35 migrants on trial for the revolt in Moria – 30 of them in prison waiting for the trial
After a visit to Moria, a meeting was held with 2 of the 5 people accused for the revolt that took place in Moria on July 18th, 2017 who were not imprisoned and live in Lesvos on restrictive terms. Four of the 5 were not put in prison waiting for the trial because the authorities had not until recently found an interpreter to speak their dialect, and the fifth because he was heavily injured by the beating of the cops and was hospitalized.
When an interpreter was finally found, the preliminary investigation was completed in early October and the date of the trial is to be announced. The trial is expected to take place relatively soon, perhaps in January 2018, in the courthouse of Mytilene. The 30 migrants are detained: in Avlona Prison (7 minors), in Korydallos (13 people) and in Chios prison (10 people). Everybody is facing serious accusations (felonies and misdemeanors): arson endangering human lives, revolt, resistance to authorities and other charges.
All arrests took place long after the events, on the basis of skin color only, as the 18th of July riot started from the part of Moria camp where the “black Africans live”. The cops opened a hole in the fencing, raided the “Africans’ area” in Moria and arrested (randomly) as many immigrants as they could after brutally beating them up. It has to be noted that some were arrested by firefighters who found them behind bushes and handed them over to the cops, on the incriminating evidence that a lighter was found on one of them.
So far, there has been no contact with the prisoners, as their lawyers have been appointed by various NGOs who refused to give their data for “privacy” reasons. An attempt is now being made to establish contacts through immigrants living in Moria and the Legal Center Lesbos, while lawyers from the movement (from Athens) will be hopefully added.
The situation in Moria and in the island of Lesvos
There are more than 6,000 people in Moria. Most of them “live” in tents. The camp authorities have run out of the big UNHCR tents and the igloo tents known from Idomeni are now being handed to migrants. The camp is so full, that many tents are outside of it. Inside Moria camp there is water and electricity for a few hours every day, in the late afternoon. Those who live outside the camp have neither water nor electricity (this area is called “Turkey” by the Moria migrants). The camp is divided into areas where police stations are positioned and the “residents” of one sector are not allowed to go to another. Also, there are separate areas for unaccompanied minors and single women, but after sunset the guards leave the women’s place unprotected, so there are often men violently “visiting”the women’s area. It is an well-known secret that there is organized prostitution and drug trafficking in the camp. The miserable conditions are constantly causing quarrels which sometimes take the form of ethnic confrontations. The cops watch the fights without reacting, and only when they get out of hand riot police intervenes and throws tear gas.
As for the asylum process, first an interview is conducted regarding the conditions under which the interviewed person was in Turkey before moving to the islands. If the respondent makes the mistake of describing them as tolerable, he / she is immediately placed in the Moria section where those who are to be returned to Turkey are kept. If (s)he gives some arguments according to which (s)he is in danger if returned, then there is the possibility for the asylum application process to start. The process is too slow, no information is given to the migrants, there are people that could achieve family reunification but they are not informed neither about the process nor of the time limits for it etc. In general, there is a long delay and a chaotic situation, while various NGO workers are walking around without really doing anything. Medical care is non-existent, especially after the departure of Doctors of the World and with Red Cross settling there. Red Cross operates a small health center with 1-2 doctors and 3-4 auxiliaries, but only 5 days a week and only during working hours (08.00 to 16.00). A few days ago, a young girl died because there was no doctors’ shift to give her parents the necessary papers to leave the camp and accompany the young girl to a hospital.
There are several small improvised “shops” around Moria, for those who have the money. Police surveillance is everywhere. Police presence and control is felt from the moment you arrive on the island, as anyone who appears suspicious, ie “solidarity person”, is driven to a special place and checked. You can see several “tough looking” migration police officers from other EU countries walking round on the island, and these bullies undertake the “returns” to Turkey. “Rerurns” take place on a weekly basis, from a special place in the harbor, by a boat without any agency initials, accompanied by a Greek border police boat.
The Hunger Strike in Sappho Square, Mytilene
On Oct. 19, hundreds of people walked from Moria to the center of Mytilene in order to have a sit-in in Sappho Square and protest against their living conditions, terrible delays for their papers and against their prolonged stay in Mytilene.
The presence of the Police and the authorities of Moria was very intense and they were in constant negotiations with the representatives of the refugees, telling them that they would carry them all to Kara Tepe (as a better solution than Moria), and then speed up the procedures for their transfer to Athens (especially families). After these promises most migrants returned to the camp and only 50 remained.
The following day, families of Afghans with many young children among them walked again from Moria to the city of Mytilene. At the northern entrance of the city, at the height of an old factory, the cops blocked them with riot police buses, forbidding them to enter the city. At the same time, they were channeling traffic moving towards the center of the city to a bypass road, so that there would be no visual contact between the drivers and the blocked migrants, who eventually were forced back to Moria.
The 50 immigrants (among them many children and minors) who had stayed in Mytilini since the day before, began to gather daily at Sappho Square under the constant surveillance of three Police jeeps. Anyone who approached the place was checked, even if (s)he had just left from there.
On Friday, October 27, four refugees began a hunger strike after publicizing a letter with their demands, giving a 4-day deadline to the authorities saying that if they were not given answers, some women, including little girls, would also start a hunger strike. As no answer to the demands was given, 5 girls joined the hunger strike. Comrades from the “Workers’ Club” and the squat at “Binio” university in Lesbos offered places for the migrants to spend the night. The owners of the house where the “Workers’ Club” is situated, announced that they would evict the Club because of the migrants using the place.
It is obvious that the European Union-Turkey deal only benefits States. Deaths by drowning have become a banality, immigrants remain stranded and marginalized in camps, while deportations continue, even in cases of unaccompanied minors.
We support the migrants struggles and revolts, as well as their demands for free movement, better living conditions and reunification with their families. We are together in the struggle for papers, healthcare, work and dignity.
WE SHARE WHAT WE HAVE
WE FIGHT TOGETHER FOR WHAT BELONGS TO US
Ubuntu-Wahhada