Authority, but only following reports about the case of the 38. 88 The initial media reports 89 referred to an investigation of serious criminal offenses90 relating to threatening the integrity of the country and money laundering from criminal activities. However, the latest media reports91 referred to investigation on misappropriation of funds and the establishment of a criminal organization. HR360 made a public statement denying the allegations as inaccurate and false. HR360 has not received any information or notification by the investigative authorities. 92 BMVN, which also requested interim measures before the ECtHR to prevent further abuse of the stranded asylum seekers in the Evros Greek-Turkish border, has experienced similar intimidation and threats. The Greek government has targeted not only their activists but also their family members, forcing BVMN member projects to shut down. Many of its key staff members were forced to leave Greece.93 As BMVN stat- The foregoing illustrates how the Greek government stigmatizes and publicly defames organizations that operate in defense of asylum seekers and who denounce the illegal policies and practices of the Greek authorities at the Evros border. The Greek government does so by: i. manipulating the public opinion against NGOs through the systematic use of misinformation, ii. linking their human rights work to hidden political motives, iii. presenting them as traitors, enemies of the State and threats to national security, or iv. ascribing them a “criminal status” and/or initiating criminal investigations against them. The creation of this hostile environment is seriously hampering the work of these important organizations. Where legal assistance is targeted and criminalized by any means, directly or indirectly, it prevents asylum seekers and migrants from accessing courts to claim their rights or seek redress for violations. ed, this hindered their reporting work and forced them to reconsider the public visibility of some of their most exposed members.94 88 EleftherosTypos, Double Judicial investigation for the NGO “Human Rights 360” - Its profile and activities, 3 October 2022, available (in Greek) at: https://bit.ly/3H05zdQ 89 EleftherosTypos, Double Judicial investigation for the NGO “Human Rights 360” - Its profile and activities, 3 October 2022, available (in Greek) at: https://bit.ly/3H05zdQ 90 Namely, offenses described in Articles 138 and 139 of the Greek Penal Code. Dikastiko.gr, Breaking: The Anti-Money Laundering Authority sends the NGO Human Rights 360 to the Prosecutor for “establishment of a criminal organization”, 22 November 2022, available (in Greek) at: https:// bit.ly/3VnHnGR 91 92 Human Rights 360, Statements on allegations in the Press, 22 November 2022, available at: http://bit. ly/3VCvnAQ 93 Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), The Black Book of Pushbacks-INTRO, p.6, available at: https://bit.ly/3XhwIht 94 Ibid, p. 31 AT EUROPE’S BORDERS: BETWEEN IMPUNITY AND CRIMINALIZATION 45