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Greek and EU agents accused of carrying out ‘systematic and continuous’ illegal pushbacks of migrants to Turkey

British-based research group Forensic Architecture confirms expulsions are ‘widespread and continuous’

GREEK forces on their country’s border with Turkey are engaged in “systematic and continuous” illegal pushbacks of migrants with the “help of EU agents,” new research has found. 

For years, migrants and refugees fleeing persecution by crossing the Evros river between Turkey and Greece have testified that they have been detained, beaten and forcibly expelled by unidentified masked men at night without being allowed access to asylum procedures. 

Such actions, known as “pushbacks,” are illegal under international law.

The Greek and EU authorities have consistently denied that pushbacks are taking place and have ignored calls to investigate the allegations. 

Now British-based research group Forensic Architecture has said that its investigation confirms expulsions are “widespread and continuous” and are reliant on a “wide network of state and EU infrastructure,” potentially including EU border control agency Frontex. 

As part of the research, four witnesses who experienced pushbacks were interviewed by Forensic Architecture in Athens last year. 

The researchers used a technique called “situated testimony” to reconstruct the witnesses’ experiences, using gaming and architectural software. 

Through this, they modelled 3D images of buildings that the interviewees had been held in, vehicles that they had travelled in, landscapes that they had crossed and attire worn by operatives involved.

Using further evidence from satellite images, maps, photographs and videos, Forensic Architecture was able to identify some of the actors involved. 

This allegedly revealed the involvement of Greek police, border guards and military personnel. In some cases, German-speaking personnel were also reportedly identified. 

Forensic Architecture project co-ordinator Stefanos Levidis said the research showed “a picture of a violent practice where beatings are customary, at times amounting to torture, and which relied on a wide network of state and EU border defence infrastructure as well as the deadly river landscape itself.”

The report is the latest to highlight violent pushbacks at the border. Human rights groups renewed calls yesterday for the European Commission to investigate. 

Refugee Rights Europe executive director Marta Welander told the Morning Star: “In order to break with the current failures to hold member states like Greece accountable for their pushbacks and rights violations at borders, the European Commission must step up its efforts and quickly put in place an appropriate monitoring mechanism.”

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