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Refugees in the Kara Tepe camp: »Better to die than bring another child to the camp«
Photo: ELIAS MARCOU / REUTERS
The public prosecutor's office on the Greek island of Lesbos is prosecuting a heavily pregnant refugee who set herself on fire out of desperation.
This emerges from a letter from the local authorities that SPIEGEL has received.
The 27-year-old Afghan woman set herself on fire in her tent in the refugee camp on Lesbos on Sunday morning after she had brought her family to safety.
According to her lawyer, the neighbors had warned the Afghan woman beforehand.
They put out the flames together with the police and the fire department.
The woman suffered severe burns and was taken to hospital in the island's capital, Mytilene.
There she lies to this day, in a few days she could have her child.
No other people were injured in the fire.
The Afghan has lived in the Kara Tepe camp with her three young children and her husband for 14 months.
The Greek authorities had built a makeshift tent city for 6,000 people on Lesbos after the Moria slum camp burned down in the summer.
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Refugee woman with child on Lesbos in February 2020
Photo: MANOLIS LAGOUTARIS / AFP
Conditions in the camp are disastrous.
Hail and sleet have fallen on Lesvos in recent months, and squalls swept the island.
The water backed up in the camp, tents sank into the mud.
Many residents complain of psychological problems and suffer from complex trauma, aid organizations warn of permanent damage and an increasing number of suicide attempts.
Afghan woman should apparently be flown to Germany
According to SPIEGEL information, the Afghan woman and her family had been granted international protection.
Apparently the family should be flown to Germany.
The Federal Republic of Germany had promised to take in around 1,600 recognized refugees with their families from the Greek islands.
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According to the family lawyer, the mother wanted to commit suicide because she was told that she could not come to Germany before the birth of her child.
According to SPIEGEL information, the Afghan woman told the public prosecutor that she would rather die than bring another child to the camp.
The hygienic conditions are too bad, garbage is lying around everywhere, it is too cold.
Ministry circles said this week that the woman had misunderstood something.
Accordingly, the Afghan woman may have assumed that she would not be allowed to leave Greece at all - not even after the birth of the child.
NGOs have been criticizing for months that the selection process for the evacuation from the island is not transparent enough.
In addition, sufficient psychological support is not always guaranteed.
Afghan women are no longer allowed to leave the country
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The Kara Tepe camp in September 2020: Photographers are not allowed in
Photo: Panagiotis Balaskas / ANE Edition / imago images
The conservative Greek government of Prime Minister Kyrgiakos Mitsotakis is cracking down on refugees.
Conditions in the camps have been catastrophic for years, critical non-governmental organizations are being bullied.
The Greek coast guard has been systematically holding up refugee boats since March 2020, the inmates illegally leaving the border guards at sea.
The authorities recently investigated a father who had lost his son in a boat accident.
The case of the pregnant Afghan woman shows once again that the Greek government is determined to continue its policy of deterrence, criticizes the woman's lawyer, Tereza Volakaki from the Lesvos Legal Center.
After an initial hearing, the prosecutor refused to drop the alleged arson.
There are serious indications that the accused are guilty, according to the court document that SPIEGEL has received.
You have to send a message, said a police spokesman.
"The case is not about arson," however, lawyer Volakaki told SPIEGEL.
Self-harm is not punishable under Greek law, and the same applies to unintentional damage to property.
She demands the acquittal of her client.
The Afghan woman is now not allowed to leave the country until the final decision on a possible charge has been made, so she cannot be flown to Germany.
If convicted, she faces up to ten years in prison.
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