humanrightsdefenders.blog
Two human rights defenders continue to be prosecuted in Greece in spite of everything..why??
On 3 October 2026 Human Rights Watch and others lament the weird insistence of Greece to go ahead with the prosecution of two prominent human rights defenders as a politically-motivated attempt to silence their efforts to expose abuses against migrants, The trial of the two activists, Panayote Dimitras and Tommy Olsen, is set to begin on the Greek island of Rhodes on 6 October 2026. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2025/11/21/human-rights-defenders-in-greece-on-trial-for-baseless-charges-for-assisting-people-on-the-move/ “The upcoming trial of Panayote Dimitras and Tommy Olsen is a blatant attempt to criminalize and silence their legitimate human rights work,” said Eva Cossé, senior Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Prosecutors should drop this politically motivated case against Dimitras and Olsen once and for all.” Dimitras, founder and president of the Greek nongovernmental group Greek Helsinki Monitor, and Olsen, a Norwegian national and founder of the nongovernmental group Aegean Boat Report, are being prosecuted alongside two Cameroonian asylum seekers on charges of “forming or joining for profit and by profession a criminal organization with the purpose of facilitating the entry and stay of third country nationals into Greek territory.” If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. The charges brought against the activists in early 2023 stem from...
