Aegean Boat Report

In the morning of August 8, a boat carrying 64 people, 13 of them children, was heading from the Turkish shore towards the Greek island of Rhodes.

Deep inside Greek territory waters they were stopped by three men in a black and white RIB, all in black uniforms, carrying guns, their faces covered by masks. From their tactical gear, they are believed to be HCG Special Forces (OEA/KEA).

According to the victims, the masked men entered the yacht, forced people onboard to give them their phones, money and bags. They quickly immobilized the boat by destroying the engine, before returning to their RIB.

The masked men weren’t very thorough, several onboard managed to hide their phones. These were later used to take pictures and videos onboard, and to contact rescue services.

While the masked men had control of the boat, a large vessel from the Greek Coast Guard arrived. The masked men in the RIB tied a line between the yacht and the coast guard vessel, and the coast guard started towing the yacht while 64 people were still onboard back towards Turkish waters.

Normally this is something we rarely are able to document, in this case passengers on a nearby vessel caught the towing on video.

https://videopress.com/v/n4qG8Th0?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

The vessel in the video is identified as a Sa’ar 4 class offshore patrol vessel of the Hellenic Coast Guard, and according to testimonies from the victims, more precisely the ΛΣ 080, “Agios Efstration”, currently stationed on Rhodes. The RIB can also be seen in the video, traveling alongside the tow.

The boat was towed back into Turkish waters, and sat adrift at approximately 15.15 local time, 40 km north east of Rhodes.

Shortly after, the people onboard the drifting yacht contacted several organizations for assistance, amongst them Aegean Boat Report.

There are no rescue vessels in the Aegean Sea, so we immediately informed the Turkish SAR center and provided them with all necessary information to initiate rescue. They could inform us that they had just received a notification by email from the Greek Coast Guard, informing them of a boat adrift in this area.

According to the victims, the Greek coast guard vessel that towed them is still in the area, watching. In the video we can see a vessel in the distance, if this is the Greek coast guard we have been unable to determine.

A Turkish coast guard vessel was sent to the area, but due to mechanical problems the vessel had to return, and a new vessel had to be routed to the area.

The group was eventualy found and rescued at 20.55, they had then been drifting for almost six hours.

Strangely enough this case was not registered as a pushback by the Turkish coast guard, but as a case of “engine failure”. We find this particularly strange since they had been alerted by their Greek counterparts, and we had informed them of this pushback, still it was not registered as such.

Iin the last four months we have registered a high increase of cases where “engine failure” is registered by Turkish authorities as the cause, when they find and pick up people from boats in the Aegean Sea. In many of these cases we know that the boats have been pushed back by Greek authorities, it should be quite obvious also for the Turkish authorities, boats without engines, engine houses cut, no petrol tanks etc. But still these cases are registered as “engine failure”.

The question we ask ourselves, is why Turkish authorities are deliberately covering up for Greek pushbacks, what could possibly be the reason for this “favor”, and especially what is in it for them?

These kind of pushbacks where larger boats, speedboats, yachts, sailboats, fishing boats and cargo vessels, are being pushed back isn’t unusual, what is unusual is that this time the towing was caught on camera from another vessel.

To tow overcrowded vessels can have fatal consequences, the most publicly known is the Farmakonisi case from 2014, where 11 people drowned after their boat capsized in a pushback attempt by Greek authorities, and the Pylos shipwreck on June 14 last year, where it’s believed that 650 people died after a failed pushback attempt by the Greek Coast Guard.

Over the last five years hundreds of people have drowned in the Aegean Sea, after their boats have capsized. In many of the cases the Greek coast guard have already been on location, but according to official statements, not been directly involved or unable to rescue the boat, and “only done their utmost to save as many as they could”.

Most of these cases have never been properly investigated, and conclusions have been solely based on statements made by the Greek coast guard. In light of official statements made in known cases, in which have been proven to be false, the accuracy of these statements is highly questionable.

In this case outside Rhodes a few days ago the boat didn’t capsize, and nobody drowned. But if this towing had gone wrong, does anyone believe that Greek authorities would have taken responsibility and admitted that they had towed the yacht, causing it to capsize, very unlikely. They would immediately have claimed to rescue as many as they could, and put the blame on the people onboard and ruthless smugglers for putting people’s lives at risk.

The problem with these cases is that there are very few who document and investigate, and try to find out what really happened. Those who do are criminalized by national authorities, and lacks resources and funding to do a proper investigation.

The European Commission relies on national authorities to investigate their own crimes, no wonder nobody is held accountable.

The Commission is deliberately opposing, all and any independent investigations into these well known and documented systematic human rights violations in Greece, because they know that any truly independent investigation will uncover the truth, a truth that will force to Commission to act.

While we are waiting for the commission to act, people are being killed on a daily basis at our borders, in the name of border protection.

In the early hours of July 8, a group of 27 people arrived on the Greek island of Inousses, north east of Chios.

The group contacted several organizations to try to get assistance, amongst them Alarmphone and Aegean Boat Report.

First contact was at 05.30, they told us that everyone had managed to get safely on land, and that they needed help to be taken to a camp and apply for asylum.

The group first confirmed their presence on the island by sending their location and live location on Whatsapp. Later they also provided pictures and videos, together with a list of the 27 people who had arrived, full name, age and gender in English and Farsi.

