- 6 min read
- Published: 4th January 2023
On Trial for Saving Lives: Drop the Charges Against Humanitarians
Seán Binder, Sara Mardini and Nassos Karakitsos will go on trial next Tuesday 10th January 2023 on the Greek island of Lesvos where they are charged with serious crimes including forgery, trafficking and espionage. They were on Lesvos to save lives but now face 25 years in prison. “If they are found guilty it could amount to criminalisation of search and rescue work,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
Seán grew up on the south coast of Ireland where he trained in search and rescue. Sara was a professional swimmer and is also trained in search and rescue. They each decided to use their skills and experience to join humanitarian efforts on Lesvos island where people fleeing to Europe were at risk of drowning. On Lesvos, they worked with Emergency Response Center International (ERCI), a registered NGO conducting rescue missions, giving people essentials like blankets and accompanying people in solidarity on their arrival in Europe. The organisation regularly cooperated with Greek authorities on missions in Greek waters and on Lesvos , making it all the more shocking when Sara and Seán were both arrested in August 2018 and accused of being part of a criminal organisation.
They were held in pre-trial detention for 106 days before being released on bail in December 2018. Four years later the trial is still hanging over them.
"All of these errors suggest that our right to a fair trial is being undermined. That’s why I'm here asking for respect of our rights and indeed respect for the rule of law ”— Seán Binder December 2022
Legal experts and human rights organisations all around Europe have sounded the alarm about this trial. Procedural flaws include: factual errors including claims that some of the accused participated in rescue missions on dates when they were not actually in Greece, indictments were not translated into a language the accused could understand, indictments were issued without clearly stating what offences individuals were charged with, and Sara Mardini was not allowed to enter Greece to be present at her own trial in 2021 although the right to be present at one’s own trial is protected in international ,European and Greek law.
After analysing the case, Human Rights watch called the accusations “baseless” and called on Greek judicial authorities to drop the charges.
“Dragging the case on for year on year so that prosecution is effectively a form of persecution.”— Seán Binder, December 2022
If one thinks back to August 2018, and all the things that have happened in the world since then it is shocking to imagine passing this length of time with the possibility of imprisonment hanging over one’s head. The first trial hearing was in November 2021, but it brought no closure or certainty as it was adjourned because the prosecution had filed the case before the wrong court, which held that it was not competent to try the case. The case was referred to the Appeals Court of the Northern Aegean, also on Lesvos and it is there that the trial begins on Tuesday 10th January 2023. But even then only one portion of the charges will be addressed. The charges have been broken into misdemeanour and felony charges and the latter, the more serious charges that carry a longer sentence, are not the ones for which they will be tried in January. It is unacceptable for these humanitarians to be left with such serious charges hanging over them and all charges should be dropped.
“A guilty verdict, which could put them in prison for 25 years, would set a dangerous precedent of making criminals of people who support the rights of migrants and refugees across Greece and the European Union. It would lead to more deaths at sea and could see others put behind bars for human rights work.”— Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
