Athens
Greece has denied a BBC investigation which claimed the country's coast guard was responsible for the deaths of dozens of migrants trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, and has denied allegations of breaching international law.
In an investigation published on its website on June 17, the BBC counted 43 migrants who died in the Aegean Sea between May 2020 and May 2023 after being turned away by the Greek coast guard.
The British broadcaster added that nine of the dead were deliberately thrown overboard.
Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis denied the allegations.
“We monitor every publication, every investigation, and I repeat, nothing reported has ever been proven,” he said, adding that the Coast Guard “saves dozens of lives every day.”
Greece has long been accused of running an illegal operation to forcibly return migrants who brave the dangerous voyage from Turkey's western coast in hopes of reaching the European Union.
Athens has consistently denied the practice, but numerous investigations by international media and human rights groups have documented its existence, much of it through video evidence.
The BBC said the investigation looked at 15 similar pushback operations over a three-year period.
The BBC has been able to interview witnesses as well as report on information from local media, NGOs and the Turkish Coast Guard.
They include a Cameroonian national who claims he and two other migrants were arrested after landing on the island of Samos in September 2021.
He said police forced them onto a Greek coast guard vessel, assaulted them on board and then threw them into the sea.
He was the only survivor, but the bodies of his two companions, an Ivorian and a Cameroonian, washed up on the Turkish coast.
The EU said it was aware of the “damning allegations”.
“The Greek authorities, like other EU member states, must fully respect their obligations under refugee protection law and international law,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters in Brussels.
Tens of thousands of migrants, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have entered Greece through its sea and land borders with Turkey in recent years.