According to Alarmphone, they informed local authorities of the presence of 27 people on Inousses, and their intention to apply for asylum in Greece, in an email sent at 06.45.

The group started walking towards a small chapel to find shelter from the sun and the heat, on their way they rested next to the road in a dried out river drainage. Her they took some pictures and a video that was sent to Aegean Boat Report, time stamp shows time to be 06.55.

This was the last we heard from the group.

According to Alarmphone, the group, while walking towards the chapel, had encountered local police, and sent a message that said “We are with the local police, do we have to be afraid?”, this was the last anyone heard from the group.

What happened next in this case we unfortunately have no details about, but from previous similar cases, we know that people are being strip searched, robbed and beaten, all while being threatened at gunpoint, before they are forced back to sea on a coast guard vessel.

During the day we several times contacted local police and coast guard to try to find out if the group had been found and rescued, strangled enough, even do they had been informed by email, they had no knowledge of anything happening in this area…

We later learned that nobody was taken to the camp on chios and registered this day, this is confirmed by official information published by the ministry.

The following morning, over 24 hours after we lost contact with the group while on Oinousses, Turkish coast guard reported that they had initiated a rescue operation on Karaada island, Çesme.

17 people had managed to get to land by their own means, one person was rescued by a local fishing vessel, while the bodies of 8 people had been found in the sea.

Due to the close proximity to Inousses, and the number of people involved, we understood that this could be the same group that we had been in contact with on Inousses. When we received the footage from the rescue operation, we no longer had any doubt, it’s without a doubt the same group.

Of the 27 people that arrived on Inousses on July 8, there were 17 adults, 4 minors and 6 children, mostly Afghans, but also some Palestinians and Iraqis.

8 of the people in this video was killed by the Greek coast guard in this brutal pushback, 5 Afghans, 2 Palestinians and a woman from Iraq, we have not been able to determine if there were any children amongst the dead.

Survivors told that they had been captured on the island by Greek police, all belongings stolen, taken back out to sea in a grey coast guard vessel and forced into a life raft close to the Turkish island of Karaada.

They had managed to paddle with their hands and reach the island, but on their way in towards the rocky shore, the fragile rubber raft hit some rocks and deflated, and people ended up in the sea, those who couldn’t swim drowned.

Greece seems to have a “license to kill” issued by the European Commission in the name of border protection. As long as vulnerable men, women and children are stopped in reaching European territory, by any means possible, killing thousands doesn’t seem to be of any concern.

The Pylos shipwreck last year, where Greek authorities killed over 650 people, amongst them over 100 children, in a failed pushback attempt, has so far not led to any reaction from the commission, no independent investigation, no infringement proceedings against Greece, it’s as it didn’t happen.

While more and more people are being killed at our borders, the European Commission, instead of trying to stop these barbaric killings, continues to poor money into these operations, no questions asked, as long as the job gets done.

I have many times asked “How many more men, women and children must be killed by Greek authorities before the European Commission takes action?”. I’m beginning to think that such number doesen’t exist, there is no limit, as long as the “right people” are being killed, nothing else matters.

This is nothing less than EU-sanctioned killings, and we are more than happy to look the other way, pretending nothing is happening.

Our deepest condolences goes out to those who lost loved ones, family and friends.

To the Greek authorities we say this, we will never forgive, never forget!

On the night of Friday 28 June, Aegean Boat Report published an emergency alert regarding a group that had arrived on the uninhabited Greek island of Vatos, north east of Chios, and was in imminent danger of being pushed back by Greek authorities.

We immediately published about this group to try to draw attention to it, so that it would have at least a fighting chance. Sometimes, publicity can persuade Greek authorities to do the right thing. This, unfortunately, was not one of those.

According to the group, the smuggler they had paid was supposed to take them to Chios, but instead left them on Vatos.

The Greek authorities were informed of their presence, and a Lambro 57 coastal patrol vessel belonging to the coast guard on Chios was observed in a small bay south east on the island, closing in on the area where the group was located.

The boat observed the group for 30 minutes before it apparently left.

The following day, Alarmphone also published about the group on Vatos, and reported that when they spoke to the coast guard, they were informed that they wouldn’t launch a rescue operation due to bad weather.

This was not true.

The Coastguard was already on the island.

Before we lost contact with the group, they told us that two men approached them, telling them: “Don’t worry, we will take you to camp, don’t worry we will help you, we can take you in our private boat to Chios”.

Not everyone understood what the men said, and many were sceptical, but Everyone was wet and cold, the children were crying, and so they had no option but to trust them. Equally, both men were wearing civilian clothes and not masks, so they decided to go with them.

Shortly after 21.00 all phones went offline, and we understood that something was about to happen.

The last message received was a picture of a man, in civilian clothes, t-shirt, shorts, sunglasses and a small bag strapped over his chest, with the text: “This is one of the men who want us to go with them”.

We didn’t quite understand who this man was at first, but found it a bit unlikely that two ‘Greek tourists’ with a boat, willing to help stranded refugees, would just happen to be walking around on this deserted island at night.

Through our contacts, we searched for someone who might have seen this man on Chios.

We were told that he was a member of the ‘special troops’ stationed on Chios, and operated on the coast guard vessels, tasked to handle “special operations”, like pushbacks, hunting for refugees, etc.

We are actually not shocked, we have seen and heard of these “special troops” for years. They often wear civilian clothes and claim to be UNHCR or MSF, only there to help. But they are more commonly behind black masks, using extreme violence in their efforts to push people back.

