On Greco-Turkish border, abandoned refugees in middle of river

The Greek council for refugees seized the ECHR, which requires the Greek authorities to protect migrants left for several days without water or food on islets in the middle of the Evros.

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While he was trying to cross the Evros river, which marks the border between Turkey and Greece, with thirty-eight compatriots, on April 17, Mr. A., a young Syrian, is spotted by the Turkish border guards. His group is then forced to dock on an island between the two countries.

The next day, the Greek council for refugees (CGR), which legally represents refugees, seized the European Court of Human Rights (ECDH); The latter imposes in the wake of the Greek State of temporary protective measures for these exiles blocked for several days without water, food or medical help. The Greek authorities, supposed to respond to the ECHR and allow refugees to be sheltered and file an asylum application as required by European law, do not follow up.

“After three days on the island, people in uniform coming from the Greek side came to pick us up. They transferred us to a detention center on the Greek bank, they beaten us, took our shoes and told us that they were going to send us back to Turkey. What they did, “explains Mr. A., joined by phone. Among the group was a fragile health woman who needed hemodialysis, according to the young man. “She shouted to ask to see a doctor (…). No one came to her aid, neither on the Greek side nor on the Turkish side. She lost consciousness and she died on the islet. The Turkish border guards have Recovered his body. The children who attended the scene were crying, “he said. A preliminary survey was opened by the Orestiada prosecutor, one of the main Greek cities in the border region.

“Ping-pong game”

The magistrate also opened an investigation after drowning in Evros, in mid-March, of a 4-year-old child, Ayman Al Saleh. The boy belonged to a group of around thirty Syrians, arrested and taken by force by the Greek police on an island, where they stayed five days before the intervention of the Greek rescue. According to the testimonies of the survivors, the child would have fallen into the water during the transfer, without the police intervening to help him. “We then informed the Greek authorities of the presence of refugees on the island. The next day, a commando of masked men hastened to repress them … The Greek police had however replied that the group had not been Located, “says Evgenia Kouniaki, lawyer for the NGO Humanrights360.

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/Media reports.