judgment of 7 January 2025,142 in which the Court considered the relevant Greek criminal procedures as ineffective in cases concerning pushback allegations, as none of these cases progressed beyond the preliminary investigation stage and, consequently, no proceedings were brought against those who might have been responsible. The Court therefore held that “in the present state of national practice, a criminal complaint does not constitute a remedy to be exhausted in respect of violations of Articles 2, 3 or 5 of the Convention allegedly committed in the course of refoulement”. 143 Additionally, from March 2022 to December 2025, GCR supported 1,257 individuals at risk of pushback and/or victims of multiple pushbacks before the ECtHR by submitting 121 applications for interim measures under Rule 39, which have all been granted. 144 In only 29 out of these 121 cases were the asylum seekers formally arrested by the Greek authorities and the official procedure followed. In the majority of cases, the applicants or their relatives described to GCR that they have been victims of one or multiple pushback operations. Despite the measures granted by the Court, the majority of the victims allege that they were still subsequently pushed back to Türkiye. This highlights the frequency and periodicity of pushback cases and the clear persistence of what has been refered to as Greece’s “de facto general policy” of pushbacks by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.145 Illustratively, the 24 cases (for the year 2025) included the cases of: ❖ 18 Syrian applicants, amongst whom 13 children, who were allegedly pushed back twice after the interim measures had been adopted, some of whom complaint they were subsequently returned to Syria, were they remained in danger as Alawites. ❖ At least 22 Turkish applicants, some of whom were subsequently imprisoned in Türkiye, due to their political persecution. ❖ At least 2 cases of applicants who, following their pushbacks, were deported from Türkiye to their country of origin (Syrians and Egyptians). In the time period between the publication of the A.R.E. decision, on 7 January 2025 and and 31 December 2025, GCR submitted 24 requests for interim measures (Rule 39) to the ECtHR, all of which were granted. These concerned 131 asylum seekers (including families with children), of whom 28 were from Türkiye, 27 from Syria, 22 from Afghanistan, 19 from Palestine, 10 from Iran, 8 from Iraq, 7 from Egypt, 1 from Mauritania and 1 stateless person. In only four of these cases were the applicants subjected 142 143 144 145 ECtHR, A.R.E. v. Greece (Application no. 15783/21), paras 200 and 228, 7 January 2025, available in French here, paras and 199. Unofficial translation to English: “198. Further to the foregoing and with regard to the criminal proceedings referred to by the Government, the Court notes that it is very clear from the case-file, and in particular from the information provided by the Government itself, that all the cases in which the competent public prosecutors had opened criminal investigations were discontinued […]. As a result, none of these cases progressed beyond the preliminary investigation stage and, consequently, no proceedings were brought against those who might have been responsible. In the light of the very large number of complaints lodged and the reports of the competent national and international institutions, which point to recurrent shortcomings that hamper the effectiveness and diligence of the criminal investigations into the alleged refoulements […] the Court considers that this situation is such as to cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of the criminal proceedings […] It therefore considers that, in the present state of national practice, a criminal complaint does not constitute a remedy to be exhausted in respect of violations of Articles 2, 3 or 5 of the Convention allegedly committed in the course of refoulement. 199. Moreover, the Court notes that the criminal complaint lodged by the applicant in the present case was dismissed by the Public Prosecutor of the Thrace Court of Appeal by order no. 41/2020, in which he held, inter alia, that "the Greek police never carry out such acts of refoulement to Türkiye" (see paragraph 48 above). Above all, the Court notes that the criminal complaint was closed after a preliminary investigation which was manifestly inadequate. Indeed, it is clear from the file that the authorities took no steps to allow the applicant's brother to testify, despite requests to do so, or to verify the authenticity of the audiovisual material submitted to them. Nor did they take the time to carry out a serious examination of the other documents in the file, such as the documents from the Turkish judicial authorities or the statements of the witnesses named by the applicant, […] The Court concludes that the applicant's case is only one of many examples of the ineffectiveness of the criminal proceedings in relation to the allegations of refoulement””. Ibid., para 198. GCR, GCR’s Information Note on interventions and on interim measures granted by the ECtHR in cases regarding pushbacks Updated on the 12 January 2026, available at: https://tinyurl.com/36kbkk4f. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Report on means to address the human rights impact of pushbacks of migrants on land and sea, 12 May 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3WvA94I, para. 55. 49