When 24 humanitarian workers appear before the Mytilene Court of Appeals on December 4, they will not simply be defending themselves against serious felony charges. They will be standing as symbols of a broader struggle over Europe’s increasingly punitive approach toward migration, solidarity, and the human imperative to save lives at sea. Their case-widely condemned by rights groups, lawmakers, and international observers-has come to represent one of the starkest examples of how humanitarian aid has been reframed as criminal conduct across the continent.

The defendants, all former volunteers of the now-defunct Emergency Rescue Center International (ERCI), face accusations of participating in a “criminal organization,” facilitating the entry of third-country nationals into Greece, and laundering money. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. The charges stem from their work supporting Greek authorities in search-and-rescue (SAR) operations between 2016 and 2018, a period during which thousands of asylum seekers attempted the perilous journey across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.

Among those charged are Syrian refugee and human rights advocate Sarah Mardini, whose personal story of fleeing Syria with her sister-an Olympic swimmer-became globally known after they helped drag their sinking boat to safety in 2015. Another prominent defendant, Seán Binder, is an Irish rescue diver who volunteered to save migrants arriving on Lesvos’ shores. Both spent more than 100 days in pretrial detention after their 2018 arrest before being released on bail later that year.

Despite the dramatic nature of the accusations, rights organizations insist the case rests on an extraordinary distortion of humanitarian work. On December 3, Human Rights Watch sharply

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