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FRONTIER EUROPE
Human rights abuses on Greece’s border with Turkey
2013, he had tried to reunite with his family in Athens four times; failing at each attempt.
When Amnesty International delegates met C.'s wife and daughter in their basement
apartment the following month in Athens, they learned that he had once again tried to join
them by crossing the River Evros. However, this time he was caught by the Turkish
gendarmerie before he made it into Greece and was being held in detention in Edirne.
Both D. and C. claimed to have lodged asylum applications in Greece, which would mean
that their expulsion from Greece was a clear violation of the 1951 Refugee Convention and
related EU law. Furthermore, where migrants illegally residing in Greece are expelled in a
similar manner, without any procedures to assess their individual circumstances, it would be
in violation of the prohibition on collective expulsion and Greece’s international obligations
under EU law.32
Amnesty International July 2013
Index: 25/008/2013