Red Cross volunteers in Lesvos. Flickr/International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent. Creative commons.In mid-January 2016 volunteers and members of NGOs, were arrested and subsequently prosecuted for towing ashore refugees struggling in plastic dinghies off the coast of the Greek island of Lesvos. This is not unprecedented. In the summer of 2015 more volunteers were prosecuted for transporting refugees inland.
These criminal prosecutions are made on the basis of Art.30 of the Immigration and Social Integration Code, according to which it is an offence to provide shelter or to transport third country nationals, who do not have the right to remain in Greece, either into, in, or out of the country and into another EU member state.
The sentences range from 10 years in prison and a €10,000-€30,000 fine per person transported to life imprisonment and a fine of at least €700,000 per person transported depending on the presence of aggravating circumstances. The harsher sentences apply to traffickers.
