Greece Opens Espionage Trial of Aid Workers Who Helped Migrants

Two dozen aid workers, including the Syrian refugee-turned-activist Sara Mardini, went on trial on Tuesday on charges of espionage over their roles in helping migrants after they arrived in Greece in the wake of Europe’s migration crisis of 2015 and 2016.The case is being heard in a court on Lesbos, the Greek island that was at the forefront of the crisis, and comes as Greece’s conservative government toughens its stance on migration and on groups working with migrants, in line with a hardening climate in Europe.Bracing for general elections before the summer, the government has vowed to avert a repeat of the crisis, which led to more than a million Europe-bound migrants streaming through Greece and straining the country’s resources. Officials have pledged to fortify the northern land border with Turkey by extending a fence and adding guards.Tensions between Greece and Turkey have been rising in recent months over a series of issues, including territorial disputes and migration, raising the specter of a conflict between the two neighbors, who have long had an uneasy relationship.Greece’s judiciary has also cracked down on nongovernmental organizations that work with migrants. In addition to the people on trial this week, the heads of two other groups, the Greek Helsinki Monitor and the Aegean Boat Report, face criminal charges of facilitating the illegal entry of migrants and membership of a criminal organization.Amnesty International, the rights group, has called the case against Ms. Mardini and her co-defendants “farcical,” pointing to what it called a “peak” in efforts by the Greek authorities to criminalize NGOs.“The Greek government has tried to deter humanitarian action by various means,” Amnesty’s director for Europe, Nils Muiznieks, said. “The outcome of the trial will be an important signal to others doing similar work,” he added.The 24 defendants being tried on Lesbos are either members of or volunteers with an NGO, the Emergency Response Center International. They include Ms. Mardini, who now lives in Berlin and was not in court on Tuesday. Ms. Mardini is a sister of the Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini.The sisters captured international attention in 2015 after fleeing the war in Syria and dragging their refugee boat to safety, a story made into a film last year.After receiving asylum in Germany, Sara Mardini returned to Greece in 2016 to help other migrants. She was arrested two years later and detained in a high-security Athens prison for more than three months.A police investigation found that she and other defendants had monitored Greek Coast Guard radio channels and vessels and used a vehicle with fake military license plates to enter restricted-access areas on Lesbos.If found guilty of the charges, including espionage and forgery, Ms. Mardini and the 23 other aid workers would each face up to eight years in prison.Greece’s migration minister, Notis Mitarachi, would not comment because the trial is underway, as is a judicial investigation of the same defendants over accusations of crimes including human smuggling and money laundering, which carry longer sentences.Clio Papapantoleon, a human rights lawyer who represents Ms. Mardini and another defendant, Sean Binder, an Irish citizen, said there was no incriminating evidence for any of the offenses they had been charged with or accused of and that they were basically being held hostage.“The case was used as an example to stop other young people thinking of coming to Greece to help and join that big wave of solidarity,” Ms. Papapantoleon said. “But it’s totally unsubstantiated.”A 2021 European Parliament report called it “the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.” Mr. Muiznieks of Amnesty International said, “Helping people at risk of drowning in one of the deadliest sea routes in Europe and assisting them on the shoreline is not a crime.”The trial has underlined the Greek authorities’ commitment to deterring humanitarian assistance to migrants, Mr. Muiznieks added, “something which we see in a number of European countries.”The government of Italy, a country that is another popular entry point for Europe-bound migrants, has also taken a harder line on NGOs. Its new far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, recently introduced stricter rules for charities that rescue migrants at sea.Greece, since tightening the rules governing the operation of NGOs in 2020, has been increasingly at…

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