This time, one was caught on camera, directly linking him to a serious crime taking place on European soil: the kidnapping of 20 people, detaining them arbitrarily, exposing them to inhuman and degrading treatment and endangering their lives.

Just to be clear, we will make all original material, pictures, videos, voice messages and geolocation data, available for journalists, Greek and European independent investigators, legal teams with the intent to file charges, upon official requests to Aegean Boat Report.

All contact with the group on multiple phones was lost, and Greek authorities hadn’t located anyone on Vatos, at least officially.

Looking at registration numbers on Chios, only two people were officially registered as arriving in the following days.

On Saturday afternoon, 29 June, the following day, the Turkish coast guard found and rescued a group of 20 people, nine of them children, who were stranded on the Turkish island of Karaada, six kilometers from Vatos.

From pictures published by the Turkish coast guard, it’s clear that it’s the same group, who had arrived on Vatos the previous night and contacted among others, Aegean Boat Report.

Alarmphone also confirmed that the group had been pushed back in a life raft by Greek authorities, and left helplessly drifting in the sea.

The two men who approached the group obviously worked in cooperation with the coast guard, tricking the group to believe they would help them, so that they came willingly, walking straight into the lion’s mouth.

Instead of helping the Afghan refugees, they took them to the Greek Coast Guard vessel, transported them back out to sea, and forced them into an engineless raft, abandoning them at sea.

How they were treated while in captivity we don’t know, but from previous similar cases, we know that the use of extreme violence isn’t uncommon, and we have no reason to assume this group was treated very differently.

The group drifted towards the island of Karaada, and managed to get ashore by their own means.

Luckily, a Turkish coast guard boat on patrol eventually spotted them, and at 17.00, they were rescued from the island.

They had no means to call for help, because the Greek Coast Guard had taken all their phones and thrown them into the sea.

We have not been able to reconnect with anyone from the group, but routinely, all Afghans who try to flee Turkey towards Europe, are first taken to Removal centres financed by the EU, then transported across Turkey to camps close to the Iranian border.

We have previously published about Afghan people being being deported by Turkish authorities: thousands of people, men, women and children are being transported through Iran, back to Afghanistan and Taliban, where many will be imprisoned, tortured and killed for leaving the country.

Anyone claiming that Afghanistan, ranked as the most dangerous country in the world, according to the Global Peace Index, for the sixth year in a row, is safe for anyone, has lost their grip on reality.

To put it into perspective, Ukraine, in full-blown war, is ranked as the world’s seventh most dangerous country. Europe has given almost six million Ukrainian refugees temporary protection, while we are trying our utmost to force Afghans out of Europe, by all means possible.

Greek authorities, central to this process because they are illegally forcing Afghans into Turkiye, are not only supported by EU and Frontex, but also financed by EU and the European Commission.

Everyone, including EU politicians, knows perfectly well what is going on in Greece: the evidence is overwhelming.

But the European Commission has taken no action to stop these widespread, systematic human rights violations on European soil.

It’s time for Frontex to cease all activities in Greece, and for the European Commission to start infringement proceedings to try to reinstate the rule of law in Greece.

Tens of thousands of vulnerable men, women and children have been pushed back by Greek Authorities in the Aegean Sea the last four years, blessed and funded by EU and the European Commission. Below is 15 of them from the group on Vatos, deemed unwanted in Europe, soon to be deported back to Afghanistan, to an uncertain future in the hands of Taliban.

While media pressure is building up against Greek authorities systematic and widespread human rights violations in the Aegean, they continue to leave vulnerable men, women and children helpless drifting in life rafts in the middle of the sea.

In the last days, 10 life rafts, carrying 180 people, mostly Afghan nationals, and 60 of them small children, have been found drifting by the Turkish coast guard.

We are in daily contact with people in distress after being illegally and brutally pushed back by the Greek coast guard in the Aegean Sea.

Some of them have documented their ordeal on video, most cannot, because their phones are usually robbed from them by their captors before they are forced into these motor-less rafts, or they don’t dare to out of fear of what would happen to them if caught.

In the early hours of Wednesday June 19, a boat carrying 33 people, 14 of them small children, was closing in on the north east shore of the Greek island of Leros. Those people had travelled more than 20 miles from the Turkish coast, under cover of darkness, in an overloaded flimsy rubber boat, and had only a few more miles left to reach land on Leros.

A few miles from Leros, they were detected by a vessel from the Greek coast guard, and brutally stopped.

Everyone was taken onboard the coast guard vessel. Some believed that they would be taken to safety. Others, especially those who had had experience with the Greek Coastguard before, were more sceptical about their fate.

Masked men onboard the Greek coast guard vessel, carrying guns and batons, started shouting, ordering them to hand over their phones, and brutally searching everyone.

At first light, the group was forced into two life rafts and left helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea, inside Turkish waters, by the Greek coast guard.

At 05.30am CEST, a woman from one of the life rafts contacted Aegean Boat Report and asked for assistance.

We did the only thing we could do: document their case and inform Turkish authorities, so the group could be rescued and taken to safety on land.

“Hi please help us, we have kids and called Turkey coast guard, they said we can’t come because you are in greek water, please save us!”

