Allegations of espionage, which weighed for five years on 24 people, Greeks and foreigners, who offered humanitarian aid to refugees in Lesvos. Yesterday, the three-member Court of Appeal of Lesbos unanimously decided to drop charges related to espionage, forgery of documents and illegal listening to radio frequencies. It is noted that the case materials since 2019 have been divided into cases of misdemeanors, for which there was a danger of the statute of limitations expiring, and criminal offenses. “Yesterday 24 defendants were acquitted of charges of committing offenses” explains “K” their lawyer Zacharias Kesse. The justification for the acquittal was simple: such a vague indictment was poorly drafted, and the case file was never translated. “We repeatedly asked to translate the case materials, the court could do it all this time.”

For most misdemeanors, the 5-year period has already passed, and for some, the 5-year period ends within a few days. Therefore, there will be no new charges, the case is dismissed. Now eagerly awaiting trial on criminal charges – the case is still under investigation after five years.

The 24 participants in the case were relieved to hear about the decision. Their prosecution attracted international attention. This was even preceded by the intervention of the UN, which called for the charges to be dropped, as well as the Council of Europe.

“Simple actions, such as looking at the shore through binoculars, were considered criminal,” their lawyer Zaharias Kesses tells K.

The case has come to be known as the “Sarah Mardini case,” as the defendants include a Syrian refugee made famous by the Netflix movie Swimmers. Sarah, although having started a new life in Berlin, returns to Mytilini to help young refugees and is arrested. Post-traumatic stress that girl (“K”, “From the Cliffs of Lesbos on Netflix“, Marianna Kakaunaki, 11/24/2022) stems from her judicial adventure and prison experience in Korydallos. “I’m not a human trafficker, I’m just a pensioner who wanted to do something good”, 67-year-old Dutchman Peter Witterberg told K and Marianne Kakaunaki about this a few days ago..

“The consequences of this 5-year adventure are numerous and serious for all 24 defendants,” says Mr. Kesses. Among them are lawyers who cannot practice the profession due to litigation, specialists who cannot work in another country due to a ban on leaving Greece, etc.

“There are logical tricks in the indictment: they contain individual stories from a closed WhatsApp group of 449 members, including the High Commission and many police officers,” it says revealingly. “Volunteers are accused of having information about the arrival of refugees and not reporting to the authorities, but we presented evidence that in at least 23 cases they reported to the port authorities,” he adds, and notes that “criminal, simple actions, for example, to see the shore with binoculars.

The ongoing persecution served as a deterrent both for foreign volunteers who wanted to help and for those in Mytilene, a large percentage of whom left. “Many of the volunteers were foreign students who, instead of coming to Mykonos for the holidays, decided to come to Mytilini to distribute water and blankets to the refugees.”