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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ashifa Kassam European Community affairs correspondent

Greece found to have violated Syrian refugee’s right to life by firing on vessel

The building of the European court of human rights
The Strasbourg-based court said coastguards ‘had not exercised the necessary vigilance in minimising any risk to life’. Photograph: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

The European court of human rights has ruled that Greece violated a Syrian refugee’s right to life when coastguards fired more than a dozen rounds at the people smugglers’ boat he was on nearly a decade ago.

The Strasbourg-based court ordered Greece to pay €80,000 (about £68,000) in damages to the wife and two children of Belal Tello, who was shot in the head as Greek coastguards attempted to halt the boat he was travelling in. Tello died in 2015, after months in hospital.

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