Greece's New Left files lawsuit against far-right leader over call to sink migrant boats

Lawsuit filed in Athens

On Monday, 29 June 2026, the head of Nea Aristera, Gavriil Sakellaridis, along with MPs Peti Perka, Thodoris Dritsas, Sia Anagnostopoulou, and Eukleidis Tsakalotos, filed a lawsuit at the Athens First Instance Prosecutor's Office against Kyriakos Velopoulos, president of the far-right Elliniki Lysi party. The legal action comes after Velopoulos, during a television interview on 10 June, openly advocated for sinking boats carrying migrants and refugees in the Aegean.

The controversial interview

During an appearance on OPEN TV, Velopoulos was asked whether he would sink such boats. He replied directly, 'you sink it,' and repeated the statement later in the discussion, showing indifference to its illegality, according to the party announcement. The lawsuit argues that his words constitute incitement to violence on racial and ethnic grounds.

Kyriakos Velopoulos on 10 June 2026, during his interview on OPEN TV, was asked whether 'you sink or don't sink the boat' carrying migrants and refugees in the Aegean. The president of Elliniki Lysi answered directly 'you sink it,' and then repeated the incitement, showing indifference to the illegality of such an act.

Legal basis

The complaint relies on Article 1 of Law 927/79, as amended by Law 4285/2014, Greece's anti-racism legislation. The plaintiffs assert that Velopoulos urged both state authorities and private individuals to commit felony acts, sinking a boat, causing a shipwreck with certain death, targeting people solely because of their race and national origin, as citizens of non-EU third countries.

Based on the reasoning of the lawsuit by the head of Nea Aristera and its four MPs, Kyriakos Velopoulos 'incited the competent state bodies, but also any private individual to commit acts of a felonious nature (sinking a boat, that is causing a shipwreck with the certain result of the death of persons) against persons solely on the basis of their race and national origin, that is because they are citizens of third countries not members of the European Union.'

Political reaction and motives

Nea Aristera noted that weeks had passed since the remarks without any judicial authority taking action to prosecute Velopoulos for his "racist statements calling for violence against vulnerable migrants and refugees." The party said its lawsuit aims to place a barrier against intolerant and racist statements by far-right political figures, and is part of a multifaceted political and legal struggle against the far right.