A group of strawberry pickers from Bangladesh have won a case against Greece at Europe's highest human rights court, after being shot at by employers for demanding unpaid wages.

The Council of Europe's Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday in favour of 42 Bangladeshi nationals, and ordered the Greek state to pay them damages for having "failed in its obligations to prevent the situation of human trafficking, to protect the victims."

Judgment Chowdury and Others v. Greece - human trafficking and forced labour https://t.co/pXqfVyAoB7#ECHR — ECHR Press (@ECHR_Press) March 30, 2017

The 2013 incident occurred near the southern Greek town of Manolada, 260-km west of Athens, when more than 30 migrant strawberry pickers who had demanded their backpay were shot and wounded by foremen wielding shotguns.

The European case was launched after two of the shooting suspects were convicted by a Greek court but then released pending their appeal.

'An important vindication'

[caption id="attachment_55520" align="aligncenter" width="800"]In this April 17, 2013, file photo, unidentified migrant workers receive first aid at the Medical Centre of Varda in southwestern Greece[/caption]

The shootings were widely publicised, highlighting the frequent mistreatment of migrant workers in Greek farming jobs.

Morsed Chowdury, the lead applicant in the European case, and the human rights watchdog Amnesty International welcomed the decision taken by the court in Strasbourg, France.

"We are very pleased and excited by today's judgement. The Greek court's acquittal of the farmers for the crime of forced labour was a great disappointment to us," Chowdury said.

"We hope that the Greek government will learn from our experiences and recognise our important role in the Greek economy."

Gauri van Gulik, a top official from Amnesty International, said: "Today's judgement is an important vindication for them and their families and will hopefully help prevent future abuse."

The judgement

[caption id="attachment_55523" align="aligncenter" width="800"] In this April 17, 2013, file photo, unidentified migrant workers receive first aid at the Medical Centre of Varda in southwestern Greece[/caption]

Simon Cox, the attorney for the applicants and a migration lawyer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, said the case shows how employers use the threat of migration control to exploit irregular migrant workers.

"Governments must end this advantage by ensuring all workers can report abuse and seek the protection of police and courts, without this leading to deportation," he said.

The case titled "Chowdury and others versus Greece" was brought by 42 workers following violence directed against strawberry pickers in Nea Manolada in the Peloponnese in 2013, after they protested against their employers' failure to pay wages for several months. More than 30 workers were injured after armed guards at the site started shooting at the protesters.

[caption id="attachment_55521" align="aligncenter" width="800"] In this April 18, 2013 file photo, immigrant workers tend to a strawberry plantation near the village of Manolada, about 260km west of Athens[/caption]

Subsequently, the employers involved were charged by Greek prosecutors with labour trafficking, but were acquitted because the workers were physically free to leave the farm. The two guards who opened fire were convicted of causing dangerous bodily harm, but their sentences were commuted to fines.

The workers then took their complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, with the support of the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Greek Council for Refugees.

The court upheld the workers claims for compensation, ordering the Greek Government to pay the hospitalised workers €16,000 each and the other workers €14,000 Euros.

The total award of compensation is €588,000, one of the largest ever made by the European Court.

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