Two dozen rescue workers, including the Syrian refugee turned campaigner Sara Mardini, went on trial on Thursday in Greece on charges of facilitating illegal entry, money laundering and membership of a criminal organization, in the latest prosecution of activists who helped refugees during Europe’s migration crisis nearly a decade ago.
The trial started amid what campaigners describe as a hardening climate against aid workers and migrants in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. With nationalism rising across the continent, European leaders have vowed to prevent a repeat of the crisis of 2015 and 2016, when millions of people sought sanctuary after fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and other nations.
Ms. Mardini and 23 fellow aid volunteers, who have all previously denied the charges, face up to 20 years in jail in connection to their work with the defunct Greek nonprofit Emergency Response Center International. The group operated on the island of Lesbos, where the trial is taking place, and which became one of the main migrant entry points to Europe during the crisis.
The case is the latest salvo in a long judicial process against the aid workers, which began in 2018 with the arrest and detention of several rescue volunteers, including Ms. Mardini, who is the sister of the Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini. A Greek court threw out previous charges against the activists, including one of espionage in 2023.
The siblings captured international attention in 2015 after fleeing the war in Syria and dragging their waterlogged boat — and another 18 refugees — to safety on the shores of Lesbos. Netflix adapted the story into a film in 2022. The Mardinis were among hundreds of thousands to reach Lesbos in rickety boats from the nearby shores of Turkey.
The court hearing on Thursday followed Greece’s recent tightening of measures against asylum seekers, who now face up to five years in prison if they remain in the country after their applications are rejected.
Greece’s conservative government, which came to power in 2019 after pledging to clamp down on migration, has also increased restrictions on dozens of civil society groups working with refugees and made it more difficult for migrants to land on the country’s shores. A New York Times investigation in 2023 found that Greek Coast Guard officers had rounded up asylum seekers, including children, and abandoned them at sea.
Aid organizations including Amnesty International, which sent representatives to the trial on Lesbos, said the case reflected a broader European effort to stigmatize rescue work.
“These charges aim to portray those who help people on the move as criminals,” said Wies de Graeve, executive director of Amnesty’s Belgium office, in a statement ahead of the trial. “And it’s part of a trend sweeping across Europe that’s criminalizing solidarity.”
The defense lawyer, Zacharias Kesses, said after the trial’s first day that he expected the charges to be dismissed.
“We have all the legal arguments and evidence that dismantle the indictment,” he said. “This case continues to rely solely on arbitrary and unprecedented conclusions drawn by the prosecuting authorities.”
Some defendants appeared relieved that the trial on Lesbos had begun, since it will allow them to state their case after years of legal limbo.
“We’re here after more than seven years, eventually, to prove our innocence,” Nassos Karakitsos, one of the rescue workers, told reporters in Lesbos. “So this nightmare can finally end.”
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