Greek Authorities Drop Charges Against Former Syrian Swimmer Sara Mardini

Former Syrian swimmer Sara Mardini had charges dropped by a Greek court on Friday for largely procedural reasons in a case denounced by human rights organizations as an attempt to criminalize migrant rescue work.

Mardini was accused of espionage and human trafficking after working for a non-governmental, search-and-rescue organization on the island of Lesbos supporting refugees like herself as a lifeguard and human rights activist. She spent months behind bars after her arrest in 2018, and faced up to eight years in prison if found guilty.

The recent Netflix movie, “The Swimmers,” told the story of how Mardini and her Olympian sister, Yusra, escaped war-torn Syria in 2015, pulling their boat to the shore of Lesbos after the motor stopped working. They both swam for the Syrian national team before fleeing home. Yusra went on to compete at two Olympic Games (Rio and Tokyo) with the Refugee Olympic Team, and she spoke about her experience on the SwimSwam podcast last month.

The success of their big-screen adaptation shined a brighter spotlight on Greece's prosecution of Mardini and 23 others this month. One European Parliament report called it “the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.”

Sara Mardini remains under investigation for felony charges including human trafficking, but prosecutors are considered unlikely to refile with the statute of limitations expiring next month.

“Today we finally received some positive news after over 4 years of limbo,” Mardini wrote on Instagram on Friday. “The judges decided to drop some of the misdemeanor charges due to the error-ridden indictment and the expiration of the statute of limitations for some charges.

“But this is not justice,” she added. “If the same strategy of procedural errors and extensive delays is continued for the remaining felony charges, we have another 15 years of limbo before we can prove our innocence. We would not have achieved this small victory without the immense support inside and outside Greece. Our fight for justice continues.”

Defense lawyer Evita Papakyriakidou said the “outcome undermines the legal basis” for future charges. Another defense lawyer, Zacharias Kesses, said that “looking at the sea through a pair of binoculars is not enough to build an espionage case.”

After the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, the Greek government cracked down on undocumented migrants. Authorities have been accused of pushbacks, a violation of maritime law in which migrant vessels are dragged back into international waters. The trial against Mardini and others in Lesbos was one of several Greek cases against groups involved in migrant work.

“This case is really an indictment of the Greek authorities, who are going after people for saving lives the authorities didn't want them to save,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children's rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Meanwhile the Greek government continues to restrict humanitarian rescue while also illegally pushing back refugees and migrants, forcing them into the deadly situations that humanitarians tried to alleviate.”