The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) yesterday condemned Greece for the death of 16 refugees in a shipwreck off Agathonisi in 2018. It is the fourth identical ruling against the country by the ECHR, following previous condemnations for the deadly shipwreck off Farmakonisi and the deaths of refugees from Coast Guard gunfire in two separate cases, in Symi and Pserimos.
According to the court’s decision, Greece violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to life), as the Coast Guard failed to rescue the shipwrecked refugees despite being promptly and repeatedly informed. Greece was also condemned for the ineffectiveness of the criminal investigation into the incident, as the case had been closed by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Piraeus Naval Court.
It is the fourth identical condemnation of Greece by the ECHR, following the rulings on the Farmakonisi shipwreck and the deaths of refugees from Coast Guard fire in Symi and Pserimos.
Specifically, in the early hours of March 16, 2018, a young refugee residing on Samos alerted the authorities after receiving a message from his sister with the coordinates of the boat she was on — together with other family members and refugees who were in immediate danger of sinking.
The boat carrying the refugees sank, and the passengers remained in the water for hours without any assistance, until most of them (16 out of 19) died one after another by late afternoon. The Hellenic Coast Guard denied that the incident occurred on Friday, March 16, claiming instead that it took place a day later (Saturday, March 17), the day on which the survivors were found.
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