Greece was condemned this Thursday, July 7 by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for the sinking in 2014 in the Aegean Sea of a boat carrying around thirty migrants, eleven of whom had lost their lives.
The Greek authorities "
did not conduct a thorough and effective investigation to shed light on the circumstances of the sinking
", underlines in a press release the Court which also noted "
failures in the procedure
".
"The right to life"
According to the Court, which has its seat in Strasbourg, the Greek authorities also failed "to
do all that could reasonably be expected of them to offer the applicants and their relatives the level of protection required by the Article 2 of the
European Convention on Human Rights, which protects “
the right to life
”.
The tragedy took place on January 20, 2014. A fishing boat carrying 27 migrants capsized off the island of Pharmakonisi, near the western Turkish coast.
Eleven people, including relatives of the applicants, perished in the sinking.
According to the applicants, “
the coast guard vessel would have sailed at a very high speed to push back the refugees towards the Turkish coast, which would have caused the capsizing of the boat
”, explains the Court.
On the other hand, the Greek authorities maintain that "
the boat was towed to the island of Pharmakonisi to rescue the refugees and the boat capsized due to the panic of its passengers
" and their "
sudden movements
", continues the European jurisdiction.
"The lack of a thorough and effective investigation"
Seized by sixteen survivors, thirteen Afghans, two Syrians and a Palestinian, the Court considers that it cannot comment on several specific details of the rescue operation, an “
impossibility
” which, according to it, stems from “
the absence of 'thorough and effective investigation
'.
“
At no time did the (Greek) Coast Guard consider asking for additional help or the competent authorities were not informed to send a boat to the scene
” suitable for “
a rescue operation
”, continues the ECHR.
This raises "
serious questions (...) as to the way in which the operation was conducted and organized
".
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In addition to the violation of Article 2, it found a violation of Article 13 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), twelve applicants, once brought back to dry land, having been subjected to unjustified body searches.
The ECHR awarded a total of 330,000 euros to the 16 applicants.
