Greek coastguard accused of using systematic violence and abandoning people at sea The NGO Legal Centre Lesvos filed a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights accusing Greece of having deliberately abandoned at sea 200 people in October 2020. According to witnesses, passengers were brought into Turkish waters and abandoned at sea after the coastguard beat and confiscated some of their belongings. Hundreds of suspected pushback incidents have been recorded in the past year. In at least one case, Frontex is accused of covering up evidence of a Greek pushback operation. Media expose complicity between Frontex and Libya in facilitating returns to Libya The German news magazine "Der Spiegel", the German broadcaster ARD, the organization "Lighthouse Reports" in Netherlands and the French newspaper “Libération" published a report that accuses Frontex of having flown over migrant boats and informed the Libyan coast guard of their coordinates, even when merchant ships or private sea rescuers in the area could have conducted faster rescues. According to the investigation, this has occurred in at least 20 cases since January 2020. On one occasion, 91 migrants died at sea or went missing because Frontex failed to alert nearby merchant ships or private sea rescuers. EU Commission releases first assessment of readmission cooperation In February, the European Commission completed its first factual assessment on the level of cooperation in readmission proceedings by 39 states whose nationals require a visa to enter the EU. The assessment was required under the Article 25a of the Visa Code which restricts access to regular pathways for applicants or categories of applicants from countries which are considered not to be cooperating sufficiently with the EU return policies. The report finds that for just over a third of third countries, the level of cooperation is considered to be improved. New studies expose use of violence in pushback activities in Europe In its Annual Torture Report, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) presented evidence of systematic violence perpetrated during pushback activities in Croatia and Greece in 2020, as well as chain pushbacks in Austria, Italy and Slovenia. Violence includes the use of electric discharge weapons, forced undressing, use of excessive and disproportionate force, violence with firearms, inhumane treatment inside police vehicles and inside detention facilities.