independent monitoring system to be set up on the Aegean islands, and for search and rescue operations to be stepped up at sea.168 On 16 January 2024, the ECtHR issued a decision and a press release with the title “When firing several times at a motorboat transporting individuals illegally towards Greece, coastguards used force that was not “absolutely necessary” within the meaning of Article 2 of the Convention”. 169 The case concerned a serious gunshot wound sustained by a member of the applicants’ family on 22 September 2014 near the island of Pserimos, when a vessel was intercepted transporting people illegally to Greece. Under the procedural aspect of Article 2, the Court noted that there had been numerous shortcomings in the investigation conducted by the national authorities; this had led, in particular, to the loss of evidence, and had affected the adequacy of the investigation.170 Among other things, it had been impossible to determine whether or not the use of potentially fatal force was justified in the particular circumstances of the case. Under the substantive aspect of Article 2, the Court noted, firstly, that the respondent State had not complied with its obligation to introduce an adequate legislative framework governing the use of potentially lethal force in the area of maritime surveillance operations. It then considered that the coastguards, who could have presumed that the boat being monitored was transporting passengers, had not exercised the necessary vigilance in minimising any risk to life. The coastguards had thus used excessive force in the context of unclear regulations on the use of firearms. The Court considered that the Government had not demonstrated that the use of force had been “absolutely necessary” within the meaning of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Convention. GCR represents survivors in two other pushback cases, which occurred after the individuals had already landed on the islands Lesvos and Kos. The first one concerns the case of a group of asylum applicants, who were pushed back to Türkiye upon their landing on Lesvos island and after entering a governmentrun quarantine facility for refugees in Megala Therma in February 2021. In both cases, the victims of the violent pushback operations – some of them in the first case – managed to re-enter Greece in 2022 and subsequently, filed an official complaint before the Public Prosecutor. 171 The criminal investigation about the alleged incident in Megala Therma reached an end and GCR submitted a full application before the ECtHR in December 2023. The second case is still pending before the competent public prosecutors and concerns the kidnapping and illegal forced return/pushback of two recognised refugees from Greece who were legally residing in the Eastern Aegean Island of Kos. Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders (HRD) and organisations denouncing/reporting pushbacks In May 2022, it was reported that four organisations were under criminal investigation for potential involvement with smuggling networks, because they notified the authorities about the location of newly arrived migrants and requested that they be provided with assistance and access to asylum procedures in Greece.172 Since then , no investigations has taken place as of December 2025 but it created an increasingly hostile environment in the field of HRDs’ work in Greece and a widespread fear of criminalisation.173 168 169 170 171 172 173 Ibid. ECtHR, Application No. 3566/16, Alkatib and others v. Greece, 16 January 2024, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3PV48RU. See also the ECtHR Press Release of 16 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/43OWz4T. Ibid. For more details on the cases, See GCR, at Europe’s Borders: Between Impunity and Criminalization, March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3opKToW. Among others, News.IT, Evros: Investigation into the activities of NGOs and their connection with illegal immigrant networks, 29 May 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/4208ryu. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Statement on preliminary observations and recommendations following official visit to Greece, 22 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3q1bwAZ, ‘I also note the sense of pervasive fear that is felt by a significant segment of human rights defenders, which seems to be a direct result of the criminalization of migration and their legitimate, peaceful work for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants’ 53