In Greek prisons more than 150 Ukrainian sailors are serving their sentence. They were convicted for transporting illegal migrants to the European Union.

Many argue that they went to work for tourist vessels, but were trapped because of the actions of criminals.

Sailors and their relatives appealed to the police, and the National Police opened the case. However, the details of the investigation are not reported.

Why are so many Ukrainian sailors convicted in Greece, what happens to them in prison and whether Ukraine helps their citizens - investigated BBC News Ukraine.

How does the circuit work?.

If you enter into the search "work on a tourist yacht in Turkey," you can get a lot of different ads with offers and payment of $ 1,000 and above.

Approximately this is how "those who are now in Greek prisons.

Irina, the wife of the convicted seaman Alexander Belanov, said that her husband returned from the ATU last year and started looking for work to improve the financial situation of the family.

"He served in the ATU, has the status of a participant in hostilities, was in the Ilovay boiler and has a reward," says a woman.

"I know that the man who took to work, called Vitalik. He told me everything well and promised a salary of a thousand dollars a month, "she added..

And already in Turkey, she said, strange things began to happen. On the yacht of a group of people started up - they set the task of transporting them. "They were simply deceived," Irina believes..

The court gave Alexander Belanov 8 years.

The sister of another convict - Yuri Novak - Angelina says that her brother is not a sailor and has no experience of working on a ship. But he was offered several months of tourist season to work on a yacht in Turkey.

"They detained him in the fall of 2014. Since then he is in prison, "she said..

Yuri Novak was given a maximum of 25 years.

Similar stories and many others. At the same time, no one signed contracts. All arrangements were oral, without official documents.

Ukrainians agree to tempting offers of work, but find themselves in a Greek prison on charges of a serious crime, which in Greece as punishment is equated with murder. Diplomats admit that it is therefore very difficult to extract sailors from prison.

According to the Foreign Ministry, today in Greek prisons there are 151 citizens. Over the past two years, managed to return home only 21.

Diplomats say that they know situations when some people have been given a similar job for a second or third time.

Strict policy of Greece Theme of illegal migration - acute for Greece. That is why the country has imposed severe penalties for this crime.

Pay attention to the number of illegal aliens on the ship, their sex and age, and also - for the presence among them of children. After taking into account all these moments, in the sum often "unreal" terms - 400, 800 or even more than thousand years of imprisonment. In such cases, this actually means 25 years, the maximum term of imprisonment in the country.

BBC News Ukraine managed to communicate by phone with those who are currently serving a sentence in Greece.

48-year-old Yuri Novak, a former businessman, received a maximum term of imprisonment. In his corps there are other Ukrainians.

"I did not know at all that there is such a kind of earnings as the transportation of illegal migrants. In Ukraine, it was not a very popular topic. But when we were in this situation, everyone understood, "he says..

"The stories we have almost the same. All of us were invited to work in Turkey, work on yachts. We checked our documents, interviewed, paid for a flight to Turkey, placed in a hotel, and we had no suspicions, "says Yuri.

According to the proposal, the sailors were to carry tourists from Turkish Marmaris and Fethiye to the Greek islands of Rhodes, Kos and others.

"And somehow in October 2015 in the Turkish city of Fethiye some strange people began to come to us on the yacht. Nikolai and I began to ask the captain what kind of people. He says: "It's none of your business," Yuri said..

The yacht was supposed to take a large group - 51 people - on certain coordinates. "We called the employer in Ukraine, and he said: do what you were told and everything will be fine".

Arriving in Rhodes, the yacht entered the bay and dropped people off. And only then the police, who were not far away and saw this picture, detained the Ukrainians.

The trial of Yuri Novak was in Rhodes.

"He passed very quickly, we were informed that they had given for 25 years. We asked the interpreter to explain, he said that 8 years were given immediately, another 8 for each illegal. Since we have 51 people - consider yourself. And we counted 416 years, "he says..

In prison, a man goes to work - he makes furniture, he also draws. "I mostly draw icons. Honestly, I sell them here and have this penny. Buyers - people in prison. The price is from 20 to 80 euros ".

He said that according to unofficial data, there are already more than 200 Ukrainians in different prisons in Greece.

What can Ukraine do?.

Inmates and their relatives, with whom we communicated, do not rule out guilt and realize that it is a crime.

Greek law provides for the defendants to provide a lawyer and an interpreter, if they do not understand the Greek language. However, according to prisoners of Ukrainians, their interpreters are bad, and state lawyers are ineffective.

"There is not enough legal support. We are completely without rights here. We need someone who understands the laws. And for the state of Ukraine to hire here in Greece such a lawyer - it's easy. That he provided legal advice, "- says prisoner Yuri Novak.

