FRONTIER EUROPE Human rights abuses on Greece’s border with Turkey 13 “They (the Greek border guard) tied my hands and then put me on a boat with several others. Everyone's hands were tied except three who spoke English. I don’t know why they untied their hands. There were two Greek policemen on the boat. When we approached the riverbank on the Turkish side, they pushed some of us on to the bank on the Turkish side. But then they (the Greek border guard) thought that the Turkish gendarmerie were nearby. So they couldn’t drop the rest of us there. We moved away a bit and then the police pushed the rest of us off the boat towards the Turkish land. However, I fell into the water. The water was chest high and very fast. It was very difficult to get out of the water with my hands tied on my back. We had to help some others because they couldn't make it out of the river themselves.” The allegations raised in the testimonies above and provided by others who were interviewed by Amnesty International do not only demonstrate a blatant disregard for life, but also include ill-treatment, the confiscation of property, and the failure to screen and identify those with protection or other needs, such as unaccompanied children. These practices represent violations of human rights and Greece’s obligations under international law and should cease immediately. The Greek authorities must investigate such allegations and bring those responsible to justice. 3.2 ILL-TREATMENT DURING PUSH-BACK OPERATIONS “We asked for water from the Greek police, but they laughed at us and said ‘you are like dogs’.” X., from Palestine, said he was on the Aegean near a Greek island in a boat with 11 others from Palestine and Syria, including a two-month-old baby on 6 March 2013. He said that the Greek coastguard towed them back to Turkish waters. “When we saw the Greek coastguard boat, one of us punctured our boat hoping that they will rescue us and take us to Greece. The coastguard took us on to their boat; they didn’t ask anything, they just beat us; they told us not to look up, not to look at their faces.” E., a 27-year-old Sudanese man, described to Amnesty International how he was treated by the Greek coastguard in February 2013 before being taken back to Turkish waters and left on a punctured boat along with three families with small children aged around four. “He (the officer) was searching me roughly. He slapped my face when I told him to be slow – I looked straight into his face when he slapped me… (then) he started to beat me on my face… One of my daughters held on to his leg but he pushed her away.” M., a Syrian man, describing his ill-treatment in front of his small children while undergoing a body search on the island of Chios in February 2013. M reported that he and his family had previously been unlawfully sent back to Turkey by the Greek border guard through the River Evros in November 2012. Almost all who claimed to have experienced collective expulsion - whether at the land border or at sea – said that they either experienced or witnessed violence or degrading treatment. People described being slapped, beaten and manhandled. Almost all interviewed described being searched and their mobile phones, money, jewellery, baggage containing clothes and family photographs confiscated or thrown into the sea. In one incident recounted by two interviewees who said they were searched, they claimed to have been stripped naked. Index: 25/008/2013 Amnesty International July 2013