More than a million migrants and refugees, many escaping war in Iraq and Syria, traveled to Lesvos and other Greek islands from Turkey in 2015-16, with most moving on to Germany and other European Union countries. Instead of that we will have more and more trials, more and more time waiting while their lives hang in the balance,” he said.
“What we wanted to hear today was clearly that they are not guilty, that they are innocent. Giorgos Kosmopoulos, an observer from Amnesty International at Thursday’s hearing said he was “very disappointed” at the latest delay.
“The charges perversely misrepresent the group’s search-and-rescue operations as a smuggling crime ring,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement ahead of the trial. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other rights groups say the charges should be dropped.
#Swimming binder trial#
They have other things to do.”Ī European Parliament report in June called the trial “the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.” “There is nobody else who can help them, just the volunteers and the NGOs and not, indeed not, the authorities. “Would I do it again? Yes, of course,” he said. One of the defendants, 73-year-old Dutch national Pieter Wittenberg, said he was helping refugees by cooking meals and handing out clothes. “I am hoping to take him home,” his mother, Fanny, said. Binder was arrested in 2018 and spent 107 days in pre-trial detention.