In a hearing that took place before the Samos court on Thursday, September 5th 2024, 11 people were declared innocent and exonerated of all charges.
In December 2019, residents of the former refugee camp in Samos demonstrated against the horrific living conditions at the CCAC and their indefinite confinement on the island.
The protests were initially peaceful, however eventually escalated, leading to a series of arbitrary arrests by the local police. Through arbitrary procedures, 18 people were also “recognized” and “identified” as perpetrators by the authorities, some of which were immediately arrested and tried in court the following day.
The rest were prosecuted and committed for trial, on the charges of incitement to breach the peace, breaching the peace, theft and destruction of property. After multiple adjournments and almost 5 years later, the hearing of the 11 defendants finally took place before the Samos court on September 5th, 2024.
HRLP lawyers represented 3 of the defendants in question, arguing that their mere presence in the protests should not be criminalized and pointing to the lack of evidence in support of their prosecution.
Following the lawyers' plead, the Court declared the 3 defendants represented by HRLP innocent due to lack of substantial evidence proving their involvement in any illegal activity. By extension, all 11 of the defendants were declared innocent on the same grounds.
The appeal hearing of the people who were immediately arrested during the 2019 Samos camp riots, is set to take place on th 18th of November 2024.
It is important to note that the cases in question serve as prime examples of the quasi-systematic criminalization of people on the move by Greek and EU authorities. As HRLP lawyer, Dimitris Choulis highlighted, “There are strong parallels between the present case and the Moria 6 case, as both point to the arbitrary treatment of refugee camp residents throughout Greece”.
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