to legal procedures by the Greek authorities, while in the other cases either the applicants complain that they were subjected to a pushback operation or information on their whereabouts was lost.146 On 15 January 2025, Forensic Architectures (FA) published the result of its investigative research on the situation at the Evros river.147 FA noted that: ‘the river is a hotspot for illegal crossings of refugees and migrants into Europe, as well as a laboratory for border defence technologies at the continent’s frontier. Meanwhile, the course of the river has changed over the century. … Within that space, migrants and refugees are hunted, detained, tortured, ‘pushed back’ across the river by border guards, or abandoned on islets for days, even weeks. A military buffer zone, dotted with guard stations, watchtowers and fences, runs along both banks of the river, excluding monitors, researchers, and medical professionals. Survivors of ‘pushbacks’ describe having their phones, documents, and possessions confiscated and often thrown into the river, ensuring that little documentation of this lethal border zone escapes to the outside world”. 148 In this context, as FA explains, “since early 2020, more than sixty groups of asylum seekers that attempted to cross into Greece found themselves stranded on islets in the middle of the river. These groups were either led there by smugglers or border guards from the Turkish side of the river, or forced there by Greek authorities during pushbacks. In both cases, the islets are used as spaces where asylum seekers are abandoned for weeks on end, often without clothes, food or water, so that either littoral authority can deny responsibility for their reception and rescue. Fatalities from lack of access to food, water and medical care, insect and snake bites, hypothermia, drowning, or injuries are a common outcome of this practice.’ As FA explain, the scope of this platform is meant as a useful counter-cartographic tool at the hands of asylum seekers, activists, humanitarian workers and researchers in their pursuit of accountability for ongoing border crimes, and in their efforts to support stranded groups in the region. Finally, the platform includes various data in an interactive map, such as the stranding of people on the move, the maps and aerial graphics from five different periods, infrastructures (Border Guard Stations, Watchtowers, Surveillance Antennas) and the changes in the landscape after the wildfires of August 2023 in Evros. Pushbacks at sea On 7 January 2025, the ECtHR published its judgment in the case of the G.R.J. v. Greece. 149 The case concerned the alleged pushback of an Afghan unaccompanied minor from the Greek island of Samos to Türkiye in 2020. In its judgement, the Court concluded that “there were strong indications to suggest that, at the time of the events alleged, a systematic practice of “pushbacks” from the Greek islands to Türkiye had existed.”150 However, the applicant had failed to provide prima facie evidence of his presence in Greece and of his personal “pushback” to Türkiye from the island of Samos on the alleged dates. Therefore, the Court underlined that the existence of a systematic practice of pushbacks does not exempt an applicant from the obligation to provide prima facie evidence to substantiate his or her allegations. In July 2022, the ECtHR issued its long-awaited landmark judgment in the case of Safi and others v. Greece (also known as the “Farmakonisi case”),151 which was supported by GCR, Refugee Support 146 147 148 149 150 151 Greek Council for Refugees, GCR’s Information Note on interventions and on interim measures granted by the ECtHR in cases regarding pushbacks, updated on the 12th of January 2026, available at: https://tinyurl.com/36kbkk4f. Forensic Architecture, The Evros/Meric River: A century of border design, 15 January 2025, available here. Ibid. ECtHR, G.R.J. v. Greece (Application no. 15067/21), available at: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre?i=001240283. ECtHR, G.R.J. v. Greece (Application no. 15067/21), paras 190 and 225, available at: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre?i=001-240283. Unofficial translation to English “190. Having regard to the significant number, variety and concordance of the relevant sources, the Court concludes that there are strong indications to suggest that, at the time of the events alleged, there was a systematic practice of “pushbacks” of third-country nationals, by the Greek authorities, from the greek islands to Türkiye […] 225. The Court recalls that there are serious indications that, at the material time of the alleged facts, there was a systematic practice of refoulement from the Greek islands to Türkiye”. ECtHR, Safi and others v. Greece, application no 5418/15, 7 July 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/45oTicG 50