Migrants as pushback helpers: “They made me a slave”

For years, the Greek police have used refugees as helpers for illegal pushbacks. have that BR-Research found. The officials are said to put them under pressure with threats and the prospect of residence permits.

He drags on his cigarette. A meeting on a park bench somewhere in a European metropolis. His real name and the place where he lives should not be mentioned. The allegations made by Bassel M. are drastic. “They made me a slave,” he says.

The Greek security authorities had forced him to pack women, men and children into rubber boats and illegally bring them back to Turkey via the Greek-Turkish border river Evros. He is said to have dropped up to 150 refugees per night on the Turkish shore, covered with a mask and sometimes using force.

threat of deportation

For the first time, refugees told an international team of journalists how the Greek police forced them to transport other refugees out of the European Union. Bassel M. and five other men reported that officials threatened them with lengthy prison terms or direct deportation to Turkey if they refused to cooperate.

At the same time, as a reward for working together for around three months, the police offered the men papers that would allow them to stay in Greece for a limited period of time. In this way, according to their own statements, they were urged to carry out so-called pushbacks.

practice is illegal

The investigation revealed that officers at a Greek police station are apparently working with a man of Syrian origin who is said to be part of a smuggling network. The refugees report that he selected migrants for the job and gave them instructions on the pushbacks.

The term stands for the expulsion of refugees without examining their eligibility for protection and without a regulated procedure. According to international law experts, this practice is unlawful because as soon as a person reaches the territory of an EU member state, they are entitled to apply for asylum.

Journalists located Station

In months of joint research, journalists from the ARD-political magazine report Munich, the research agency Lighthouse Reports, the “Spiegel”, the French newspaper “Le Monde” and the British “Guardian” the statements of the refugees. They were able to verify the information in numerous points.

To do this, the reporter team compared the details of the statements with photos, videos and satellite images. The journalists located the police stations where the refugees were housed. They were able to see documents showing when individual refugees were arrested and released by the Greek authorities.

Participants spoke Farsi or Arabic

Residents of Greek villages near the border reported that it was “an open secret” in the region that refugees were carrying out pushbacks on behalf of the police. Farmers and fishermen who are allowed to enter the restricted area on the border river Evros have repeatedly observed Arab migrants doing this.

The information provided by the refugees also corresponds to the statements made by rejected migrants. They stated that people involved in the illegal pushbacks did not speak Greek but Arabic or Farsi.

Confirmation from police circles

Several sources from Greek police circles also confirmed to the reporters that refugees had been used for pushbacks for years – by the police stations that the journalist team had also located. After the spring of 2020, this practice was intensified.

At that time, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the border with Greece open. As a result, thousands of people made their way to the border river Evros and serious unrest broke out there.

cooperation with smugglers

The team of reporters managed to identify the man from Syria who, according to the refugees, plays a key role in conducting pushbacks on the Greek-Turkish border. According to a police database, he was involved in drug trafficking and smuggling in his homeland.

A photo shows the man, using the alias Mike, in camouflage clothing on the premises of the Greek police station Neo Chemonio. In contrast to the migrants, he can move freely there and leave the premises. He is said to have a second residence in France.

According to unanimous statements, he is said to have worked with people smugglers in Istanbul to select refugees and to have overseen the pushbacks. Local residents confirmed that this person is the “leader” of the migrants who work for the Greek police. He left a request from the reporter team unanswered.

“Cannot be surpassed in its abyss”

The Federal Government’s human rights commissioner, Luise Amtsberg, is calling for a reaction from the European Community and an independent investigation by the European Union in view of the research. According to the Green politician, “it cannot be surpassed in its abyss and perfidy” when an EU member state urges people to violate human rights through coercion or promises.

According to Amtsberg, sanctions against Greece must also be considered if the media reports come true. The federal government is then also obliged to seek talks with the Greek government.

“Brussels must not look away”

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch accuses the Greek authorities of evading responsibility. They let refugees “do the dirty work,” said Refugee and Migrant Rights Organization director Bill Frelick.

He calls for intervention by the European Commission, which promised Greece additional financial aid for border security of 700 million euros after the riots in 2020. Frelick criticized that the European governments and those responsible in Brussels should not turn a blind eye when European law was violated “brutally and with impunity” at the EU’s external borders.

Athens leaves request unanswered

Greece was sharply criticized by the EU Commission last year after the ARDLighthouse Reports, Spiegel and other media had reported on illegal pushbacks at the EU’s external borders.

The Greek government rejected the allegations at the time. The Ministry of the Interior left an inquiry about the new allegations unanswered.

The following collaborated on the research: Giorgos Christides, Bashar Deeb, Klaas van Dijken, Katy Fallon, Lukas Graw, Steffen Lüdke, Mohannad al-Najjar, Marina Rafenberg, Jack Sapoch, Tomas Statius, Nicole Vögele