You can imagine the voice message that started it all still listen online. Baida S. is said to have taken her on August 9 on a small island in the Turkish-Greek border river Evros. The young Syrian was part of a group of asylum seekers stuck there in the sweltering summer heat because the Greek border guards would not let people into the country – more than two weeks earlier, an aid organization had forwarded a call for help to the authorities. “The girl is dead because nobody can hear us,” says Baida S. with a breaking voice. “I swear this is hell on earth and nobody can help us.”
A correspondent of mirror reported several times about the death of the girl. Her name was Maria, five years old, she loved comics and wanted to be a TV star – her death as a result of a scorpion sting became a symbol of inhumanity at the European borders. But then he received mirror a letter from the Greek migration minister: Maria probably never existed. For his part, the correspondent accused the Greek government of pressuring the migrants and their helpers to distort the truth. Of the Mirror, who had promised a more thorough examination of his stories after the Relotius affair four years ago, recalled the articles online and an internal editorial investigation was launched.
On the weekend the results of the follow-up research were published online. Now who lied, the asylum seekers or the Greek government? Of the mirror comes to the conclusion: probably both.
The mother cries when the reporters probe
It had to be clarified whether the people seeking protection, as claimed in the article, were on Greek territory and thus under Greece’s humanitarian responsibility. An oddity emerged. Apparently, the asylum seekers weren’t staying on one island in the Evros, but on two, between which they moved back and forth, in one case quite quickly. How that is possible, whether a tugboat with a boat helped them or whether location data on their cell phones was manipulated, he knew mirror not clarify. The more southern of the islands, almost four kilometers away, is in Turkish territory, the northern one – which was mentioned in the original report – is divided by the border. The Greek migration minister insisted in his letter that the asylum seekers were on Turkish soil. The Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection also said it could not find anyone on the northern island from July 20-26. Of the mirror now reports photos that are intended to prove that the group was there by July 25, 2022 at the latest. The report says: “The island is less than a kilometer long and in some places only a few meters from the Greek mainland. A watchtower of the Greek border guards stands nearby.”
Maria, the girl who is said to have died, remained a ghost during the course of the research. A conversation with the parents, which may not be quoted, took place in a café in the city of Drama in north-eastern Greece. The family lives in asylum accommodation there. Maryam B., initially composed, spoke about how terrible the days on the Evros had been. She spoke of her daughter’s death. At some point she started crying. However, she was unable to show the journalists any photos of her deceased daughter. Relatives and friends were said not to be able to send either. In pictures taken by the refugees on the Evros, the family is said to only ever be seen with four children, never with Maria, the alleged fifth. In addition, the stings of the scorpion species native to the area are not normally fatal. Also the SZ and the timewho also researched the case, could not find any evidence for the girl’s existence.
Of the mirror suspects “that some of the refugees could have invented the death in their desperation. They may have thought that they would then finally be saved.”
The report on the follow-up research also contains details of how the publication came about. The one that came under criticism mirror-Correspondent Giorgos Christides, who speaks little German, submitted the article in English and used weakening formulations (“She is reported dead”, “the group says, Maria died”), as journalistic care demands in such a case – the island is in a restricted military area, the reporter was not directly on site. “In order to be able to report on the case before other media,” the article should be published online quickly. Without examination by the mirror-Documentation. “A member of the foreign department management”, meaning the deputy department head Maximilian Popp, translated, edited and supplemented the article – and removed the weakening wording. In the final German version, with Popp as co-author, everything was in the indicative.
In response to the question of what consequences the mirror draws from it, referred a spokeswoman on Sunday to a wording in the report on the follow-up research. The results, it says, are “the subject of an internal review”. The earlier articles on the subject would not be put online again: “Too much in it would have to be corrected.” The lawyer for the family who are said to be mourning their daughter initially left an inquiry unanswered.