Brussels, Dec 13 (EFE). – The General Court of the European Union on Wednesday dismissed a civil claim for compensation brought by a Syrian migrant against the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) for allegedly being returned to sea by Greece, considering that he did not prove that the facts happened as he said.

In a ruling published on Wednesday, the court dismissed his claim for compensation of €500,000 as “manifestly lacking any foundation in law” because the plaintiff did not “demonstrate conclusively that he was present at and involved in the alleged incident.”

The plaintiff, a Syrian national, claimed that he arrived in Greece from Turkey to seek asylum on April 28, 2020, but was turned back into the sea the same day as part of an “unlawful collective expulsion,” and that a Turkish coast guard vessel picked up his raft the following day and took it back to Turkey.

Asylum-seekers and human rights groups have for years accused the Greek coast guard of carrying out illegal “pushbacks,” in which refugees and migrants are forced back across the Greek-Turkish border without consideration of their individual circumstances and without the opportunity to apply for asylum, in violation of international law (the principle of non-refoulement).

Dinghies traveling from Turkey to Greece are prevented from landing on Greek soil, either by physically blocking the dinghy until it runs out of fuel, or by disabling the engine and later towing it into Turkish territorial waters, or people who have managed to land on Greek soil are detained, placed in a life raft with no means of propulsion, towed to the middle of the Aegean Sea and then abandoned.

The Syrian national stated that he was a victim of the second type of harassment and that, while he and the others were at sea, a private surveillance plane belonging to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) flew over the scene on several occasions, thereby indicating that the European agency had participated in or had knowledge of the illegal operation.

The applicant, who had no access to the asylum system in Turkey and was living clandestinely under the threat of being returned to Syria, sought compensation of half a million euros for the moral damage suffered as a result of the unlawful measures allegedly taken against him.

However, the Tribunal found that the evidence presented was insufficient to conclusively prove the presence and involvement of the Syrian national in the alleged incident at sea.

With an annual budget of €845.4 million in 2023, Frontex, is the EU’s fastest growing agency. EFE

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