In a verdict that has sent ripples across Europe, a group of 24 aid workers—once facing decades in prison—have been acquitted of all charges related to their rescue efforts on the island of Lesvos.
The defendants, members of the Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI), were arrested in 2018 and accused of human trafficking, money laundering, and membership in a criminal organization. For seven years, they lived under the shadow of a twenty-year prison sentence, a case human rights groups labeled a “textbook example” of the criminalization of humanitarian aid.
The verdict: “Rescue is not a crime”
Presiding Judge Vassilis Papathanassiou cleared all defendants on Thursday, stating their goal was “not to commit criminal acts but to provide humanitarian aid.” The court dismissed the prosecution’s claim that using encrypted messaging (WhatsApp) to coordinate rescues constituted a criminal conspiracy. Judge Papathanassiou notably ruled:
“Waiting to rescue a human life cannot be considered facilitation of illegal entry…None of the defendants attempted to act in such a way as to allow any of the transported persons to evade inspection by the authorities.”
Defense Attorney Zacharias Kesses, representing high-profile defendants Sarah Mardini and Sean Binder, expressed relief mixed with frustration: “I’m astonished that it took 2,889 days for the prosecutor to realize that the accusation made no sense whatsoever.”
Defendant Sara Mardini
The case gained global attention thanks to defendant Sarah Mardini. A former competitive swimmer from Syria, Sara and her sister, Yusra, became famous for jumping into the Aegean in 2015 to pull their own sinking boat to safety.
Their story was dramatized in the Netflix film The Swimmers. Sara later returned to Lesvos as a volunteer to save others, only to be arrested by the country that had once hailed her a hero.
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