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24 volunteers of the humanitarian NGO Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI) were acquitted this Thursday after facing criminal charges for more than 7 years, following their arrest during search and rescue operations on the Greek island of Lesvos in August 2018.
The court, presided over by Judge Vassilis Papathanassiou, stated that “Waiting to rescue a human life cannot be considered facilitation of illegal entry… None of the defendants attempted to act in such a way as to allow any of the transported persons to evade inspection by the authorities,” finding that their objective was “not to commit criminal acts but to provide humanitarian aid”. Judge Papathanassio therefore concluded that the evidence presented did not demonstrate criminal intent or the existence of a criminal organization.
Greek prosecutors charged the volunteers with a range of offenses, including espionage, assisting smuggling networks, membership of a criminal organization, and money laundering, in connection with their work in assisting migrants arriving by sea. If convicted, the defendants could have faced up to 20 years in prison, according to media reports.
Among those previously charged were humanitarian workers Seán Binder and Sara Mardini, whose prosecutions drew international attention from numerous rights groups concerned about the criminalization of humanitarian assistance in Europe.
The ruling comes in the middle of an ongoing debate across Europe over the treatment of humanitarian actors assisting migrants. In Italy, aid workers and nongovernmental organizations have faced investigations and administrative sanctions related to search and rescue activities at sea, while similar prosecutions have been reported in other European Union member states. Human rights groups have argued that these limitations expose aid workers to criminal liability and risk undermining life-saving humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean.
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The court, presided over by Judge Vassilis Papathanassiou, stated that “Waiting to rescue a human life cannot be considered facilitation of illegal entry… None of the defendants attempted to act in such a way as to allow any of the transported persons to evade inspection by the authorities,” finding that their objective was “not to commit criminal acts but to provide humanitarian aid”. Judge Papathanassio therefore concluded that the evidence presented did not demonstrate criminal intent or the existence of a criminal organization.
Greek prosecutors charged the volunteers with a range of offenses, including espionage, assisting smuggling networks, membership of a criminal organization, and money laundering, in connection with their work in assisting migrants arriving by sea. If convicted, the defendants could have faced up to 20 years in prison, according to media reports.
Among those previously charged were humanitarian workers Seán Binder and Sara Mardini, whose prosecutions drew international attention from numerous rights groups concerned about the criminalization of humanitarian assistance in Europe.
The ruling comes in the middle of an ongoing debate across Europe over the treatment of humanitarian actors assisting migrants. In Italy, aid workers and nongovernmental organizations have faced investigations and administrative sanctions related to search and rescue activities at sea, while similar prosecutions have been reported in other European Union member states. Human rights groups have argued that these limitations expose aid workers to criminal liability and risk undermining life-saving humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean.
The post Greece acquits 24 humanitarian workers following 7 years of proceedings appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.