Evros: 6 dead and 8 missing immigrants since the beginning of the year

On the morning of February 21, 2012, in the rural area near the village Amorion (Orestiada) another corpse was discovered. The dead immigrant was a woman of African origin, aged 18-25 years. The immigrant died because of bad weather, while trying to enter the “European dream” from Turkey, via the river Evros. On February 1, 2012 another African woman was found dead near river Evros, in the area of Tychero village this time. She was about 25 years old, and died either from drowning or hypothermia, as in those days, temperatures in the border areas could fall as low as 15 degrees below zero.

The confirmed number of dead immigrants in Evros river from the beginning of the year is six, while eight more are still missing, including a 9-years-old little girl. She and her grandfather were lost in the cold waters of the river.

UPDATE on racist attack in Corinth: Suspect detained

TEXT: ANDRÉS MOURENZA // PHOTO: ALESSANDRO PENSO
Finally, on Monday morning (2 days after the incident) the suspect of the racist attack to migrants in Corinth was arrested by the police. Also one of the two hospitalized migrants was able to leave the medical premises and return to the train station, with the other migrants. Nabi is still in hospital, well treated, and although with difficulties, he is recovering as photographers Alessandro Penso and Giorgos Moutafis were able to confirm this Monday after visiting him. Also journalist Antonio Cuesta visited the migrants at the train station this Monday.

Racist attack in Greece: 3 wounded, 2 disappeared

Nabi, a 20-years old Moroccan, is lying on the ground. He looks dead.

Twenty minutes earlier we were sitting in the recovered-from-garbage chairs and furniture, smoking cigarettes and chatting in one of the abandoned wagons of the old train station of Corinth (Greece). Nabi lives there with about other 50 migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen. Nasir—a polyglot, art lover Afghan interpreter—asks Nabi, another art lover, to draw something. The young Moroccan sketches the boat of the Hellenic Seaways moored just 200 meters down in the bay. They all are waiting the lucky day in which they will be able to catch the ferry; climbing to it, or hidden in the load of the trucks that the boat carries to Italy. And then… go further North in search for a job, a future, a safe and normal life. Crisis-hit Greece has become a nightmare for them. There is not the slightest possibility for work in a country with rocketing unemployment figures. Greeks don’t want them, neither they want to stay in Greece, but they are stuck here because European Union treaties allow third countries to return them to the state where they first entered the EU. And Greece has been the gate to Europe in the last years for 90 % of migrants.

Now, Nabi is lying on the ground.

Denouncement by African immigrants

Message by the union of African nationals (refugees in Ermioni) in Greece…

We, African refugees resident in Ermioni, have the honour to bring to your knowledge the perpetual threat of our security.

We send out this alarming and disgraced message to all national and international organisations defending the cause of refugees and all persons of good will who can defend us from this insecurity and racial segregation, and restore and recognise our international human rights as no one wishes to be a refugee.


Construction of Evros border fence begins

Construction of a fence along the Evros River on the Greek-Turkish border officially commenced on Monday, budgeted at 3,162.5 million euros, is due for completion in late August or early September.
Citizens protection minister Christos Papoutsis declared the commencement of the construction of the fence in the Kastanies region, after earlier inaugurating the Border Surveillance Operational Center in the town of Nea Vyssa, where earlier a group of demonstrators protested against the construction of the fence and the Center.

3 Afghans died from cold (?) in Parga – Greece

After an anonymous phone call made to an Afghan family in Afghanistan, policemen found the corpses of three Afghan immigrants thrown in a deserted area outside Parga (West Greece).

Someone anonymously called from Athens and told the Afghan family that strangers threw the dead bodies of three Afghans behind a gas station on the Preveza – Igoumenitsa highway.

Most likely the three Afghans, aged 20-30 years, died from cold as they were transferred on a truck from Athens to the port of Igoumenitsa.

Amnesty International: Greece continues to violate asylum-seekers’ human rights

While over a year has passed since the landmark ruling by the Grand Chamber of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, Amnesty International remains profoundly concerned about the treatment of asylum-seekers in Greece.

The organization is deeply concerned that asylum-seekers are routinely detained for prolonged periods of time that can reach up to six months. In particular, the detention of unaccompanied or separated asylum-seeking children continues. Such children are held routinely for prolonged periods while a place is found for them in a reception centre for minors.