110 REFUGEE PROTESTORS ACQUITTED OF CRIMINAL CHARGES, BUT CRIMINALIZATION OF PROTEST CONTINUES
Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece – May 9th, 2019 – The Three-Member Misdemeanours Court of Mytilene has acquitted the 110 protestors who were charged with illegal occupation of public property, revolt with the use of physical force, and resistance following the racist attack in Mytilene’s Sappho Square on April 22, 2018.
In April 2018, after an Afghan refugee from Moria refugee camp died ...due to insufficient provision of health services, a group of approximately 200 refugees from Moria gathered in Sappho Square, to protest the insufficient medical services and poor living conditions in the camp, the largest in Greece. On April 22, during an attack by a far-right group against the protesting refugees, police tried to disband the refugees and eventually detained 120 refugees and two Greek citizens. There were 12 children among the detained refugees. On April 23, criminal charges were pressed against the detainees including illegal occupation of public property, revolt with the use of physical force and resistance.
HIAS Greece, which represented 33 defendants in the criminal proceedings, considers the decision of the Three-Member Misdemeanours Court of Mytilene to be the only reasonable outcome for the case. “This decision warrants no celebrations, “warned HIAS Greece Country Director Vassilis Kerasiotis. “The mere fact that 110 participants of a peaceful protest were tried in a court of justice, after suffering a racist attack and disproportionate use of violence by the police, is deeply concerning.” From the use of violence for disbandment of a peaceful protest to the criminal prosecution of the participants, all the decisions of the authorities pertaining to the case point towards criminalization of protest – a phenomenon wider than this particular case and therefore all the more worrisome. The Greek Constitution guarantees the right to protest to everyone present inside the jurisdiction of the Greek state and the competent authorities have the obligation to defend it for everyone, regardless of their citizenship or migration status.