23/09: 154 people brought to Greece and then to prison. One person dead.

24.09.2021 / 15:26 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of October 2019
Case name: 20191024-AEG827
Situation: 154 people rescued by oil tanker, brought to Paliochora, near Chania in Crete, and later to Amygdaleza detention near Athens. One person drowned during the rescue, three people were arrested and one person tortured.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea
Summary of the Case:

On the 23rd of September at 08:30 CEST, the Alarm Phone was informed about 154 people in a boat in distress in the Ionian Sea. They were in international waters on the Greek Search and Rescue zone, on their way to Italy. The Alarm Phone immediately alarmed Hellenic Coast Guard as well as the Maltese and Italian Coast Guards.

After more than 24 hours, the travelers were rescued by an oil tanker. Coordinated by the Hellenic Coast Guard, the tanker would bring the people to Paliochora on Crete.

During the transfer to the oil tanker, one pregnant woman drowned after falling in the water. According to survivors, three people were arrested for boat driving and later tortured during interrogation.

The remaining 150 people were taken to Chania where they were held in a secure place for about 14 days. They were not registered, their rights were not explained to them, neither were they told why they had to stay in prison and for how long.

After that, they were brought to detention in Amygdaleza prison in Athens. One month after arrival they were finally registered and informed about their rights there.

After one month of imprisonment, approximately 130 people from the group were released and then put into 2 buses to be taken to a destination that was not communicated to them initially. For the course of the next 10 hours, they received no food. Eventually, they were brought to a camp near Ioannina. The remaining around 20 people were brought to different camps. So finally they are all out of prison.

When we later talked to people on the boat, they told us:
"We, a total of 154 people, young, old, women and children, left for Italy on September 20, 2021 a ship from Izmir, Turkey. Unfortunately, on September 23, our ship broke down in international waters near Italian waters and we start trying to left the ship over the water to survive our self. And finally, by setting fire to a car tire, a big oil tanker ship called Aristofanis came to us and 152 people were rescued after suffering one casualty. Than they bring us to Khaneya Island of Greece and on October 2 they bring us to Aten. As our aim is Italy and we have suffered the greatest psychological damage, I ask you to reach our voice to the humanitarian and immigrants organisations to take exceptional humanitarian action in the case of accepting this immigrant group, and we are ready to cooperate if documents are needed."

It is another example of the hostility with which shipwreck survivors are treated in Greece: deprived of their rights and dignity. We stand in solidarity with them and with all those fighting for freedom of movement.

You can find the tweets here.

positions:
36°00'12.1"N 22°16'32.7"E (timestamp 22/09/2021 5pm CEST)
35°53'04"N 21°35'54" (timestamp 23/09/2021, 4am CEST)
Last update: 11:50 Dec 18, 2021
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
23/09: 154 people brought to Greece and then to prison. One person dead. 23/09: 154 people brought to Greece and then to prison. One person dead.
Layers »
  • Border police patrols
     
    While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
  • Coastal radars
     
    Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
  • Exclusive Economic Zone
     
    Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
  • Frontex operations
     
    Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
  • Mobile phone coverage
     
    Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
  • Oil and gas platforms
     
    Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
  • Search and Rescue Zone
     
    An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
  • Territorial Waters
     
    A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans