In November 2020, an Afghan refugee lost his son in a sinking near the island of Samos in Greece. Pursued for endangering the life of his child, he incurred up to ten years in prison. Wednesday, the Samos court finally acquitted it.
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After a year and a half of anxiety, sadness, dark thoughts, N., an Afghan 26 -year -old refugee, accused of having endangered his dead son drowned in a shipwreck in November 2020 Large from the island of Samos, can finally regain hope. Wednesday, May 18, the Samos court acquitted it. Ten years of imprisonment had been required.
During the night of November 7 to 8, 2020, N. and his 6 -year -old son, who left the Turkish coast on a makeshift boat loaded with 23 other passengers are around the island of Samos. The canoe strikes rocks at Cap Prasso and begins to take water. Despite the distress alerts, the messages broadcast on social networks by the NGO Aegean Boat Report, the Greek coast guards will only come to the aid of exiles later, in the early morning.
N.’s son will not survive. It is with handcuffed hands that N. will go to the island of the island to recognize the body of his child buried a few days later in the square of a cemetery dedicated to the shipwrecked of the Aegean Sea. On his grave, an inscription was engraved: “He died in a shipwreck, it was not the sea, it was not the wind, it was politicians and fear.” During the tragic event , the Greek minister of migration, Notis Mitarachi, had told Greek media that “people who choose to board his boats who are not made to navigate, and who are led by people who do not have experience of the sea, obviously put human lives in danger “.
According to the Afghan refugee lawyer, Dimitris Choulis, “it is the first time that a family member has been criminalized and accused of having put his child’s life in danger trying to Coming to Europe to ask for asylum “. Relieved from the acquittal of his client, the lawyer does not intend to stop there: “We filed a complaint on March 23, 2021 against the Greek coast guards who were late coming to the aid of the refugees despite the alerts, and thus have Endowed these people in danger. “
multiplication of trials
Dimitris Choulis also represented Hasan, another Afghan refugee, accused of being the smuggler of the boat where N. and his son were. Wednesday, he was sentenced to a year and five months suspended prison sentence.
Refugee assistance NGOs denounce the multiplication of trials against asylum seekers accused of driving canoes, and therefore being smugglers. Nearly 2,000 people are said to be held in the Greek jails for illegal migrant traffic, according to the German NGO Bordeline Europe. No less than ten trials against boat pilots have only taken place on the island of Samos in recent months. In May 2021, Mohamad Hanad Abdi, a 27 -year -old Somali, was sentenced to 146 years in prison by a court of Lesbos for” illegal transport of national countries on Greek territory “,” endangering the life of others “, and decreed responsible for the death of two people.
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