The life rafts were drifting in Turkish waters, but the group insisted that they didn’t want to be rescued by the Turkish coast guard and taken back to Turkey: they said they had not been and would not be safe in Turkey.

But because they had already been illegally pushed back by the Greek coast guard, their only immediate option was to be taken back to Turkey.

The group told us: “We are not safe in Turkey,” and we must agree. They are absolutely not safe in Turkey. Thousands of Afghans in Turkey have in the last months been rounded up and transported to camps close to the Iranian and Syrian border, from where they are almost always deported against their wishes back to Afghanistan, and an at best uncertain future under the Taliban regime.

At 07.30am, we were informed by the Turkish coast guard that two life rafts carrying 33 people, 14 of them small children, had been found drifting 20 miles north west of Bodrum.

Comparing pictures and videos taken and shared with Aegean Boat Report by the people onboard the life raft with pictures taken by the Turkish coast guard, we could confirm that it was the same group.

This week two strong documentaries have been published, by BBC in the UK and STRG_F in Germany. They both clearly, and without any doubt, show the systematic human rights violations in Greece, and the total failure of Frontex and the European Commission, to make sure that member states uphold fundamental rights of people seeking protection in Europe.

But even as pressure is mounting against the Greek authorities, Frontex and the European Commission, for supporting the widespread and systematic fundamental rights violations in Greece, this incident and many others beside prove that the Greek authorities continue to put lives at risk, killing vulnerable men, women and children at the European border in the name of border protection, blessed and funded by EU.

When small defenceless children are thrown into life rafts and abandoned in the middle of the sea by authorities, and we don’t raise our voice, there is something terribly wrong with us.

On March 23 2020, 31 people were found drifting in a life raft outside the Greek island of Simi, Dodecanese, Greece.

People onboard testified that they had been held captive for two days on the island by Greek authorities, before taken back out to sea and abandoned in a life raft.

This was the first case registered of such practice – using life-saving equipment to illegally remove asylum seekers from Greek territory, leaving them helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea.

It was extremely difficult to believe, at first, that anyone, especially a European country, could do such a thing towards other human beings.

In fact, it was only the beginning. In the coming days, months and years, thousands of men, women and small children have been found drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea by the Turkish coast guard, all reporting that they had been forced into these rafts by the Greek coast guard.

Greece has denied all and any involvement in these brutal and inhumane acts, claiming it’s only “fake news”, propaganda by NGOs that for some reason ‘want to undermine and discredit Greece’.

Hundreds of cases have been investigated and documented by organisations, EU bodies, independent researchers, international media, and even Frontex, all with the same conclusion: there is absolutely no doubt that Greek authorities are behind this. But still they continue to deny the obvious.

Even when their own coast guard and police are caught on camera, brutality and illegally removing people from Greek territory, and abandoning them in life rafts at sea, they continue to deny it.

The evidence is overwhelming, but still Greek ministers and even the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, lie to journalists on TV. Who do they think they are fooling?

The answer to that would be first the Greek people, who have been misled and lied to for several years by their government, and second, the European Commission.

We don’t believe for a second that the European Commission has been unaware of what has been going on in Greece, there is too much evidence available for that, even from the EU’s own investigation through the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

It became clear as day when the Commission desperately tried to keep the findings of this investigation away from the European public, by classifying the report secret. Fortunately, they didn’t succeed, and the report was published by investigative journalists in October 2022.

The European Commission, led by Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, has been fully aware of the Greek government’s systematic human rights abuses, and not only that, they have supported their efforts and funded their operations, all in the name of ‘border protection’.

It seems that fundamental human rights in Europe are not for everyone, and are preserved only for the privileged.

Earlier this week, the BBC in the UK broadcast an investigation, Dead Calm: Killing in the Med about the Greek Coastguard’s illegal activities leading to people drowning while being pushed back. It did its job well, uncovering clear evidence of the Greek Coastguard and government breaking the law and effectively killing people in the process, but viewers should not believe it showed anything like the true magnitude of the violations against the law and human decency being committed by Greece’s Coastguard and government.

Since March 2020, 1,478 life rafts have been found drifting in the Aegean Sea by the Turkish coast guard, carrying almost 26,000 men, women and children. In total, 85,000 people have been illegally pushed back from Greece in the last four years.

The average cost of one life raft that can hold 15+ people, manufactured by Lalizas, is approximately €4.000.

That indicates that the Greek coast guard has spent around €6 million on life rafts in less than four years, to illegally deport men, women and children.

Who is picking up the bill? Like everything else related to border protection in Greece, the EU pays.

The European Commission is knowingly and deliberately funding violations of international law and human rights performed by Greek authorities. There are no questions asked.

As long as the job – preventing people from arriving in the EU, and removing those who do arrive – is being done, the cost in human lives doesn’t seem to be of any concern. Why would it? They are not European.

That may sound harsh, but the awful truth is that this is the modern EU.

The European Court of Human Rights will tomorrow, June 4, hear two cases against the Greek government for illegally forcing people back to Turkiye.

It is the first time the Court will hear cases against pushbacks carried out by the Greek government, and Aegean Boat Report has played a central role in helping to bring the first of them this far.

The first case, in which GRJ, an unaccompanied child, and one other unaccompanied child, were pushed back by the Greek government on 8 September 2020, was first and extensively documented by Aegean Boat Report.

