CNN
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Ah Trial of 24 rescue workers It prompted criticism from human rights groups originating in Greece and the European Parliament, which called the case “the greatest example of the criminalization of solidarity in Europe.”
The trial of Sean Binder, Sarah Maldini and 22 other volunteers from the search and rescue NGO Emergency Response Center International began Tuesday on Lesvos, EU MP Grace O’Sullivan said she accompanied Binder to court. said he did.
The two most high-profile defendants, Binder and Maldini, were arrested in 2018 after participating in several search and rescue operations around Lesvos to aid refugees stranded at sea.
Binder, a trained diver, holds dual Irish and German citizenship, while Maldini is a Syrian refugee who arrived in Europe by sea.
Maldini gained international attention after it was revealed that she and her sister saved the life of a fellow asylum seeker when a ship en route from Turkey to Greece was wrecked. Maldini’s sister Yusra continued swimming for the refugee team at the Olympics. The sisters’ story recently came to life in the Netflix movie The Swimmers.
Maldini returned to Greece in 2016 and worked as a volunteer at the Emergency Response Center International, working with Binder.
The two have been charged with felonies including espionage, supporting a smuggling network, joining a criminal organization and money laundering, and have been convicted, according to a European Parliament report released in June 2021. If caught, you could face up to 25 years in prison.
Maldini’s attorney Zacharias Quesses called the allegations “arbitrary” and added in a video message in 2018 that they “have nothing to do with the actual evidence.” He warned that the incident “scare people away from doing this kind of work.”
According to a European Parliament report, the case is “currently the largest case of solidarity criminalization in Europe”.
“All we ask is that the rule of law be respected. That the laws of Greece be respected,” Binder said Tuesday at the day’s court hearing. told journalists after the
“We want the rule of law. We’ll see on Friday whether we get the rule of law or the rule of flaws,” Binder continued, prosecutors making “flaw after flaw” in their case. said.
In a December 22 statement, Human Rights Watch called on Greek prosecutors to drop the charges, saying the case “effectively criminalizes life-saving humanitarian solidarity for people on the move.” rice field.
Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Europe, Nils Muijnicks, said in a statement on 5 January that the trial “will discourage the Greek authorities from providing humanitarian aid and will force migrants and refugees to seek safety on their own shores.” “It shows how extreme measures are taken to discourage.”
“It is a farce that this trial is taking place. All charges against the rescuers must be dropped without delay,” Muižnieks added.
