Greece was convicted of illegal border rejection

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Greece for illegally rejecting a woman who had fled Turkey. The Strasbourg judges ruled that there were “signs of a systematic practice” of pushbacks at the time of the escape and that Greece had violated the European Convention on Human Rights with its actions. Pushbacks, i.e. rejections of people seeking protection at the external borders, are completely illegal under international law.

The woman was convicted in Turkey in 2019 for membership in the Gülen movement. Her sentence was six years and three months in prison. Turkey considers it a terrorist organization. She blames Istanbul, among other things, for the failed coup attempt in 2016.

After the conviction, the woman wanted to flee towards Greece via the Turkish-Greek border river Evros. The Turkish woman said she was subsequently picked up on Greek soil near the river. An asylum application was not examined. She had to hand over her personal belongings and was first taken into a van by masked people. She was then taken back to the Turkish side of the river in a rubber boat and imprisoned there.

What was crucial in the case was that the plaintiff was able to prove that she had actually entered Greece and was on Greek soil, as the legal scholar Constantin Hruschka explains in an interview with the Tagesschau. After arriving, the woman sent her location to her brother via WhatsApp, proving that she was in Greece. According to Hruschka, Greece, on the other hand, was unable to prove that there was no pushback in their case.

The Court, which is independent of the EU, now ruled that there was inhumane treatment; The authorities should not have sent them back without deciding on an asylum application or checking the dangers in their home country. The country therefore has to pay the Turkish woman 20,000 euros.

Greece has already been criticized for its deportation practices in the past. The Council of Europe called on Athens to stop pushbacks in the summer of 2024. The Council of Europe’s Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) called on Greek authorities to “improve living conditions in the country’s detention centers” and “ensure that foreign nationals are treated with dignity and humanity.”

Pushback was “Unword of the Year” in 2021. A jury of linguists explained the choice at the time by using the term to gloss over an inhumane process of pushing back refugees at the borders.

Sources: , , with news agencies DPA and AFP