Claim to be verified: In the 4 first months of 2025, the Greek authorities arrested 150 refugees and migrant-smugglers.
Context: Halting immigration by arresting migrant traffickers is a high priorities of Greece’s right-wing authorities. To this objective, and to point out some achievements, it has been making use of a really broad definition of “smuggler”. Meanwhile, the courts are meting out hasty justice to migrants, usually in disregard of the rule of legislation.
On 17 April 2025, throughout a morning present on Greek broadcaster SKAI TV, newly appointed Minister of Migration and Asylum Makis Voridis claimed that “over 150 smugglers” of refugees and migrants had been arrested within the first 4 months of the 12 months. “An unlawful smuggler is arrested virtually each day,” he repeated in a while Action24 TV.
But a more in-depth take a look at authorized data and judicial practices on the Greek islands raises critical doubts about this declare – and about how the time period “smuggler” is being utilized.
What’s in a “smuggler”?
Over the previous three years, Solomon has monitored dozens of smuggling trials on the Aegean islands of Lesvos, Samos and Chios. Almost with out exception, the defendants have been asylum seekers who had crossed into Greek waters in overcrowded dinghies. Their crime? Being at or close to the helm.
None of those defendants have been confirmed members of organised felony networks. Instead, they have been charged with facilitating unlawful entry – usually arbitrarily, just because that they had touched the rudder or have been sitting close to the entrance of the boat.
Despite this, they have been prosecuted underneath anti-smuggling legal guidelines that carry extraordinarily heavy penalties, usually equal to these for organised crime or terrorism.
Quick trials, lengthy sentences
In these circumstances, entry to a good trial is commonly absent. Language interpretation is poor or non-existent, and authorized illustration is minimal. Lawyers are often appointed the day of the listening to and given solely minutes to evaluation the case recordsdata.
Between 2014 and 2019, researchers documented 48 such trials, with a mean sentence of 48 years. Yet the common trial lasted simply 38 minutes, and a few have been as brief as 15.
In June 2025, for instance, 16 asylum seekers have been tried in Samos for smuggling. Ten have been acquitted due to help from native authorized organisations such because the Human Rights Legal Project in Samos and the Legal Center of Lesvos, or European organizations like Borderline Europe. Without such assist, they could have joined the lots of of others presently serving decades-long sentences.
From Turkish mafia to determined passengers
From 2010 till roughly 2015, the 12 months over 1,000,000 Syrian refugees reached Europe through the Balkan route, the boats ferrying refugees throughout the Aegean have been usually piloted by Turkish nationals. But as extra of them have been jailed, the Turkish mafia behind the networks regarded for options. Increasingly, captains have been recruited from among the many passengers themselves – usually randomly or by coercion.
Refugees reported being pressured or tricked into steering the boat, typically on the final second. Young males or unaccompanied minors have been notably focused, as they have been seen as extra “expendable” or extra more likely to obtain lenient remedy if caught.
The similar sample has emerged in Italy and elsewhere: in recent times, greater than 1,000 asylum seekers have been prosecuted for driving boats. Between 2015 and 2019, Greece recorded over 7,000 arrests for smuggling-related prices.
When victims turn into scapegoats
Some of those circumstances are tragic. One defendant, Mohamad H., a Somali asylum seeker, was accused of being liable for his boat’s capsizing – although different passengers testified that he had tried to save lots of them. Another, Hassan, took the helm when their boat turned unmanageable. He was carrying his severely disabled mom on his shoulders throughout boarding.
Others have been charged merely for utilizing their telephones to navigate or name for assist. In one case, a person attempting to activate GPS on his cell phone was accused of facilitating entry and sentenced to over 140 years in jail.
The similar techniques might be seen in northern Greece, the place minors are sometimes compelled to drive autos and danger deadly accidents. In all these circumstances, the actual smuggling networks stay untouched. The similar follow is noticed on routes from Turkey to Italy (the place Ukrainian captains beforehand operated), and likewise on routes from Libya to Italy.
Earlier knowledge indicated that over 2,200 individuals have been imprisoned in Greece on prices associated to trafficking or “facilitating unlawful entry”. On the Action24 present, Makis Voridis (who has been changed by far-right Thànos Plévris on 28 June) talked about that a big proportion of Greece’s prisoners are migrant smugglers. In reality, alleged smugglers reportedly represent the second largest group of prisoners.
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Absent witnesses, unused proof
Another recurring drawback is the standard of testimony in courtroom. Solomon has documented quite a few circumstances wherein the coastguard officers testifying had no direct information of the occasions. Their proof was primarily based on stories written by colleagues, with no risk of cross-examination.
If lots of of “smugglers” are being imprisoned, but trafficking networks proceed to function, one thing is incorrect with the present method
In 68% of 81 circumstances analysed by Borderline Europe throughout numerous Greek areas, police or coastguard witnesses have been absent in courtroom altogether. Some trials lasted simply six minutes.
Even when asylum seekers supplied detailed details about precise smugglers – names, cellphone numbers, fee places – these leads have been hardly ever pursued by authorities.
The Pylos shipwreck, a living proof
The most high-profile instance of flawed smuggling prices was the 2023 Pylos shipwreck, wherein greater than 600 individuals drowned. Nine Egyptian survivors have been arrested as smugglers and jailed for a 12 months, regardless of Egyptian authorities informing Greece that they have been passengers, not traffickers.
An worldwide investigation led by Solomon discovered that these males had paid for his or her locations like everybody else. Their year-long detention, regardless of exculpatory proof, highlights the systemic failure to differentiate between precise smugglers and the individuals they exploit.
Inflated numbers, flawed definitions
Minister Voridis’s declare of 150 smugglers arrested in simply 4 months could also be technically correct, however solely utilizing a definition that features asylum seekers coerced into steering dinghies. Many of these people have been underage or performing underneath duress.
The query is not only whether or not the numbers are proper, however whether or not they’re significant. If lots of of “smugglers” are being imprisoned, but trafficking networks proceed to function, one thing is incorrect with the present method.
Rather than dismantling smuggling operations, this coverage criminalises the very individuals it claims to guard. It has turned victims into scapegoats and swelled prisons with individuals whose predicament concerned little alternative.
🤝 This article was produced with the help of the European Media and Information Fund (EMIF). It could not essentially mirror the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute. The sole accountability for any content material supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the creator(s) and it could not essentially mirror the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.
