Greece: Alarm Phone documents three horrific testimonies of pushbacks in the Evros region
In recent times, the Alarm Phone has received many distress calls from individuals who were stuck in the woods in the Evros region. They are often in bad physical conditions and require immediate medical help. However, often they are still pushed back by Greek border guard units. Three survivors of pushbacks contacted the Alarm Phone and gave very detailed testimonies of the torture and violence they were subjected to by Greek, and partly Turkish, border guards. The reported pushbacks happened between June and August.
All three testimonies can be found here
As these very detailed testimonies show, the people are often in remote areas in the Greek border zone and either poisoned or demobilized. That people come into these situations at first, is a direct consequence of the brutal pushback regime. It forces people to travel in ever smaller groups and to become invisible. People walk during the night in mountainous regions, always carrying the fear they might be found and illegally pushed back. The situations the people describe are hard to imagine: they are not only found and pushed back, but robbed, stripped off their clothes, humiliated and brutally beaten. The reports show cases of torture, racist and sexual violence.
One of the testimonies shows how even the involvement of a Greek lawyer as representative of an asylum seeker did not prevent his pushback. One report highlights the issue of chain pushbacks from Bulgaria to Greece to Turkey. Even there, Syrian nationals then fear deportations to Syria. The last testimony highlights how Greek authorities are using mercenaries to carry out the ‘dirty work’.
“At seven o’clock, close to the highway, a masked/hooded person in green military uniform with the «Border Police» written on it came to me. He took the phone while I was talking to my wife. He broke it and he asked me which knee is injured, I said the right one. He beat me all over my body, especially on the injured knee.” – Majed*, violently pushed back from Greece to Turkey on August 10.
“They [policemen] told me there is no problem, we will take you to the camp. They opened the back door [of a police van] and here I found at least 30 people, all naked, with only boxer shorts on them. They were Afghan and Moroccan refugees. I spoke with one of them and he told me that they were in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian police took their money and clothes and took them back by force to Greece. The car was very hot and there were no ventilation holes” – Mohanat*, violently pushed back from Greece to Turkey at the end of July.
“Suddenly, the van stopped and the door opened and one more person was pushed inside. The door was open for about 5 seconds and that was the only time when air had come in. The police had broken his jaw and he could not speak.” – Parzan*, violently pushed back from Greece to Turkey on June 19.
These detailed stories show the infrastructure of violence at the Evros/Meriç border region. People, including children, are put in arbitrary detention; people are robbed, beaten and harassed by Greek border guards, injured people’s lives are put at risk. There is a clear handwriting and system in these violent practices. They happen coordinated and well-organized and need direct cooperation between the different units and institutions involved. These border crimes are a result of political processes – practically enforced by the Greek state, wilfully supported and legitimized by its main partner, the European Union.
These violent pushbacks happen all over the Greek-Turkish border. The Alarm Phone just published yet another report of a group of people who were pushed back from the island of Rhodos. The Alarm Phone recently updated the database aeg.bordercrimes.net and published a report on the escalation of violence at the Greek-Turkish border.
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