We worked for months to highlight the case, bringing it to the attention of global media and legal practitioners, and persuaded international lawyer and lecturer in international law at Haifa University Itamar Yossef Mann-Kanowitz, to raise it across the legal community.

GRJ, whose case against the Greek government will be heard on Tuesday 4 June, arrived in Greece on 8 September 2020, along with 17 other people.

They arrived in Samos, and the two boys left the group to find help, as some members were injured and one was a pregnant woman, as well as to present themselves to Greek authorities and enter the asylum application process, as the law demands.

Both boys saw the 16 people with whom they had arrived taken on board a Greek Coastguard vessel. They assumed the group had been rescued – though in fact they were beaten and set adrift into Turkish waters, later being rescued by the Turkish Coastguard – and so travelled to Vathy camp to make themselves and their presence known, and apply for asylum.

Instead, having arrived at the camp, the two boys, aged 15 and 16, were taken to the camp police station, where they were told they would be held in isolation and then registered after a few days.

They were not.

In fact, Greek officials put them in a car, told them to hide below the level of the windows, then put them on a Greek Coastguard boat, stripped them of their money and possessions including mobile phones, handcuffed them, slapped them several times in the face, and set them adrift into Turkish waters on an inflatable lifeboat, without engines, and also without even life-jackets.

The boys had to paddle with their hands until they were rescued by the Turkish Coastguard.

We are delighted that GRJ has the opportunity to share his experience, and call for justice for his illegal and brutal treatment at the hands of the Greek government.

The case argues that Greece’s actions violated multiple rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to life, the prohibition of torture and the right to an effective remedy.

He will be represented in court by lawyers from Prakken d’Oliveira, Irish Centre for Human Rights and the Dutch Refugee Council.

To see our original report on this shocking and unacceptable violation of the law and human morality and decency, read the post her, link in picture.

You can also follow the case, and learn its outcome, by visiting the webcast after 2.30pm tomorrow, Tuesday 4 June 2024, link in picture.

We hope, as anyone with any interest in the law and our fellow men, women and children will do, that justice is done, and the Greek government will be held responsible for its despicable and illegal treatment of GRJ.

We also hope the case may set a precedent for the many, many thousands of other people treated similarly barbarically by the Greek government over the last five years, and may finally bring to an end this shameful chapter of Greek national history.

In the early hours of Thursday May 23, a boat carrying 25 people, amongst them 7 small children, was closing in on the northwestern shore of Samos, north west of Karlovasi.

6 kilometers from land a vessel from the Greek coast guard approached in high speed.

From videos we received from people onboard, we can clearly identify the boat as a Lambro 57 coastal patrol vessel, identification ΛΣ-604, belonging to the Hellenic Coast Guard on Samos.

The coast guard vessel first drove alongside the rubber boat, then started circling around it in high speed, creating waves to slow it down.

In videos taken from onboard the rubber boat, we can see three masked men, officers, on deck on the coast guard vessel.

The people in the rubber boat was eventually stopped, the masked officers on the coast guard vessel was standing above, pointing shotguns at them, they had no choice than to obey.

One by one they were taken onboard the coast guard vessel, thoroughly searched, before being placed sitting on deck in the front, face down and ordered not to talk or to look up.

All belongings were taken away from them, what little they had left in life they lost. While searching, the masked men continuously asked that they hand over their phones, nobody dared to resist, all phones was confiscated and thrown into the sea.

All communication with the boat was lost 06.58 (EEST), the phones went offline, we were unable to reconnect.

At the time we were unable to confirm what really happened to the group, but based on the systematic and widespread pushback practice by Greek authorities, we assumed that they had been illegally pushed back to Turkey.

At 10.15 Turkish coast guard found and rescued 25 people, 7 of them small children, from a life raft drifting outside Menderes, Turkey.

When comparing pictures and videos we received from the rubber boat, with footage published by the Turkish coast guard from the life raft outside Menderes, there is absolutely no doubt, the two groups are the same.

Greek coast guard illegally pushed back 25 people, 7 of them small children, forced them into a life raft and left them helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea, with no regard for their safety, international law or fundamental rights.

This systematic inhumane pushback practices by Greek authorities seems to be of no concern for the European Commission, the “guardian of the treaties”, who is not only turning a blind eye to widespread violations of fundamental rights in Europe, but also fully financing the illegal practice by Greek authorities.

For the last four years Greek authorities have, in cooperation with Frontex, and fully supported by the European Commission, pushed back 83.000 men, woman and children who have tried to find safety in Europe. 2000 rubber boats and 1.470 life rafts have been found helplessly drifting packed with people the Aegean Sea.

The European Commission has taken no legal actions, nor launched any infringement procedures against Greece, despite their blatant disregard for the rule of law in Europe.

The guardian of the treaties has failed, not a little, but miserably.

Almost a year ago, on June 26, we posted a video of a group of refugees handcuffed and duct-taped in the back of a van in Kos. The video immediately went viral on social media.

The Major of Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras, who is known to have a close connection to the police and coast guard on the island, went out immediately on a media spree to try to defend his “comrades”, claiming that it was fake news, made up by Aegean Boat Report.

He did not even bother to investigate the facts of the case, in a situation – we must remind you – in which video footage clearly showed people bound with tape, and blindfolded, in the back of a van.

The mayor’s astonishing response led to the headline in Kos’ local press: “I will sue the NGO that defames the island”.

Just to clarify, he never did file a lawsuit, even do he claimed to have done so. We cannot know for sure why he did not, especially having promised to the people of the island – to whom he owes his position and service – that he would. Perhaps he knew that we were in fact not lying, and was trying hard to shift focus from the facts.

We must note that this in itself, if it is the reason, would be a shocking dereliction of his duty: duties to the people of his island and to the wider community, which include ensuring that the uniformed officers of his region abide by their own rules, and national law, as well as not breaking international law and degrading the humanity of people within his territory.

An immediate and proper investigation was what any responsible mayor should have done. Theodosis Nikitaras did not carry one out.

Instead he tried to defend his friends in the coast guard, by attacking the messenger.

Fortunately, however, someone else did start an investigation into the incident: Frontex.

Oddly enough, when he became aware of this investigation, the mayor of Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras, stopped attacking Aegean Boat Report in the Greek press.

Once again, we stress that we can only speculate why Nikitaras decided to try to cover up this disturbing and serious incident, and why he saw no need to investigate acts his friends in the uniformed services were shown on video to be carrying out.

We firmly believe that the Mayor of Kos is fully aware of what is going on in his island, and that he deliberately tried to cover this up by attacking the organisation which published the video. We fear he did so because he wished to attempt to discredit and criminalize our organisation, and – perhaps most worrying from a Mayor – to mislead his constituency, the people of Kos.

Sadly, this seems to be the normal routine of any Greek officials whenever caught with their pants down. They deny, mislead and point the finger elsewhere. This has been the practice for years: taking responsibility and admitting any guilt seems never to be an option, even when they or those in their service are obviously guilty.

It is also important to note that the Frontex human rights office investigation (Serious Incident Report) into the incident, that we mentioned above, concluded by the end of last year, and was extremely clear in its findings:, is crystal clear:

Aegean Boat Report published the truth, and the incident certainly and incontrovertibly happened on Kos.

We believe it’s only fair that we try to shed as much light as we can on what has been the normal routine on Kos and the other Greek Aegean islands for years, by publishing in full the SIR from Frontex, so that people on Kos can make up their own minds, and see for themselves what a person their mayor really is. Link to full report in picture below.

Make no mistake, Theodosis Nikitaras knew that this was going on, but he deliberately lied and misled Kos’ and the wider Greek media, and Kos’ and the wider Greek public.

To Theodosis Nikitaras, Mayor of Kos, we say this:

We expect and demand that you finally issue an official apology to our organisation, Aegean Boat Report, for slandering and lying about us in the Greek press. You should make this public apology, in person and via the media you used to attack us, with the same enthusiasm as you delivered that unwarranted and attack.

The same apology should be given to the people of Kos, to whom you lied and tried to mislead.

The people of Kos know what has been going on in their island for many years, and Nikitaras, so do you.

We are afraid that your pretence it is not, shows your total lack of integrity and moral backbone.

We hope that the people of Kos use their power to select a more suitable person to lead them in the next election, a person who puts the interests of all in front of the interests of a few.

Corrupt and deceitful people have no place as leaders in a true democracy, unfortunately in Greece, under the guidance on the ruling party New Democracy, corrupt leaders seem to have become the rule, and not the exception.

Only the Greek people have the power to change this, and we hope they shall. Even if they do not, we demand and await your open, public apology to us for your open defamation of us, and denial of facts caught on camera.

To the people who was kidnapped, gagged and beaten, we say this:

We apologize, because we are responsible! We published the video that resulted in the beating from your captives, for this we are truly sorry!

In the cover of darkness on March 2, a rubber boat tried to reach the northern shores of Chios, when it was brutally stopped and illegally pushed back by the Greek coast guard.

People onboard was robbed of their belongings, brutally beaten, thrown into two life rafts and left helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea.

The boat carrying 35 people had sat out from the opposite Turkish coast at night, in the cover of darkness to avoid being detected. Onboard was 24 adults and 11 small children, mixed nationalities from Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Irak and Palestine.

The boat was closing in on the northern shore of Chios when they were spotted by a vessel from the Greek Coast Guard patrolling the area. They tried to escape, but the small engine on the flimsy overloaded rubber boat was no match for a coast guard vessel, and they were stopped within minutes.

A second black smaller vessel arrived shortly after, all officers onboard both coast guard vessels was wearing black masks to cover their faces.

The rubber boat was stopped a few kilometers from land east of the village of Lagkada, Chios north east. Everyone was taken onboard the largest coast guard vessel, nobody was allowed to take any of their belongings with them. As soon as the rubber boat was empty, the officers punctured several holes in it, and the boat and all their belongings disappeared down in the sea.

People were ordered to sit on the front deck and look down, no talking was allowed. One by one the officers searched the people in the group, many were ordered to undress, also the women, in the search for hidden valuables, money and especially phones.

A woman refused to take of her clothes, the masked officers undressed her by force, and broke her arm in several places in the process, she was screaming in pain, her screams didn’t seem to bother the officers at all.

Those who refused were brutally beaten, one of the victims said “ they acted like wild animals, so brutal, they seemed to enjoy it, everyone was so scared”.

After everyone was thoroughly searched, the coast guard vessel headed out to sea towards Turkey, the group knew what was about to happen, “we begged them not to take us back to Turkey, but they just told us to shut up and laughed” one of the victims said.

