At a protest in Brussels this week, Green Party MEPs Ciarán Cuffe and Grace O’Sullivan call on the Greek government to drop criminal charges levied against search and rescue volunteers facing trial on the Greek island of Lesbos.The MEPs were joined by Amnesty International at a demonstration in Brussels this Tuesday 16th November in solidarity with humanitarian workers including Seán Binder from Castlegregory, Co. Kerry, who stand accused of espionage, human trafficking and a series of allegations which human rights organisations are calling “trumped-up”. Seán, Sarah Mardini and Nassos Karakitsos and 21 others are expected to be tried on Thursday morning, 18th November.The protest follows on from the publication of an open letter, drafted by Grace O’Sullivan and signed by over 70 MEPs, in defence of the humanitarian volunteers facing the possibility of 25 years imprisonment for the charges.From Brussels, Grace O’Sullivan said; “Seán and his co-accused stand accused of one thing: showing humanity to those fleeing places of inhumanity and terror. This is not just the right thing to do, it is international law. Those in distress at sea must be rescued and rescue workers must be protected”Speaking from the protest, Dublin MEP Ciarán Cuffe remarked; “The European Union has long prided itself as a bastion of democratic values. But when the Greek government threatens to imprison citizens for their humanitarian actions, it is signaling a departure from those values. Greece faces a choice this week. Will it earn its global reputation as the cradle of democracy? Or will it turn further towards the system of border militarism which has been pushed by the far-right for years?”