Human rights defender Tommy Olsen, from Norway, is facing up to 20 years in prison after Greece issued a national warrant for his arrest last month.
"We have just seen the files, and there isn't one single piece of evidence against me," he told EUobserver on Thursday (6 June).
Olsen runs the Aegean Boat Report, a Norwegian non-governmental organisation (NGO) set up in 2018 to monitor and share data on people seeking refuge on the Greek islands.
But he is facing an uncertain future as Greek authorities step up the pressure to have him arrested.
"I am in danger of being closed down basically," he said, of fears his funding will dry up.
Although the Greek case against him is several hundred pages long, his name is only mentioned twice. "It's kind of ridiculous," he says.
One is a text message exchange with refugees who had arrived on the Greek island of Kos. This includes Olsen informing authorities of their location, their names, and their desire to apply for asylum.
The second is a Greek coast guard officer who claimed Olsen was cooperating with smugglers, he says.
Mary Lawlor, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights defenders, described the case against Olsen as disturbing.
"He is being targeted in what appears to be an arbitrary investigation criminalising his work in defence of the rights of migrants," she said, on X.
The case goes back to July 2021 when eight asylum seekers arrived on Kos. Greek human rights defender Panagiotis Dimitras alerted authorities of their arrival. Olsen did the same, leading both men to being indicted.
Around the same time, the BBC had ran a story on illegal pushbacks in Greece, a charge denied by country’s migration and asylum minister, Notis Mitarachi.
Mitarachi had already by then accused Aegean Boat Report of facilitating "illegal migratory flows" in what civil society organisation describe as a politically motivated smear campaign.
Human Rights Watch says information against Dimitras and Olsen had also been leaked to the media, including Greece’s largest national newspaper, Kathimerini.
By his count, Olsen said there has been around 100 articles on him in the Greek press over the last four years.
"The strange part is, never has any Greek journalists, these news outlets, contacted me for comment," he said.
Despite the public smearing, a judge dismissed the case due to a lack of evidence. But now the same case has returned, this time by a new Greek investigator in Kos.
The prosecution office in Kos now claim their evidence is sound. And last year, they charged Olsen and Dimitras with migrant smuggling and being members of a criminal organisation.
They then demanded Olsen come to Greece. Olsen refused amid fears his presumption of innocence had been violated.
On 14 May, a national warrant for Olsen's arrest was issued. But things could get worse.
Olsen's Greek lawyer, Zacharias Kesses, says a procedure for an international arrest is also in the works.
Once official, Olsen will likely be arrested by the Norwegian police. He will then have to plead his case in court. Should the Norwegian judge rule in his favour, Olsen would still face the threat of arrest elsewhere.
"So if he goes to Brussels, he's going to be arrested and there's going to be the same procedure in Belgium," says Kesses.
Kesses has represented other human rights defenders and humanitarian aid workers in Greece in the past. This includes activists Sarah Mardini, a Syrian competitive swimmer who saved drowning refugees, and Sean Binder, a German national.
"No court [in Greece] has convicted any humanitarian," says Kesses. "But there are many humanitarians who suffered from pretrial detention or remained in a legal limbo for four or five years," he says.
Kesses says such tactics aim to prevent civil society from monitoring and documenting illegal pushbacks in Greece. And pre-trail detention in Greece can last 18 months.
For his part, Olsen says the latest move against him is politically motivated.
"They have unlimited resources to do whatever they want. We don't have vast resources," he says. An international arrest warrant could also mean no funding.
"I can't see anyone taking the ball if I quit, and that's kind of a problem for me, because to give them the satisfaction of me quitting, that's really tough," he says.
Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.
Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.