A boat carrying migrants and asylum seekers attempts to cross into Greek waters from Turkey. Credit: Greek Coast GuardAn investigation by Greece’s national transparency watchdog has found no basis for reports of migrant pushbacks by Greek authorities, it was announced on Tuesday.
The independent National Transparency Authority (NTA) announced that an in-depth investigation into claims that Greek coast guard authorities were involved in illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers had found no evidence to support the allegations.
A large number of European media outlets, including Spiegel, Lighthouse Reports, and the French daily Libération, last year said that special units of the Greek coastguard were involved in turning migrants around at sea.
The Greek government has consistently denied the practice, known as pushbacks.
In a statement on Tuesday, the NTA said the allegations of what it called “informal forced returns” of asylum seekers by masked men “were not confirmed.”
