A judicial council meeting on Lesbos ruled there was not enough evidence to pursue the case against 35 foreign nationals arrested in Greece in 2020, according to documents released on Tuesday (April 30).

Most of the defendants – who are from Germany, Norway, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland and Bulgaria – were accused of setting up a criminal organization and providing support to smugglers transporting migrants to Europe. They denied wrongdoing.

Zacharias Kesses, a lawyer representing some of the aid workers, said the decision to drop the charges was "very encouraging."

"The courts have (…) finally understood that (…) they can’t assume humanitarians are people smugglers," The Guardian newspaper quoted Zacharias as saying.

However commenting on X, Julia Winkler, from the organization Borderline Europe, said it was "only partly a cause for relief, as it underscores once more how easily authorities systematically use criminal investigations as a strategy to thwart unwelcome activism."

The case was based on an inquiry by the Greek intelligence service and an anti-terrorism unit and involved undercover agents who traveled as migrants from Turkey to Lesbos.

The intelligence services were initially involved because it was claimed that the aid workers had used encrypted messages to pass on information to smugglers, while volunteers from Alarm Phone, a hotline for migrants in distress at sea, were alleged to have relayed information, including the coordinates of Greek coast guard patrols.

A magistrate's investigation concluded that the information and visual material collected were not confidential.

'Case should never have been brought,' says activist

The decision by the Lesbos court comes after similar espionage charges against 24 former volunteers on the Aegean island – including Syrian refugee Sarah Mardini – were dropped in January this year. The group's members are still facing felony charges. 

Sean Binder, who was arrested together with Mardini and jailed for 100 days in Greece, said Tuesday’s outcome was "fantastic news".

However, in comments quoted in The Guardian, he added that the case should never have been brought in the first place.

As well as aid workers, migrants and asylum seekers themselves are increasingly being charged with smuggling offenses, usually for driving a boat or a car to Greece. A study by Borderline Europe found that, as of February 28, 2023, more than 2,100 people were in detention in Greek prisons accused of smuggling.

According to the report, judgments in migrant smuggling cases are issued on the basis of limited or questionable evidence and trials are relatively short, lasting only 37 minutes on average.

At the same time, across a sample of 81 trials involving 95 defendants charged with smuggling, it found the average prison sentence for those convicted was 46 years.

With Reuters