There is not a single empty seat in the courtroom in Mytilini. International observers, journalists and human rights organisations travelled to Lesbos on 4 December 2025 for a case that is considered the litmus test in Europe for the criminalisation of solidarity at the external border. Twenty-four humanitarian aid workers are on trial, including Dutchman Pieter Wittenberg and German-Irish Séan Binder. They are being prosecuted for human trafficking, a crime punishable by up to twenty years in prison in Greece.
What is being tested here is whether humanitarian aid can be redefined as criminal activity. That is precisely why this case is being closely followed internationally. Ten years ago, the line between human trafficking and humanitarian aid was still clear. In 2015, when the war in Syria broke out, more than a million people entered Europe via the Mediterranean, 900,000 of them via Greece. The state was unable to cope; volunteers and NGOs stepped in and provided emergency aid on beaches and at sea.
Read a more extensive version of this article on SmallStreamMedia.
