6. CONCLUSIONS A detailed analysis of witness testimonies on pushback cases in Greece over the period of one year, sheds light on these illegal activities as a comprehensive, systematic, and carefully planned migration and border policy of the Greek government. This becomes evident through the consistent patterns and characteristics of these complex operations as described by victims, which contradict the narrative of ‘lack of evidence’ on these rights violations that is still perpetuated by EU and Greek authorities. as the Neo Cheimonio Border Guard Station. This was made possible when people managed to reenter Greece and were formally arrested by the Greek authorities; they were detained in the same detention site where they were detained before their pushback to Turkey. All pushbacks involve degradation, physical violence, intimidation, arbitrary confiscations of personal belongings as well as gender-based violence against victims - from strip searching to groping, forced nudity and rape. Violence and intimidation similarly characterize the testimonies of asylum seekers regarding their treatment by Turkish authorities in the Evros region. The policy of pushbacks affects both asylum seekers and recognized refugees and involves both Greek and Turkish authorities. Numerous Greek authorities participate in the perpetration of pushbacks, from Greek police, uniformed and armed personnel, to Arabic speaking collaborators or ‘police auxiliaries’, Greek port authorities as well as masked men dressed in black. The operations involve considerable state resources, such as the means of transport used to forcibly transfer victims throughout various stages of the pushback operation - from dinghies to minivans, military and police vehicles to trucks. In addition to forced transfers, the pushback operations always involve periods of arbitrary detention during which victims are illegally detained without registration, information or access to rights and without basic supplies such as food and water. In some cases, it has been possible to identify one of the unofficial detention sites This illegal migration and border policy evolves over time, as the Greek state adjusts its operational strategy in the perpetration of pushbacks in an attempt to circumvent relevant Court rulings, rather than ending the illegal practice. For example, since the ECtHR issued its first interim measures decision ordering Greece to rescue stranded asylum seekers on an Evros islet, the Greek authorities began pushing people back to the Turkish riverbank instead. A further evolution of this illegal border policy has been the recent expansion of its targets: where asylum seekers and refugees themselves are met with severe violence and denial of their right to seek asylum, human rights defenders working to support them and hold the Greek state accountable are met with intimidation, defamation and criminalization. This takes the form of systematic public misinformation, often through media or government announcements. The government’s narratives frame human 46 AT EUROPE’S BORDERS: BETWEEN IMPUNITY AND CRIMINALIZATION