When a fishing boat sank in 2014, where eleven people died, the Greek authorities did not do everything to save the occupants.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday in Strasbourg that Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to life – had been violated.
The survivors were also humiliated.
Greece must pay the 16 plaintiffs a total of 330,000 euros in compensation.
On January 20, 2014, a fishing boat carrying 27 migrants sank in the Aegean.
The plaintiffs, 13 Afghans, two Syrians and one Palestinian, were on board and blamed the Greek Coast Guard for the fatal accident.
The coast guard ship was said to have been traveling at very high speed to push the refugees back towards Turkish waters, which led to the fishing boat capsizing.
According to the Greek authorities, however, the boat capsized due to panic on board.
Because there were serious deficiencies in the investigation, the ECtHR could not clarify the exact circumstances of the sinking of the ship, the court explained.
However, the plaintiffs complained in particular that the entire operation of the coast guard had not been carried out in such a way that the protection of their right to life and that of their relatives was guaranteed.
Here the court agreed with them.