24/08: Injured Man west of Mega Dereio, beaten and pushed back to Turkey

25.08.2022 / 11:43 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th of August 2022

Case name: 2022_08_24-Eastern Med-977

Situation: Injured Man west of Mega Dereio, beaten and pushed back to Turkey

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med, Evros Region

Summary of the Case:

On 24th of August the Alarm Phone was alerted by relatives to an injured man. He could not walk anymore and was left alone after crossing the landborder from Turkey to Greece. He sent his location which showed he was in the forest near the village Sidirochori, west of Mega Dereio.

At 16:19 CEST we sent an email to alert authorities, mentioning that he is in need of medical assistance and of international protection, because he is a refugee from Syria. We also called several local border guard and police stations afterwards.

At 18:20 CEST the injured man reported his phone was running out of battery. We could not get in touch with him anymore throughout the night.

The next morning at 8:13 CEST the relatives reached out to him and sent an updated location. Despite his injuries the man continued walking. They also sent photos showing the bandaged feet of the man.

We sent an updated email with the new location to all local Greek authorities at 8:33 CEST on 25th of August. At 8:45 we called the police station in Arianna who told us they would forward the border guard station in Sapes. We also called the Sapes border guard station again at 9:12 CEST, without success.

After this, we and the relatives lost contact to the injured person.

On 31st of August we managed to speak again with the relatives. They said he was pushed back to Turkey and shared the following story:

"He reached one of my relatives in Turkey and he is very tired. He has many bruises on his body from beatings. On 25th of August Greek police came. They threw him on the ground, teased him with electricity. They took his shoes and phone and forced him into the river. They forced him to fall into a river for the return and electrocuted him.
He wanted to reach Europe to find safety. One of his daughters is mentally disabled. In Syria, no one takes care of their problem. When he asked you for help, he didn't expect to be beaten.”

The relatives also sent us photos and videos to document his injuries.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1562489018171789312?s=20&t=tfsAxLUd230jwidekpwH2Q

Credibility:

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