Cork aid worker set to stand trial in Greece accused of human trafficking

Sean Binder with his mother, Fanny Binder, at Dublin Airport after he returned home on bail in 2018. Picture: Gareth Chaney Collins

A humanitarian aid worker from Kerry is due to stand trial in Greece next week charged with offences including people smuggling.

Sean Binder, who grew up in Cork, was arrested in Lesbos in 2018 while working with Emergency Response Centre International.

The 27-year-old will travel to Greece to stand trial on November 18 and maintains that he has not done anything wrong and says he is confident his legal team will be able to prove that.

He faces a number of serious charges - people smuggling, membership of a criminal organisation and espionage - and faces a possible prison sentence of 25 years.

The Trinity graduate was moved by the images of refugees caught in the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean and felt as though he could help.

Having completed a Masters in International Relations at the London School of Economics and has a background as a rescue diver, Sean said he decided to travel to Greece because he felt he had a policy understanding and the relevant skills to be of assistance.

Mr Binder has no regrets about his decision or the time he spent working with Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI) in 2018.

Even when he was just handing out blankets or water to the refugees, he felt as though he was doing some good adding that the people were grateful for the support.

Despite working closely with authorities in Lesbos, things took a turn around four months after he arrived.

"Ironically, I decided to go with the most transparent organisation I could find. A Greek search and rescue NGO that had a good relationship with the authorities," said German-born Mr Binder who moved to Ireland at five years old.

But despite having worked transparently with the coast guard and standing shoulder to shoulder with the police officers, we were eventually arrested by them."

Mr Binder and one of his colleagues were arrested and spent two nights in jail before being released. They were arrested again and formally charged.

"This time we were charged formally with really heinous crimes including smuggling, being part of a criminal organisation, fraud, money laundering and even espionage or spying.

"We spent three-and-a-half months in pre-trial detention waiting for a trial," he told RTÉ Radio One's Morning Ireland.

Due to the serious nature of the charges, Mr Binder said they were housed in a centre alongside violent criminals including some convicted of murder.

He received bail in Greece in December 2018 and returned home to Ireland to await trial.

While it can be difficult to understand how a person providing humanitarian aid can be charged with such serious crimes, Mr Binder explains that the Greek authorities view the issue of migrants as one of smuggling rather than one of loss of life.

"Therefore, they view anyone that tries to provide assistance as being part of smuggling - not as search and rescue. That is the logic through which they view this issue.

"So, we are naturally cast as being complicit in this problem."

Speaking previously, Mr Binder said he was very confident that he and his colleagues would not be found guilty.

"I think the important thing is that there is nothing special about we did. It wasn’t criminal. It wasn’t heroic. It was just providing the basic medical care to people.

"We are allowing the criminalisation of humanitarian action on a chronic level."