Syrian Refugee Sues European Union Border Agency for Complicity in Relocation

A group of refugees makes a similar journey as Hamoudi did from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos in January, 2016. (Wikimedia Commons)

22-year old Syrian refugee Alaa Hamoudi sued the European Union border agency Frontex on March 10 for its alleged collaboration with the Greek coastguard to illegally relocate him and other asylum seekers to Turkey.

Hamoudi claims that the Greek coast guard violently forced him and 20 other asylum seekers onto an inflatable raft before hauling the group to the middle of the Aegean sea. They were abandoned at sea for 17 hours as a Frontex plane flew overhead, according to Schengen Visa Info. 

The plaintiff, represented by the legal firm Front-Lex, is seeking 500,000 euros in restitution for the alleged “refoulement,” or the illegal dispensation of refugees to countries or territories with reasonable suspicions of persecution. In the lawsuit brought to the European Court of Justice on March 10, Hamoudi claims that the act took place in late April 2020, reports Hurriyet Daily News. According to the UNHCR, only one landing of 39 refugees arrived in Greece in April 2020, whereas in April 2019, approximately 1,850 refugees arrived by sea.

The suit follows an investigation which found Frontex to have been complicit in one act of refoulement, as well as having held a passive presence in five others, reports Bellingcat. Per Politico, the illegal acts, as well as the significant decrease in refugee arrivals, followed Turkey’s decision to allow refugees passage to the EU, negating previous policy. Hamoudi, just one of an estimated 43,000 refugees arrested on EU territory, is the first to file a suit against the border agency for illegal pushback, as Front-Lex reports. 

The case has received attention from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which recently accused Frontex Chief Fabrice Leggeri and two other Frontex leaders of violating EU law, according to Der Spiegel. 

The European Union’s March 4 announcement of a temporary protection provision for Ukrainian refugees marks a stark departure from its hostile treatment of Arab refugees like Hamoudi.