The sailors' relatives say that often the interpreter can not explain what they are accused of and what sentence the court pronounced. After all, both the process itself and all the documentation - exclusively in Greek.

In some situations, there is no translator at all.

In this regard, the families of convicts applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote appeals to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova.

The diplomatic department says that Ukraine can not afford them a paid lawyer and an interpreter. Therefore, while this problem remains open.

The deputy director of the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vasily Kirilich, explained that the country can pay a lawyer if a person is tried for political reasons or faces life imprisonment.

According to him, the Greek side assures that everything happens according to EU standards. And if they comply with all the rules in prison, learn Greek and work, they can be released after serving a third of the term.

At the same time, both the diplomats and the sailors pay attention to the fact that the visit of the ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova to Athens could be important in order to discuss these issues with the Greek side. In particular, to ensure the right to protection and translation during the process.

Diplomats prepare for September visit of the ombudsman to Greece "with the purpose of monitoring of observance of the rights of the detained and condemned Ukrainians in this country".

The criminal group of "recruiters" The head of the projects of the fund for assistance to the seamen "Assol" Andriy Shevchenko explains that Ukraine has strengthened the explanatory work. "Sailors have become more attentive and more selective about where to go to work," he says..

Thanks to this, fewer people "get hooked". Although the "big fish", namely those who organize such channels and hires people to work, have not yet been caught.

There are versions that almost all sailors who ended up in prison knew that they would transport illegal immigrants. However, in such a situation, they are performers. And who are the organizers?.

The presence of such a large number of absolutely similar stories testifies to the criminal network that arranges for illegal work abroad. Probably, its representatives act both in Ukraine and in Turkey. The sailors themselves and their relatives call such people "recruiters".

The group that works in Ukraine, seeks seafarers, places ads on the Internet, offers good earnings. Then the sailors buy tickets to Turkey, where they promise to sign a formal contract. There they are met by other people who actually start the yacht and set the task.

However, as a result, documents with seamen do not sign, and after detention, as a rule, such employers disappear.

In the last few years law enforcement agencies have already received many statements on this matter. They were given names, surnames, phone numbers - although they are quickly changed.

However, relatives say that the investigation is not effective, and there is still no information about the detentions.

Andriy Shevchenko said that the case is being investigated both in Greece and Ukraine.

"If they (the sailors) honestly told who and where they were hired, these channels would be closed. Means, either our law-enforcers have no interest in investigating this, or the seamen hide something, "he said..

"Different situations are. Therefore, to say that they are all guilty or not guilty, one can not. That is, I do not exclude the fact that some part went deliberately, and some fell into a trap due to inexperience, "- says Shevchenko.

The frivolity of sailors is also said by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavel Klimkin. At the beginning of the year he urged his compatriots to approach the choice of the employer responsibly.

"I want to separately warn potential offenders: cooperation with the mafia will necessarily lead you to a catastrophe. The Mafia uses you and in the end will give up, count on its help in needlessly. Miracles do not happen, "wrote the minister in his blog on the situation with the sailors in Greece.

A group of representatives of the National Police came to Athens in the framework of the investigation of this case.

Convicts could communicate with them, give evidence and write relevant statements. "But after that - silence", - says Yuri Novak, who spoke with Ukrainian police officers.

Another prisoner from Odessa, Alexander Beltek, said that he gave the police all the data to the "recruiter", including the telephone number, which at that time still worked.

"They came about five months ago. I wrote a statement. And now relatives ask them what news, and they answer - we work. I gave them the passport data of the employer, gave all the numbers. But he is still at large, no one is doing anything, "he said..

Alexander says, after the detention, he called the employer, but he did not react and made it clear that he was not afraid of responsibility. "He says: write where you want, I do not care - I have connections".

The BBC also tried to dial the number that Alexander handed to law enforcement officers along with a statement. It turned out to be valid. A man named Sergei reported that he knows Alexandre Beltek, but he has no relation to his conclusion.

"I know that he blames me. Imagine if I were hiring people for illegal work, would I now use this phone number? " - he said.

The man completely rejects accusations, although he admits that this sailor addressed him with a request to help him find a job, but he did not send him to Turkey.

According to Sergei, he was not approached by law enforcement agencies, which Alexander Beltec allegedly handed over all the details about the work - including data on Sergei, with whom we managed to communicate.

BBC News Ukraine asked about the situation with the sailors in the National Police.

They said that the cases of "involving Ukrainian citizens in criminal activities related to the transport of illegal migrants to Greece" are being investigated in several areas. They were opened on the article on human trafficking.

It's about 20 sailors. The police can not inform the details of the investigation.