What followed next we have seen so many times before in this area, people were forced into two life rafts, and left helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea in the dark.

One of the victims, a woman, had managed to hid her phone, she tried to call for help but she had no reception. She took a picture towards Chios, time was 05.30, over three hours since they were stopped by the Greek Coast Guard.

At first light they could see the Greek coast guard vessel in the distance, watching, the life rafts had drifted apart. They tried to call for help again, still no reception.

From a video taken from the raft and description from the victims, we have been able to identified the two coast guard vessels, the first was a Lambro 57 coastal patrol vessel.

The second vessel was a Rafner 1100 Tactical Patrol RIB, belonging to HCG special forces, a boat we have seen in action several times in the past in relation to pushbacks.

A larger vessel approached the two drifting life rafts, at this point they believed they would be rescued, unfortunately this didn’t happen.

From a video we can see the vessel a short distance from the drifting life rafts, only watching, no effort was made to initiate rescue.

The vessel was the “Butrinti”, a Stan Patrol 4207 patrol vessel from the Albanian coast guard, ID number P 134, participating in operation “Sea Guard”, a NATO maritime security operation in the Mediterranean.

A NATO vessel on duty in the area only watched, while 35 people, 11 of them small children, were drifting in two life rafts in front of them, no rescue attempt, even do it was obvious that they desperately needed to be rescued.

The obligation to rescue people in distress at see seems to be different depending on your nationality and status. We firmly believe that, if these 35 had been Europeans drifting in life rafts from a yacht, rescue would have been initiated immediately and without question. This group was not Europeans, but refugees, and for that reason, no rescue attempt was made, it’s quite unbelievable.

If the decision not rescue the people from the life rafts was made solely by the captain of the Albanian NATO vessel Butrinti, or orders were given from operational command of Allied Maritime Command in Northwood, United Kingdom, only NATO can answer to.

It is such a tragic irony, considering how many Albanians have drowned trying to cross to Greece and Italy in late 1990, when communism in Albania started to fall.

“According to article 98 of the UNCLOS, it is the duty of the master of a ship to render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost” and to carry out non-discriminatory rescue operations regardless of the nationality of the rescued person, “Parties shall ensure that assistance be provided to any person in distress at sea. They shall do so regardless of the nationality or status of such a person or the circumstances in which that person is found”.

In this case, and it other previous cases, it seems like international maritime laws do not apply for NATO, and that they do discriminate based on nationality, status and circumstances.

The German navy ship A1411 Berlin, on NATO missions in the Aegean Sea, has on several occasions, been a passive observer to pushbacks performed by Greek authorities.

In this new case involving an Albanian NATO vessel, they did not only observe a pushback, they watched while vulnerable people drifted helplessly in life rafts straight in front of them, neglecting to rescue them.

The group of 35 drifting in two life rafts east of Chios, was eventually rescued by the Turkish coast guard after helplessly drifting for hours at sea.

At first light on February 19, a boat carrying 37 people, amongst them 13 small children, ended up in distress deep inside Greek waters, south east of Plomari, Lesvos south.

First on scene was the Bulgarian coast guard vessel “Balchik”, which is stationed on Lesvos as part of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex operation, Poseidon.

Under normal circumstances, any coast guard vessel would immediately initiate rescue if they came across a boat in distress. Unfortunately for these 37 people, there is nothing “normal” about the situation in the Aegean Sea, where for some reason international law and fundamental rights don’t seem to apply.

The group was relieved that the boat coming to their rescue was a Frontex vessel, and not the Greek Coast Guard. They knew that the Greek coast guard would immediately push them back to Turkey, but surely this vessel wouldn’t, or so they believed.

The Bulgarian Frontex vessel “Balchik” stopped at a safe distance, put a rescue RIB in the water, and approached the drifting overloaded rubber boat. The people onboard waved and shouted towards them, begging to be rescued, tried to explain that there was water coming into the boat, and they had many children onboard.

Again, under normal circumstances, the crew on the rescue RIB would first assess the situation, then start a rescue operation to transport people from the unseaworthy, fragile rubber boat, to the larger coast guard vessel.

For some reason, this didn’t happen.

The Bulgarian Frontex vessel and their rescue RIB, didn’t attempt to start any rescue operation, they only observed, while people in the rubber boat were begging them to help them. From video we have received, we can clearly see that none of the passengers in the rubber boat had life jackets. While observing from a distance, the crew of the Bulgarian Frontex vessel must also have seen the total lack of any rescue equipment onboard.

If something had suddenly happened to the rubber boat, that led to people ending up in the sea, the two officers in the rescue RIB wouldn’t have had any possibility of rescuing them all.

The RIB from the Bulgarian Frontex vessel didn’t even have life jackets with them to hand out to the people in distress, a clear indication that they had no intention whatsoever to rescue them.

After approximately 45 minutes, a Greek coast guard vessel arrived on location, and the Bulgarian Frontex vessel was ordered to leave the area. Why the Greek coast guard ordered Frontex to leave is quite obvious to the rest of us, but for the captain of the Bulgarian Frontex vessels, it didn’t seem to raise any concerns at all.

According to operational procedures, Greek authorities must, when ordering a Frontex asset to leave an incident, give a reason for this order, this reason should then be referenced in the report by the Frontex asset. Also, the Bulgarian Frontex vessel should have filed a report after the incident, as the agency’s rules state its operatives must report any incident in which there are suspicions or indications that violations of international laws or human rights have been committed.

