Reports of unlawful use of force in the policing of demonstrations persisted. Survivors of a shipwreck in which more than 600 people died blamed the Greek authorities for causing the incident. Human rights defenders continued to face criminalization for their work with refugees and migrants. An investigation by Greece’s data protection authority identified 88 individuals as targets of Predator spyware. Violations of the rights of conscientious objectors to military service persisted. Destructive wildfires resulted in the loss of lives and natural habitat amid concerns at the failure of the firefighting system. EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE Reports persisted of unlawful use of force in police operations, including the policing of demonstrations such as protests following the Tempi rail disaster in February. In June, a court in the capital, Athens, convicted a police officer of torture in its “misdemeanour form” for beating a student during a Covid-19 check in Nea Smyrni square in March 2021. A second police officer was convicted as an accessory. In November, an appeals court found police responsible for the life-threatening injuries sustained by psychologist Yiannis Kafkas during a 2011 demonstration in Athens, and awarded him compensation. RIGHT TO LIFE In September, Kostas Manioudakis died following alleged ill-treatment by police during a stop-and-search operation in the village of Vryses in Crete. In October, a prosecutor proposed indicting a police officer for intentional homicide and illegally discharging his weapon in relation to the lethal shooting of a 16-year-old Roma, Kostas Frangoulis, in 2022 in the city of Thessaloniki. In November, 17-year-old Christos Michalopoulos was fatally shot by a police officer in Leontari in Aliartos municipality following a car chase. The officer was charged with homicide with possible intent and illegally discharging his firearm. The State of the World’s Human Rights REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS Human rights violations continued at Greece’s borders, including unlawful, summary returns, in some cases accompanied by violence. On 14 June, several hours after its initial sighting by an aircraft of Frontex, the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency, , a boat carrying an estimated 750 people, including many children, sank off the coast of Pylos. Only 104 people survived. Survivors consistently told Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the Greek coastguard had towed the vessel with a rope, causing it to veer and then capsize. Independent reports by reputable NGOs and media sources described a similar version of events, but this narrative was strongly denied by the Greek authorities.1 Amnesty International and HRW also documented serious failures by the Greek authorities in handling the rescue efforts, noting in addition that the subsequent investigations opened by the Greek authorities into the actions of the coastguard made little progress and that authorities may have undermined the integrity of key evidence. In November, the Greek Ombudsman opened an inquiry into the coastguard’s actions, citing their refusal to conduct an internal disciplinary investigation. In July, the EU Ombudsman announced an inquiry into the role of Frontex in search-and-rescue activities in the Mediterranean, including in the Pylos shipwreck. The incident highlighted the desperate need for safe and legal migration routes to Europe. From July, there was a rise in refugees and migrants arriving by sea, bringing the total arrivals for the year to more than 41,000, compared with fewer than 13,000 in 2022. This exacerbated the already challenging living conditions in the reception facilities on the islands, such as in the “closed controlled access centre” (CCAC) on Samos, where the authorities imposed a regime of de facto detention on new arrivals. In January, the European Commission initiated infringement proceedings regarding Greece’s failure to comply with EU law on asylum and migration. 183