NGOs were cooperating with smuggling networks to illegally bring migrants to Greece. The organizations that were supposedly about to be investigated were not named and no connection was made with the organizations that had filed the interim measures before the ECtHR, namely GCR, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), Human Rights 360 (HR360) and others. In the next months no investigations took place. Apparently the police comments to the media were part of a wider policy of labeling, intimidating and scaremongering people who are defending the fundamental rights of those seeking asylum.75 In June 2022, the Minister of Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachi, in his speech before the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, stated that: “Smuggling networks have devised a new method of circumventing border controls and manipulating the European asylum and justice system. Smugglers abandon groups of migrants on islets created by the seasonal low flow of the Evros river, then they notify specific NGOs which specialize in border-crossing facilitation and these NGOs then notify Greek Authorities and at the same time file with the European Court of Human RIghts with the latter reacting by instigating interim measures which of course do not prejudge the merits of any case.”76 These comments raised great concern among civil society as well as independent media correspondents.77 The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, expressed in her recent report following a visit to Greece, her concern about the “reports of human rights defenders, in particular those supporting migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, being targeted by hostile comments, including by key stakeholders in the government. They are described as traitors, enemies of the state, Turkish agents, criminals and smugglers and traffickers”.78 Moreover, concerns about the alleged intimidation, criminalization and restriction of the work of defenders of the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants have been communicated to the Greek Government by multiple UN Human Rights Council experts on several previous occasions.79 75 Indicatively, see relevant articles here (available all in Greek): News Bomb, Evros: Investigation for illegal action of NGOs – Theodorikakos’ [Minister of Citizen Protection] Message for border protection, 29 May 2022, https://bit.ly/3xTg8dS, TV Open, Under the microscope the action of NGOs in Evros, 29 May 2022, https:// bit.ly/3b6HYKU, D News, Evros: Four NGOs ‘locked’ by the Authorities for strange tricks with migrants in the river, 29 May 2022, https://bit.ly/3xw5Crr, NewsIt, Evros: Investigation of the actions of NGOs and their connection with the networks of irregular immigrants, 29 May 2022, http://bit.ly/3inHDHb Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum, Speech before the LIBE Committee, 27 June 2022, available at: http://bit.ly/3Vtn8al 76 ECRE, Greece: Crack-down on NGOs and Criminalisation of Solidarity Continues, Government Announces “Blocking” Thousands of Arrivals in Evros Amid New Pushback Reports, 3 June 2022, available at: http:// bit.ly/3H1kC7l 77 78 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/3iA0aAh 79 Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, 42 AT EUROPE’S BORDERS: BETWEEN IMPUNITY AND CRIMINALIZATION