.

He says that they hit him, that he was punched within the head and that he was additionally thrown into the water, however that he managed to swim to the shore, the opposite two drowned.

One other man, a Somali, arrived in March 2021 on the island of Chios. The Coast Guard tied his palms behind his again and they also threw him into the water. He managed to swim face up. Three others died in that incident. The Turkish Coast Guard rescued him.

Actions resembling these have been denounced for no less than six years by teams of assist employees who, on islands resembling Lesbos, helped pull drowned individuals out of the water. The workers of the Spanish NGO 'Open Arms' had already in April 2016 Clarionthroughout his keep in Lesbos – during which he spent a rescue night time on his ship – that they suspected that the Greek coast guard and Frontex dedicated unlawful and violent evictions. On the time that they had suspicions, however no proof just like the BBC has now.

The investigation by Spiegel and Bellingcat printed final October took months. Throughout that point, Frontex vessels (their bases, routes and actions at sea) have been monitored.

Following their radar alerts for months, they found that Frontex vessels, typically flanked by the Greek coastguard on one facet and the Turkish coastguard on the opposite, they maneuvered to generate waves which pushed the barges in direction of the Turkish coast. Investigators even had satellite tv for pc photos of these operations.

The data they have been getting in regards to the actions of those vessels allowed them to take photos and movies of some unlawful deportations, just like the one which occurred on August 15, 2023, when a Frontex coast guard, MAI1102 with the Romanian flag, pushed a barge into Turkish waters.

That deportation was watched from afar by a German ship collaborating within the NATO mission within the Aegean. The German captain knowledgeable his authorities about what he had seen and that Frontex personnel have been there through the unlawful deportation. Der Spiegel had entry to the official doc of the German Ministry of Protection that features the report of the captain of the German ship.

For years, Frontex categorically denies its participation in any criminal activity and naturally in these deportations. The legal guidelines of the ocean would require their vessels to take away from the ocean anybody touring on a barge that’s stopped offshore.

Frontex operations at sea They’re typically monitored by airplanes approved by the company that data video and sends the photographs on to the Frontex headquarters in Warsaw. Der Spiegel had proof that on no less than one event a kind of planes, registered with the registration “G-WKTH”, flew twice over a refugee barge being pushed by a coast guard.

Frontex ships within the Aegean They typically navigate with their transponders turned off, an unlawful follow underneath regular circumstances and harmful at night time that makes them much less noticeable. The Zodiac “Open Arms” during which this reporter was touring on April 12, 2016 virtually collided with a Portuguese-flagged Frontex coast guard crusing at daybreak with its lights and transponder off.