had affected the adequacy of the investigation.134 Among other things, it had been impossible to determine whether or not the use of potentially fatal force was justified in the particular circumstances of the case. Under the substantive aspect of Article 2, the Court noted, firstly, that the respondent State had not complied with its obligation to introduce an adequate legislative framework governing the use of potentially lethal force in the area of maritime surveillance operations. It then considered that the coastguards, who could have presumed that the boat being monitored was transporting passengers, had not exercised the necessary vigilance in minimising any risk to life. The coastguards had thus used excessive force in the context of unclear regulations on the use of firearms. The Court considered that the Government had not demonstrated that the use of force had been “absolutely necessary” within the meaning of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Convention. GCR represents survivors in two other pushback cases, which occurred after the individuals had already landed on the islands Lesvos and Kos. The first one concerns the case of a group of asylum seekers, who were pushed back to Türkiye upon their landing on Lesvos island and after entering a governmentrun quarantine facility for refugees in Megala Therma in February 2021; In both cases, the victims of the violent pushback operations – some of them in the first case – managed to re-enter Greece in 2022 and subsequently, filed an official complaint before the Public Prosecutor.135 The criminal investigation about the alleged incident in Megala Therma reached an end and GCR submitted a full Application before the ECtHR in December 2023. The second case is pending before the competent public prosecutors and the second one concerns the kidnapping and illegal forced return of two recognized refugees who were legally residing in the Eastern Aegean Island of Kos. Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders (HRD) and organisations connected with pushbacks In May 2022, it was reported that four organisations were under criminal investigation for potential involvement with smuggling networks, because they notified the authorities about the location of newly arrived migrants and requested that they be provided with assistance and access to asylum procedures in Greece.136 In the following year, no investigations took place but it created an increasingly hostile environment in the field of HRDs’ work in Greece and a widespread fear of criminalisation.137 After the above, on 29 July 2023, two more NGOs operating in Lesvos were targeted in a Greek Police Press Release.138 From the title of the Press release “Finding the action of an organized criminal network, consisting of two (2) criminal organizations, whose members were systematically active in facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners into the Greek territory through the island of Lesvos” and the content of the announcement139 that was targeting NGOs which were going to arrival locations of third country nationals with the “pretext of providing them with humanitarian-medical assistance”.140 After this development, new discussions on smear campaigns against HRD started,141 as up to date no individual and member of an NGO acting on Lesvos has been prosecuted. 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 Ibid. For more details on the cases, See GCR, at Europe’s Borders: Between Impunity and Criminalization, March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3opKToW. Among others, News.IT, Evros: Investigation into the activities of NGOs and their connection with illegal immigrant networks, 29 May 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/4208ryu. ‘I also note the sense of pervasive fear that is felt by a significant segment of human rights defenders, which seems to be a direct result of the criminalization of migration and their legitimate, peaceful work for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants’: 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/3q1bwAZ. Greek Police, The activity of an organized criminal network, consisting of two (2) criminal organizations, whose members were systematically active in facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners into Greek territory, through the island of Lesbos, was identified, 29 July 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3VR4Bbd. Ibid. “(d) The members of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), at the same time as they were informed about the migratory arrival, went to the areas where the newly arrived third country nationals were located, on the pretext of providing them with humanitarian-medical assistance”. Kathimerini, Λέσβος: Ερευνα για κύκλωμα διακίνησης παράτυπων μεταναστών με εμπλοκή μελών ΜΚΟ, 29 July 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/49ppbmt. Racist Crimes Watch, Greece: New smear campaign against NGOs working with asylum seekers, P. Dimitras, 20 July 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4aosag4. 46