Remember that they are not told to report when they are certain of such a violation, but when there is any possibility one has been or will be committed. We must assume that Frontex assets in the Aegean Sea under Operation Poseidon, are fully aware of the widespread and systematic pushback tactics by Greek authorities. For this reason, whenever a Frontex vessel is ordered to leave an incident involving refugees, it should be apparent to Frontex that there is a high probability that human rights violations will take place.

This should of course be reflected in the reports by Frontex, if such reports are written at all.

The procedures are crystal clear, any suspicion of human rights violations must at all times be reported, so why is this consistently “forgotten” by all Frontex assets in Greece under operation Poseidon?

Why are no such reports being filed by Frontex personnel in Greece? Over the last four years 3.000 pushback cases have been documented in the Aegean Sea, involving 82.000 people. These has been carried out by Greek authorities, heavily supported by Frontex and the EU Commission.

Perhaps this is why Frontex systematically ignores their duty to report on human rights violations in the Aegean Sea, covering up for Greek atrocities while protecting their own oppression?

In this incident, 37 people, 13 small children, were handed over to the Greek coast guard, who towed the fragile overloaded rubber boat back to Turkish waters, and set them adrift. They were left helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea. The Greek authorities didn’t even bother to provide them with life jackets or any other form of rescue equipment, they just left them.

Before leaving these vulnerable people adrift, they made sure to destroy the boat’s engine, removed the petrol, and took away all phones onboard, so that the people couldn’t document the crimes committed by Greek authorities, nor could they call for help if something went wrong.

At 11am, the Turkish coast guard found and rescued a group of 37 people, amongst them 13 small children, drifting in a fragile overloaded rubber boat off the coast of Karaburun, Turkey.

There isn’t much doubt on what happened here, nor who was responsible. Nevertheless, the Greek coast guard consequently denies pushing back boats, claiming that they turne around and head back towards Turkey by their own means.

The boat carrying 37 people had turned around and headed back to Turkey, travelled 20km with a destroyed engine without petrol, and while traveling back, they had thrown all their phones in the sea. This is the explanation Greek authorities want you to belive.

This case should have been immediately reported by the captain of the Bulgarian Frontex vessel “Balchik”. A Serious Incident Report (SIR) should have been filed based on the imminent danger of this group being pushed back to Turkey by Greek authorities.

No such report was filed, and the Bulgarian Frontex vessel deliberately covered up yet another illegal pushback in the Aegean Sea by Greek authorities. The cases we report on are only the tip of the iceberg. A very small percentage of these cases are ever documented to such an extent that it is possible to investigate.

In most cases there is no footage available. The criminals are getting away with the crimes, because Frontex are helping Greek authorities to cover up their crimes. Normal procedure in the Aegean Sea is that Frontex is assisting Greek authorities in stopping boats deep inside Greek territory waters, and is then ordered away, so that they won’t be a direct witness to the crimes and fundamental rights violations performed by Greek authorities.

They are basically told to look away, and are most happy and eager to comply, no questions asked, all in the name of EU border policy.

This particular case, and many similar cases, have been reported to the Fundamental Rights Officer of Frontex, not by Frontex assets involved as they definitely should, but by Aegean Boat Report.

This so that these cases can be investigated properly to see if Frontex is following its fundamental rights obligations in accordance with EU and international law.

In this case, as in many other similar cases, the conclusion is clear.

Frontex is not following its fundamental rights obligations in accordance with EU and international law, and Greek authorities are responsible for systematic illegal deportation of people from their territory.

Frontex fundamental rights officer, Jonas Grimheden, has repeatedly recommended Frontex suspends operations in Greece, based on years of systematic fundamental rights violations by Greek authorities.

So far, Frontex’s Executive Director, Hans Leijtens, Frontex management board, nor the EU Commission, has taken any notice of his recommendations.

Instead of suspending operations, they have significantly increased support and funding to Greek authorities, sending a strange message regarding the rule of law in Europe.

Last year many investigations were undertaken by the Fundamental Rights Office in Frontex. The two highest-profile cases were the Pylos shipwreck, where over 650 people were killed by Greek authorities in a fatal pushback attempt June 14 last year, and the Lesvos pushback on April 11, filmed by Fayad Mulla, and brought to light by the New York Times.

These two Serious Incident Reports had high public interest. The question is, did they actually have any impact, lead to any significant changes, or have any consequences for the Greek authorities?

The answer is unfortunately no, in both cases. None of these reports had any impact as far as we can see, no changes to the better have been made, and there are no consequences for the Greek authorities, nobody has been held accountable, and most likely nobody will.

This is not an acceptable situation. Whatever the reasons people have for wishing to escape their homelands, nobody deserves to be stripped of their possessions and set adrift to risk their lives at sea, and there is no excuse for anyone – let alone the world’s wealthiest political bloc and its members states – to do so.

EU taxpayer’s money is being spent on this outrageous crime, even as the EU itself demands to be regarded and respected as a promoter and protector of international law and fundamental human rights.

At what point do we the people of the EU and elsewhere demand that the EU lives up to its self-declared standards, and that Frontex stops aiding and abetting crimes in European waters?

Even if we cannot expect the current Greek government to behave like anything other than a vicious criminal cabal, such an expectation should be the least we can demand of the European Union and its agencies.