June 14th marks International Fair Trial Day and constitutes a valuable opportunity to highlight that People on the Move are consistently subject to grossly unfair trials, at the European Union’s external borders.
Only three days ahead of the misdemeanour trials which will be taking place in Samos, HRLP published a case study analysis on the violation of the right to examine witnesses -one of the core violations of the right to a fair trial in cases of facilitation or illegal transfer of third country nationals into Greek territory, and specifically Samos.
On June 17, HRLP lawyers will represent five men who are all accused of illegally transferring third country nationals into Greece. The penalties for illegal transfer are the heaviest under Greek criminal law and each accused faces lengthy prison sentences of up to several life sentences and heavy fines.
In addition to the severity of the criminal law, HRLP has noted gross violations of procedural rights in all of the cases that we have undertaken. Most arrests take place immediately or in the days following the boat’s arrival on the island and lead to quasi systematic pre-detention of the accused following a decision of the pre-investigative judge. One of the main irregularities that HRLP’s lawyers observe concerns the evidence, or lack of, used against the defendants.
All the charges faced by defendants represented by HRLP since 2023 were based on one or more witness statements from either members of the Hellenic Coast Guard or, most commonly, from other passengers of the boat on which the defendant arrived.. As the statement is the primary evidence and constitutes the basis of the conviction, the person who gave this statement is a material witness and should be examined by the defendant themself or through their lawyer.
This analysis aims to demonstrate that while the right to call and examine witnesses is a crucial right of the defence and essential to guarantee a fair trial (1), this procedural right is systematically violated during criminalisation trials that take place in Samos (2).
Read HRLP's full case study analysis on the violation of the right to examine witnesses: