"A court on the Greek island of Lesbos ruled on Thursday that volunteers with Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI), a Greek nonprofit, were not guilty of charges of facilitating illegal entry and forming a criminal organisation. All defendants are acquitted of the charges because their aim was not to commit criminal acts but to provide humanitarian aid, presiding Judge Vassilis Papathanassiou told the court."
"Mardini, a 30-year-old Syrian who sought refuge in Germany in 2015, was present at the court, along with her Irish-German co-defendant Sean Binder. Saving human lives is not a crime, an emotional Mardini said after the verdict. We never did anything illegal because if helping people is a crime, then we are all criminals. Mardini was part of a group of volunteer activists with the ERCI organisation trying to help migrants and refugees reach the island of Lesbos from Turkiye in 2018. She was arrested at the time and spent three months in prison in Greece."
"The aim of such legal action, Kesses argued, was to criminalise humanitarian aid and eliminate humanitarian organisations. Before this case, thousands of volunteers were on Lesbos, whereas afterwards they were reduced to a few dozen."
A Greek court on Lesbos acquitted 24 volunteers from Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI) of charges of facilitating illegal entry and forming a criminal organisation, finding their actions were humanitarian. The defendants included Syrian competitive swimmer Sarah Mardini and Irish-German co-defendant Sean Binder, who attended the verdict. Mardini had sought refuge in Germany in 2015, was arrested in 2018 while assisting migrants, and spent three months in prison. Her rescue of her sister inspired the Netflix film The Swimmers. Defense counsel Zaharias Kesses said the prosecutions aimed to criminalise humanitarian aid and deter volunteer rescue efforts, which declined on Lesbos after the arrests.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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