In January 2026, 24 humanitarian workers were acquitted in Greece after more than seven years of criminal proceedings over their work helping migrants on the island of Lesvos. The verdict ended a lengthy legal ordeal, but it did not settle a wider question facing those who assist people arriving in the country: where does humanitarian work end and criminal facilitation begin?
Now, Tommy Olsen and Panayote Dimitras face prosecution in another case involving assistance to migrants. The charges relate to facilitating entry and residence and participation in a criminal organisation.
Read more: Migrant rights defenders face trial in Greece over work with asylum seekers
According to their defence, activities including documenting arrivals and notifying authorities about asylum seekers have been treated as evidence of criminal conduct.
These cases are not the only two of that kind, with a Greek court dropping charges in 2024 against 35 international aid workers accused of offences including espionage and facilitating migrants’ illegal entry. The case centred on volunteers who used an emergency phone service to help migrants and asylum seekers in need of rescue at sea. The court found there was insufficient evidence to pursue the allegations.
The three cases differ in their circumstances, but raise questions about how Greece investigates and prosecutes people working with migrants. Greek authorities have a legitimate interest in tackling smuggling networks, but the question is whether the laws intended to address such activity are being applied in ways that risk encompassing humanitarian assistance too.
When does helping migrants become criminal?
For Zacharias Kesses, Olsen’s lawyer and managing partner of Athens Legal Firm, the problem lies in how the authorities have interpreted his client’s actions. Speaking to EU Reports, he said the legal significance of the case lay in “the gap between the activities described by the defence” and “the way those activities are characterised in the charges”.
“Humanitarian work cannot automatically be treated as facilitation of irregular entry or residence,” Kesses said. “The authorities must establish the specific conduct and the legal elements of the offence.”
Kesses, who also represented Sara Mardini and other defendants in the Lesvos 24 case, believes investigators and prosecutors have taken an overly broad view of what constitutes facilitation. He said they had “stretched the concept of facilitation” by bringing charges that, in his view, “do not sit comfortably with the existing legal framework”.
His criticism centres on the difference between helping people seek asylum and deliberately assisting their irregular entry into a country. The two activities should not automatically be treated as equivalent, he argues. Whether the charges are justified ultimately depends on the conduct alleged and the evidence supporting it.
For Kesses, the case echoes what happened to the 24 humanitarian workers acquitted in January and reflects the ambiguity of Greek migration law.
“The law would be clearer if it expressly excluded humanitarian organisations acting in good faith and made clear that facilitation requires proof of a financial or material benefit,” he said.
What does this mean for humanitarian workers?
How Greece draws the line between people-smuggling and humanitarian assistance could have lasting consequences for the organisations and volunteers working with migrants across the country.
Throughout the seven years they faced prosecution, the workers helping migrants in Lesvos faced lasting psychological torment. Wies de Graeve, Amnesty International’s Belgium Executive Director said the testimonies shared by the defendants displayed “the trial’s psychological, financial and emotional implications on their lives.” Ihab Abassi, one of the defendants working with Doctors Without Borders, said “it’s been a drain psychologically, it’s been a drain financially, it’s been a very, very difficult eight years.”
Regarding Olsen and Dimitras’ case, there seems to be a similar impact on the defendants. Due to the existing arrest warrant, Olsen is stuck in Norway and will appear in absentia at his trial after the Halogaland Court of Appeal refused to surrender Olsen to the Greek authorities.
“It has a big impact on my life and work. The impact on my family has been the worst,” Olsen stated.
Dimitras is under a travel ban and mainstream Greek news agencies have leaked information claiming the EU funding Dimitras received had been used for purposes other than supporting human rights causes. Mary Lawlor, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, said “leaks of such investigations are commonly used to smear human rights defenders.”
Kesses argued that these prosecutions subject humanitarian organisations and volunteers to prolonged legal proceedings and exhaustion. “In my view, this pattern serves to deter and weaken their work. An acquittal would reinforce the point that humanitarian assistance cannot be criminalised simply by labelling it facilitation,” he stated.
The prosecutions have already taken their toll, leaving humanitarian workers facing years of uncertainty, restrictions and personal costs. Even where charges are eventually dropped or defendants acquitted, the damage to their lives and work cannot be undone.
Greece’s wider migration climate
These trials come amidst a Greek political climate that is becoming increasingly tough on migration. Greece recently pushed the EU to allow member states to suspend asylum during waves of mass migration after 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta in July. However, the trials of migrant right defenders including Olsen, Dimitras, and the Lesvos 24 imply that their approach is more hostile than pragmatic.
In February, the Greek government introduced a new migration law that links nongovernmental groups and humanitarian workers with criminal conduct. It makes membership of a registered NGO an aggravating factor in certain migration-related offences, exposing NGO members to harsher penalties for conduct including facilitating irregular entry or residence.
UN experts argued the law’s ambiguity “is likely to generate a chilling effect on humanitarian actors,” in an effort to deter human rights workers helping migrants find asylum in Greece. Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis responded: “My approach is very simple. Tough on illegal migration, make it very, very difficult for people to come into the country illegally, but also be generous and offer legal pathways to migration.”
Against this backdrop, the prosecutions of Olsen and Dimitras have become part of a wider debate over the role of humanitarian organisations in Greece’s migration system.
While the government maintains that stricter enforcement is necessary to control irregular migration, human rights groups warn that broadly applied criminal laws risk deterring legitimate assistance. The cases will test how far Greece can pursue its migration policy without making those who help migrants vulnerable to prosecution for their work.
Featured image: Kara Tepe Refugee Camp on Lesbos Island, Greece
Source: United Nations Photo via Flickr
Author: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
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