Greece Puts Rights Defenders on Trial: Up to 20 Years in Prison?

Greece is prosecuting two human rights defenders in a case that Human Rights Watch calls a politically motivated attack. The trial begins on October 6, 2026, on the island of Rhodes. The defendants are Panayote Dimitras, a Greek and founder of Greek Helsinki Monitor, and Tommy Olsen, a Norwegian and founder of Aegean Boat Report. Two Cameroonian asylum seekers face the same charges: "forming or joining for profit and by profession a criminal organization" to help migrants enter and stay in Greece. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. The charges, filed in early 2023, relate to the activists' peaceful work. They informed Greek and international authorities about the locations of newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers. The goal was to help these people access Greece's asylum process and avoid being pushed back to Türkiye. For years, Dimitras and Olsen have documented abuses against migrants, including violent pushbacks by Greek authorities. The European Court of Human Rights has called these pushbacks "systematic." On May 15, a Norwegian appeals court rejected Greece's request to extradite Olsen. The court found that helping someone apply for asylum is not a crime under Norwegian law and is protected by international treaties. It also warned that extradition could violate Olsen's right to free expression. Olsen still faces a European Arrest Warrant. If he travels to Greece to defend himself, he risks arrest and detention. Dimitras, who lives in Greece, is not in detention but cannot leave the country. Under Greek law, defendants who do not appear or send a lawyer will be tried in their absence. International law, including the European Convention on Human Rights, requires that anyone convicted in absentia receive a fresh trial if they later return to the country. This case follows a pattern in Greece. Authorities have used criminal and administrative law to harass activists and organizations that defend migrants' rights. In January, a court on Lesbos acquitted 24 humanitarian workers of similar charges after a seven-year legal battle. Despite that acquittal, Greece has not changed course. In February, the government passed a migration law that makes NGO membership an aggravating factor in migration-related crimes, sometimes raising them to felonies with harsh penalties. In 2023, Mary Lawlor, then the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, reported to the UN Human Rights Council that lawyers, humanitarian workers, volunteers, and journalists working on migration in Greece faced "smear campaigns, a changing regulatory environment, threats and attacks, and the misuse of criminal law against them, to a shocking degree." She said the investigation against Dimitras and Olsen "strongly appears" to be arbitrary. "The Norwegian court firmly recognized that helping people present themselves to seek asylum is not a crime," said Eva Cossé, senior Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Greek authorities should take a cue from the court and end this farce by dropping the case and halting the weaponization of criminal law against human rights defenders."