Munster aid worker facing people-smuggling charges for 'reaching out a hand' to help drowning refugees
A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi, 3, near the Turkish resort of Bodrum early Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015.
"I have seen babies holding onto empty water bottles in the ocean because they think it will stop them drowning. What would you do if you saw someone struggling in the water? You would reach out a hand to them. You've committed the supposed crime I have."
Seán Binder, 27, is facing a litany of charges in Greece today for work connected to helping refugees in Lesbos in his role as a rescue diver and trained maritime search and rescuer.
The law graduate was arrested on August 21, 2018, alongside other volunteers. He faces 25 years in prison for charges related to a period in 2017 and 2018 when he was volunteering on search and rescue missions for Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI). Seán spent 106 days in pre-trial prison before being permitted to post €5,000 bail and return to Cork.
The German citizen who grew up between Cork and Kerry, before graduating from Trinity College and the London School of Economics, is charged with several offences, including formation and membership of a criminal organisation, facilitation of illegal entry, infringement of state secrets, possession of a radio without a licence, money laundering, espionage, and forgery.
The trial for the less serious ‘misdemeanour’ charges starts today, but no trial date has been set for the more serious criminal charges.
Seán and his co-accused expect the trial to be postponed again, something they say has a "chilling effect" on rescue work.
"People say: 'You're not in prison, that's great', but this limbo makes it terrifying for other rescue organisations," he said.
"All other rescuers stopped working the day we were arrested.
"I'm incredibly frustrated that we could face 25 years in prison trying to help people in distress as the law requires us to do. What is morally right?
"Maritime convention calls on us to search and rescue, the EU Convention on Human Rights calls us to honour the right to life, to facilitate the right to seek asylum. It's very frustrating to now face prison because of that."
He says it has come at huge personal cost — "paying lawyers to stay out of prison is not cheap".
"There's a professional cost," he said.
"I'm trying to become a barrister, that's proving impossible. There's a test of whether you're fit and proper, and I might fall at that hurdle because of this investigation.
"The scariest thing is not that it happened to me, it could happen to you, when there's no evidence of any wrongdoing. That's what so frightening."
Seán describes the writ of summons as "a joke", with 24 defendants, none of whom are named but numbered, making it impossible to know who is facing which charges, while he also believes a page is missing.
The legality in international law of his arrest, pre-trial detention, and proposed trial for alleged offences has been questioned, and a number of legal representatives have found several serious breaches of international human rights law in Seán’s case to date.
Seán travelled to Greece this week with his family, including his mother.
"You couldn't keep my mother away from this, she's fantastic, although I told her to stay away — you know what mums are like," he said.
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