subsequently, filed an official complaint before the Public Prosecutor. In both cases, the victims were initially afraid to file an official complaint and to testify before the investigative authorities while they were waiting for a decision on their asylum claim or for their travel documents allowing them to leave the island where the pushback operation had taken place. People felt safe to testify only after receiving a positive asylum decision and/ or the travel documents, and only before the Public Prosecutor and not the police. I. Pushback after entry into a government-run facility in Lesvos ibly removed and illegally sent back to Turkey by the Greek authorities, upon their landing on the island of Lesvos and after entering the government-run quarantine facility in Megala Therma.67 A boat with 13 asylum seekers landed in northern Lesvos on 17 February, at approximately 19.00. At 20.00, the asylum seekers contacted Aegean Boat Report68 asking for help, and ten minutes later they also sent their live location on WhatsApp. The Aegean Boat Report directed the asylum seekers to the nearest refugee camp 300 meters from their location, the quarantine facility in Megala Therma.69 Date of arrival: 17 February 2021 Place of arrival: Lesvos island Date of pushback operation: 18 February 2021 Essential aspects of the pushback operation: the pushback was carried out after the asylum seekers’ entry into a government-run facility Relevant legal procedures: ongoing criminal preliminary investigation before the Public Prosecutor’s Office Landing on Lesvos Island: In mid-February 2021, 13 Afghan asylum seekers, including a pregnant woman and 3 children aged between 1-5 years, were forc67 GCR & Oxfam, Lesbos Bulletin: April 2021, 21 April 2021, p. 3, available at: https://bit.ly/3B334DK , ECRE, AIDA Report -Greece 2021, Conditions in reception facilities, available at: https://bit.ly/3H3ssxd , Aegean Boat Report, “Small Children Left Drifting In Life Rafts In The Aegean Sea!”, 22 February 2021, available at: https:// bit.ly/3Uqb34D ; EU Observer, “Afghan asylum family beaten in Greece, set adrift at sea”, 25 February 2021, available at: https:// bit.ly/3dAA1ew; The Guardian, “‘We were left in the sea’: asylum seekers forced off Lesbos”, 19 March 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3mq5JyM,, Aegean Boat Report is an NGO that monitors and reports on issues related to people movement in the Aegean Sea, particularly actual incidents of people crossing the Sea and governments’ responses to them. Find more information on the Aegean Boat Report here: https://aegeanboatreport.com/about-aegean-boat-report/ 68 69 Lesvospost, The contract for Megala Therma in “Diavgeia”, 7 November 2020, available (in Greek) at: https://bit.ly/3Fluvex , MSF report, Constructing Crisis at Europe’s Border, 9 June 2021, p.13, available at: https:// bit.ly/3Fp1PSd 36 AT EUROPE’S BORDERS: BETWEEN IMPUNITY AND CRIMINALIZATION