Greece Postpones Show Trial of Roma Rights Defender Panayote Dimitras Until 2027
15 October 2026
The trial of Panayote Dimitras of the Greek Helsinki Monitor, a member of the Roma Rights Network, was postponed by a Rhodes court until 6 April 2027. Panayote Dimitras and his co-accused, Tommy Olsen (director of the migrant aid NGO Aegean Boat Report), are on trial for ‘complicity in human trafficking’ and ‘criminal activities’.
This is nothing more than a show trial, a politically-motivated and arbitrary abuse of criminal law by the Greek authorities, for as Mary Lalor UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights memorably stated: “Solidarity should never be punished and compassion should never be put on trial.”
While Olsen is resident in Norway, and the Norwegian authorities have rejected the Greek application for extradition, the situation is different for Dimitras. Since 2023, the pretrial measures authorities imposed on him include a ban on leaving the country, a duty to regularly report to the police station, and a bail payment of €10,000. As Dimitras said:
“This prosecution had the sole aim to harass us and severely limit our work documenting human rights violations at Greece’s borders. It has left me stigmatized and has prevented me from travelling abroad to continue our human rights advocacy at an international level for more than three years.”
Human Rights Watch condemned the ongoing prosecution of both men as “a politically-motivated attempt to silence their efforts to expose abuses against migrants”, and called on Greek prosecutors to drop this blatant drive to intimidate Dimitras and Olsen, and criminalise their legitimate human rights work.
Amnesty International described the charges as a “gross misuse of anti-smuggling legislation”, and the action of the Greek authorities as a “new low” in their long-standing record of harassing human rights defenders: “For the first time, human rights workers are being referred to trial for helping people access asylum procedures. Construing this as ‘smuggling’ is not only a distortion of international and domestic law but a dangerous vilification of NGOs’ valuable work.”
In its statement, Amnesty asserted that there is no evidence to support the authorities’ case that Dimitras and Olsen establised and participated in a criminal organisation that jointly facilitated the unlawful entry and unlawful stay of third-country nationals in Greece; and no indication that the men’s work went “beyond the legitimate activities of assisting people in legally exercising their human rights and documenting the situation.” If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison.
These prosecutions are part of a wide and well-documented pattern of official harassment and intimidation targeting human rights defenders who work with migrants and asylum seekers in Greece. As stated on the news portal Kontra, even when charges are dropped, the consequences of prosecutions – which include “years of waiting, financial exhaustion, travel restrictions, public humiliation, and professional isolation” – are such that the criminal process itself is intrinsic to the repression.
In 2023, in her conclusions following a country visit to Greece, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor expressed her concerns at the criminalisation, smearing and intimidation of human rights defenders, “vilified as traitors, enemies of the state, Turkish agents, criminals and smugglers and traffickers”, and at the extent to which
“Human rights lawyers, humanitarian workers, volunteers and journalists [working on migration in Greece] have been subjected to smear campaigns, a changing regulatory environment, threats and attacks, and the misuse of criminal law against them, to a shocking degree.”
In a subsequent tweet on X in 2023, Lawlor made specific mention of "disturbing news" about restrictions placed on Dimitras, “including on his right to continue his legitimate human rights work. Along with Tommy Olsen, he is facing what strongly appears to be an arbitrary criminal investigation.”
Recommendations from international bodies have not only gone unheeded, but the right-wing Greek government has doubled down on its repression. As HRW reported, on 5 February 2026, the Greek Parliament passed a government-led migration law that associates humanitarian work with criminal conduct by making membership in a nongovernmental organization an aggravating factor in migration-related offenses.
According to Human Rights Watch, the law, which also grants the migration minister unchecked authority to deregister groups at his discretion and without a court ruling, is part of a surge in state-led intimidation of civil society. The group called on the European Commission to launch a formal assessment of this migration law and to ensure Athens adheres to its commitments to protects critics from legal harassment.
The ramifications of the case against Dimitras and Olsen are even more significant as EU migration policy lurches even further rightwards; at a time when the passing of EU legislation to increase deportations – described by Amnesty as “absurd, cruel and discriminatory” – was greeted by rightwing MEPs in the European Parliament chanting “send them back.”
This prosecution is just the latest chapter in the Greek state’s persistent judicial harassment against Panayote Dimitras, which has amounted to one SLAPP after another – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation designed to exhaust and silence those who dare to dissent. Dimitras, has over the decades relentlessly defended the human rights of Roma, the LGBT+ community, migrants, asylum seekers, and any others who face discrimination, state oppression, and far-right intimidation. This is an attack on the foundations of European democracy, and by punishing solidarity and compassion, an assault on our common dignity.
