»The truth may be bitter, but it must be told« had rescued us drove off. The men from the larger boat searched us. They were looking for our money. As they were searching us one of the policemen laughingly said, ›I am a doctor.‹ He found 50 euros on me, which he confiscated. The police threw the bread and water, and whatever else was left in our dinghy, into the water. The dinghy was put over our heads. The police boat drove us back into international waters. About two kilometres in front of the Turkish coast they threw the dinghy out. Then we were violently forced back onto it. They had made a small hole in the rubber dinghy and only gave us one oar. We paddled desperately to reach the coast, but we were so exhausted. We gave up just after an hour. We thought we were going to die, then. The water was very still. After a while we fell asleep. Then a big boat came and rescued us. Lesbos: Five attempts 4 »The Greek coast guard forced us back into the rubber dinghy on high seas. Before we got back on they made small cuts in it with knives. Every group only got one oar. Our shoes were thrown into the water. It was very difficult for us to reach the shore in the damaged boat and with only one oar. We reached an uninhabited island – there was no water and nothing edible on the island. We made a fire to draw attention to ourselves. There were minors in our group. After two days we were rescued by the Turkish authorities. They held us for three days and then released us. That was about three months ago. I tried to get to Greece from Turkey four times. It was only after the fifth time, that I managed to arrive.« Samos: Broken ribs 5 »We were a group of 22. We were in the middle of the sea when the Greek coast guard arrived. We were pulled on board, one after the other. A 17-year-old was first. His name was M.F. Immediately, they beat him. The others got scared and jumped into the water. Then they pulled us out of the water and they began beating us and shooting … they beat me up and broke my rib. We had to lie flat on the floor and they stood on us. All this took place on the coast guard’s boat. As soon as we were on board they started pushing us around and hitting us. ›One of you is the captain,‹ they told us. But it was not true. He had paid the fare for the crossing, like we all had.« 10 Samos: Beaten up 6 »We arrived here on the 1 May. We were taken first to a building belonging to the coast guard, then to the hospital and then back to the coast guard’s building, for identification. We were even beaten inside the building of the coast guard. They brought four men out and asked which one was the captain. I told them that none of them was captain. Then they were all beaten. I was hit here (he points to above his right eyebrow); the whole area was swollen. In the camp no one asked me where the injury came from, neither the police nor the doctor. I was in the camp for three months. It’s not great there, but I was satisfied because I had survived! We were so scared! When I arrived in Greece and the police beat me I thought, ›the police are the same everywhere. They did not respect us as humans, I don’t know why. The police here are like in Africa, they know only violence, nothing else.‹ That really got to me. But in the meantime I have met many really good people here.« Chios: Torture during interrogation7 Everyone was sitting on the floor and seemed terrified. There was a boy a little apart from the group. His shirt was pulled over his head. His upper body was bent far forward. I found out later that the boy was 17 years old, and that during a search they had found a knife on him. As soon as I got on the large boat, I was beaten. Several times they hit my head against the railings … I had to kneel down. One policeman stood behind me while two stood in front of me. The one behind me hit me with a stick on the head, deliberately and hard. He hit me on the crown of my head repeatedly with the stick. I tried to protect myself with my arms. Then he hit my arms. I tried to look behind me, and he started hitting me again. The two policemen in front of me were armed and showed me their weapons while I was being beaten. They looked at me very seriously. They said: ›We are going to kill you‹. The expression on their faces was terrifying. I was very scared. The other policeman – a fat one – came up to me and said into my ear: ›Tell the truth. These two policemen are very dangerous. They will kill you.‹ … (…) Then they brought a plastic bucket full of water. I was kneeling the whole time. ›Do you see the water?‹ My arms were pressed together behind my back, held by one of the policemen. The other policeman put his hand on the nape of my The practices of the Greek coast guard: systematic human rights violations