[ALBSA-Info] News: AIM, 7/11/2000

[Agron Alibali]

*** An Albanian Family's Ordeal With Greek Authorities

       AIM Athens, November 7, 2000


As a Greek Helsinki Monitor advocate for migrants'
human rights in Greece,
I have encountered a plethora of cases that show the
arbitrary treatment of
migrants by Greek authorities. One of this cases,
where I helped an
Albanian family draft a complaint to the Greek
Ombudsman, the only state
institution in Greece that consistently defends human
rights when violated
by state agencies, sounds almost like the "history of
Albanian migration to
Greece." The complaint reprinted below is eloquent and
self-explanatory.


To the Ombudsman
Hatziyanni Mexi 5, 11528 Athens

Athens 30 October 2000

Complaint of Nevruzete Gjoni

Gentlemen,

I am an Albanian citizen. I hold a green card, number
101206/8624, which
was issued by the Manpower Employment Organization on
01-10-2000. I have
been living in Greece with my family since 1997 at the
following address:
Agisilaou 35-37, Koumoudouros Square, Athens (tel.
093-7684525).

On 14-05-2000 I went to Albania, to the city of Vlora,
in order to fetch my
older son (who had gone to see his grandmother) and
return with him to
Greece. At that time I had my green card certification
on which my husband
and two children, age 17 and 15, were also registered.

On 16-05-2000 my son and I arrived at the customs
control at Kakavia in
order to return to Greece. An employee, who boarded
the bus to make an
inspection (subsequent to the electronic inspection),
told me that I had to
get off the bus because the photograph in my passport,
number 0155712, was
not the original one (I had crossed the border many
times with the same
passport). My son and I got off the bus, and we were
taken to an office
where I was given a document to sign. Under the
pressure of their threats
("We'll tear up your papers") and without
understanding what the document
said, I signed it (afterwards I realized that it was a
statement of
admission of my "guilt"). They retained my green card
certification,
telling me that I was persona non grata in Greece. I
kept emphatically
denying my guilt.

I absolutely had to return to Greece because I would
have lost my job (I
work for the newspaper "Ethnos"). Furthermore, my
husband is disabled and
my younger son is a minor, so neither can work.

I returned to Vlora and obtained a new passport. Again
I tried to cross the
border, but this time my green card certification did
not correspond to my
passport. I was told that I could now only enter
Greece on a visa.

Meanwhile, I sent my old passport to my husband in
Greece. Through a
lawyer, he submitted it to the proper authority, which
(after 2 months)
certified in writing that it was indeed legitimate.

Armed with the new passport and the necessary
supporting documents, I went
to the Greek Embassy in Tirana to get a visa. I
entered the embassy three
times for a visa (after many weeks of sleeping on the
sidewalk outside the
embassy in +40-degree temperatures), but it was
impossible for me to get
one. The reason: "…it's impossible to give all
Albanians visas." The fourth
time, after paying 400,000 drachmas I managed to enter
the embassy, obtain
a visa on 17-07-2000, and on 19-07-2000 I crossed the
border into Greece
with my older son.

The ordeal I went through resulted in my emergency
admittance to hospital
on 07-08-2000, where I was treated for 7 days. On
01-09-2000 my lawyer
returned my green card certification to me, with a
notation on it from the
Manpower Employment Organization recognizing that an
error had been made at
my expense.

On 04-09-2000 my family and I went to the Manpower
Employment Organization
to pick up our green card. However, the clerk delayed
us
(bureaucratically), causing the date of receipt to be
postponed to 01-10-2000.

On 05-09-2000 at 7:00 a.m. my younger son, Ervis
Gjoni, 15 years old, set
out for work. At the first stop in Holargos the police
took him off the bus
to inspect his papers. He had on him a photocopy of
the green card
certification (without the notation) and his birth
certificate.

At 5:00 p.m. his father and I became worried and
started looking everywhere
for him (he'd been picked up 3 times before but was
released after being
inspected). First we went to the police station on
Socratous Street, then
to Alexandras Ave. There they told us: "since you sent
your kid out to wash
windshields what do you expect… the boy's disappeared
and you'll never find
him." But Ervis was working on a construction site. At
21:30 we arrived at
the Aghia Paraskevi police station. When we questioned
the officer on duty,
he told us there was no boy from Albania here. After a
lot of pressuring,
the officer opened the police blotter and found the
name Ervis Gjoni
written there. He told us that the boy had been
deported at 3:00 p.m.,
because his papers were not in order. I then showed
them the certification
with the notation, which I had with me. I explained to
them that they were
in error since, apart from everything else, the boy is
a minor and they
were obliged to at least have notified us. We pleaded
with them to bring
him back, since the bus hadn't yet crossed the border,
and also because
they had made an error. The officer in charge
responded, "it's not my
concern…let all the Albanians go back to Albania."

On the morning of 06-09-2000 we telephoned the border
at Kakavia. The
response we received was: "6 buses have passed through
but there isn't
anyone with that name." We were desperate. We didn't
know what had happened
to our child. Ervis didn't have any money on him…we
don't have a home or
family in Albania… Four days later our son called us
to tell us that he was
fine and was staying at the home of a female
journalist from the newspaper
"Koha Jone".

On 1-10-2000 we went to the Manpower Employment
Organization in Amaroussion
to receive our green card - but without Ervis.
Therefore, his name does not
appear on his mother's green card.

Thus, even though Ervis Gjoni is registered on his
mother's passport, and
even though the police admit their error, Ervis is
unable to return to
Greece, to live with his family, because none of the
authorities will take
the responsibility to correct the wrong done to him.

I request that Ervis be allowed to return immediately
and that those
responsible for my illegal deportation in May and that
of my son's in
September be held accountable.

The above complaint is submitted through the Greek
Helsinki Monitor.

Sincerely,

Nevruzete Gjoni


# Eda Gemi


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