30/11: Nine travelers arrived on Lesvos, beat up by Greek police, probable push-back to Turkey

01.12.2020 / 18:18 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of November 2020

Case name: 2020_11_30-AEG729

Situation: Nine travelers (two women, seven men) arrived on Lesbos and hid in the forest. Police arrived and beat them up, contact broke off, probable push-back.

Status of WTM Investigation: Unconfirmed

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea/Lesvos

Summary of the Case: On the 30th of November 2020 the Alarm Phone was called by a group of 9 travelers, among them 2 young women and 7 young men. They had arrived on Lesvos and were hiding in the bushes. They sent us some names from the group, but could not send their current GPS location, because of network problems. At 16:20h, we sent an e-mail to the local authorities and to the UNHCR office, informing them about the travellers requesting asylum. The next time we could talk to the travellers, was at 17:07h. They had moved and were still hiding in a forest. At 18:25h, they sent us a GPS location. At 18:38h, we sent it to the authorities via e-mail. At 18:50h, we received a voice message from the travelers, reporting that they had informed the UNHCR by themselves, and afterwards the police had arrived and beat them up.

Shortly after this, we received a message saying they were being pushed back by the Greek police. From then on, we could not get in touch with the group of travelers anymore. We tried to receive information about his case from the Turkish coastguard, but without success. The next morning (01st of December), the travelers were still not reachable. At 08:40h, our shift team talked to the UNHRC Athens about the case and our fear that they had been pushed back from Greece. We passed them again the identities of the travelers. At 09:08h, we called the Turkish coastguard again, but did not find out anything about the case. We never succeeded to talk to the travelers anymore.

We are still investigating the detailed developments and will include
potential updates into this report.

Twitter Chronology:

30.11.

17:02h: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1333441172174491650

02.12.

19:45h: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1334209245747752962

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