Ahead of the trial of human rights defenders Tommy Olsen and Panayote Dimitras on 6 October in Rhodes on charges relating to their work in support of refugees and migrants Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe said:
“The criminal charges against Panayote Dimitras and Tommy Olsen are a gross misuse of anti-smuggling legislation and are not backed by evidence. Both are being targeted for their work documenting serious human rights violations against migrants and refugees.
“The Greek authorities have a long-standing record of going after human rights defenders and criminalizing human rights work, but this is a new low. For the first time, human rights workers are being referred to trial for helping people access asylum procedures. Construing this as ‘smuggling’ is not only a distortion of international and domestic law but a dangerous vilification of NGOs’ valuable work.”
In July 2021, Dimitras and Olsen were supporting people seeking asylum on the island of Kos including helping them to access the asylum procedure. They also documented and reported cases of pushbacks by the Greek authorities – the illegal and often violent practice of summarily returning people across borders, a practice that Greece has been found guilty of by the European Court of Human Rights.
The authorities accuse Dimitras and Olsen of establishing and participating in a criminal organization and jointly facilitating the “unlawful entry” and “unlawful stay” of third country nationals in Greece. Based on information available to Amnesty International, there is no indication that Dimitras’ and Olsen’s work went beyond the legitimate activities of assisting people in legally exercising their human rights and documenting the situation.
If convicted they face up to 20 years in prison.
Tommy Olsen said: “When human rights defenders face criminal prosecution for documenting what happens at Europe’s borders, while pushbacks and other serious human rights violations continue with impunity, it sends a powerful message to everyone doing this work: stay silent, or risk becoming the accused yourself.”
Panayote Dimitras said: “This prosecution had the sole aim to harass us and severely limit our work documenting human rights violations at Greece’s borders. It has left me stigmatized and has prevented me from travelling abroad to continue our human rights advocacy at an international level for more than three years.”
“The charges brought against Olsen and Dimitras send an alarming message that supporting people in need of protection to exercise their rights can be misconstrued as complicity in smuggling. This doesn’t just harm refugees and migrants who have undertaken dangerous journeys at sea, as it discourages the provision of assistance, but has a chilling effect on civil society a whole,” said Dinushika Dissanayake from Amnesty International.
Background
Tommy Olsen is a Norwegian human rights worker who founded the NGO Aegean Boat Report in 2017 to monitor arrivals to the Greek islands and document rights violations. Panayote Dimitras is the legal administrator and representative of the NGO Greek Helsinki Monitor, an organization that documents racist violence and racist speech including pushbacks of asylum seekers by Greek law enforcement officers at borders.
Since 2023, the Greek authorities have imposed extremely onerous pretrial measures on Dimitras, including a ban on leaving the country, a duty to regularly report to the police station, and a bail payment of €10,000.
Tommy Olsen is currently living in Norway. Earlier in the year, Norway’s authorities rejected an extradition request from Greece, finding that the actions for which Olsen had been prosecuted in Greece are not illegal in Norway and represented a real risk for Olsen’s right to freedom of expression.
Amnesty International has repeatedly highlighted shortcomings in Greek anti-smuggling laws, noting that the legislation is based on broad and vague language, and does not adequately protect human rights defenders and humanitarian actors from criminal prosecution.
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Further resources:
- Aegean Boat Report and Greek Helsinki Monitor – Ελληνικο Παρατηρητηριο των Συμφωνιων του Ελσινκι – Human rights in Greece and beyond
- Amnesty International: Europe: Punishing compassion: Solidarity on trial in Fortress Europe
- Amnesty International: Solidarity on trial: People in Europe are being targeted for helping refugees and migrants