Opposition urges probe after BBC migrant deaths report

Greece’s main opposition party is demanding an investigation after a BBC report which found the coastguard had caused dozens of migrant deaths over three years, according to witnesses.

Nine migrants were said to have been thrown into the water deliberately.

Syriza’s immigration policy chief said: “We demand in-depth investigation, we demand answers, we demand accountability, and the reason we do it is this.

“We care about all human life, and we cannot get used to the loss of human life.”

Giorgos Psychogios told the BBC his centre-left party had called for accountability over coastguard incidents for years, after many reports from international institutions and organisations.

He accused the government of calling his party “anti-Greek”, “Erdogan agents” and “provocateurs” for asking those questions.

A government spokesperson insisted the BBC’s claims had not been proven, but stressed that every complaint would be checked and conclusions drawn.

The coastguard “saves dozens of human lives every day”, Pavlos Marinakis told reporters, adding it was “wrong to target them”.

“Reality… has consistently refuted these claims for too many years.

“And, in fact, too many times in the past we have seen Greeks being the ones behind the attempt to slander the country.”

A BBC team showed footage previously published by the New York Times of 12 people being loaded into a Greek coastguard boat, and then abandoned on a dinghy, to a former senior Greek coastguard officer. When he got up from his chair, and with his mic still on, he said it was “obviously illegal” and “an international crime”.

The Greek government has long been accused of forced returns – pushing people back towards Turkey, where they have crossed from, which is illegal under international law.

But this is the first time the BBC has calculated the number of incidents which allege that fatalities occurred as a result of the Greek coastguard’s actions.

The 15 incidents analysed – dated May 2020-23 – resulted in 43 deaths. The initial sources were primarily local media, NGOs and the Turkish coastguard.

Dead Calm: Killing in the Med?

In June 2023, an overloaded trawler flips in front of a Greek coast guard patrol boat. More than 600 men, women and children die in the water. But who is responsible, and are the coast guard at fault?

Watch on iPlayer or on BBC Two at 21:00 on Monday 17 June.

Human Rights Watch described the BBC’s findings as a “particularly horrifying addition to mounting and credible allegations against Greek authorities”.

The organisation called for a full investigation to “serve justice to victims and to break the cycle of violence and impunity at Greece’s borders”.

Meanwhile, social democratic opposition party Pasok said the BBC report “causes reasonable interest and concern for possible illegal actions” of the coastguard.

“We await the responses of the authorities,” said MP Athanasios Glavinas. “Respect for human life and value is non-negotiable.”

The Greek Council for Refugees told the BBC that pushbacks were a “de facto policy for Greece” and joined calls for the government and EU to initiate an investigation.