Until everyone is free – Examples of victories  

One year ago, the so-called “Pylos9” were acquitted by the Greek court in Kalamata:
In the early morning of June 14, 2023, the overcrowded fishing boat Adriana sank in international waters about 50 miles from the port of Pylos, Greece, carrying 750 people. Many of the only 104 survivors described how the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) endangered passengers’ lives by attempting to tow the boat, which likely caused it to sink. Nine survivors (“Pylos9”) were arrested by Greek authorities and unfairly blamed for the tragedy. They were charged with facilitating unauthorized entry (“smuggling”), membership in a criminal organization, and causing the shipwreck. A group of experienced criminal defense lawyers, on behalf of the Captain Support Network, took their defense.
On May 21, 2024, the court in Kalamata ruled it had no jurisdiction to try the case because the sinking occurred in international waters, and the charges against them were dropped. [1]

We want to mark the anniversary of this justified acquittal as an opportunity to highlight other important victories. Instead of focusing on the systematic criminalization of people on the move, we want to share examples of solidarity that led to the acquittal of other accused individuals.

• Great victory in Samos: On June 17, 2024, two young men from Sudan and a man from Afghanistan, who entered Greece with his wife and baby, were on trial in Samos. They arrived in January 2024 on a rubber dinghy and were arrested and charged with facilitating unauthorized entry of 38 third-country nationals (“smuggling”). However, they are asylum seekers who applied for protection in Greece. According to the Geneva Convention, they should not be criminalized for unauthorized entry. Lawyers Dimitris Choulis from the Human Rights Legal Project (HRLP) Samos and Alexandros Georgoulis argued that this was a typical case of self-traveling, with everyone trying to survive. Thanks to this defense, the threat of decades in prison was avoided: all three defendants were found innocent due to doubts about their guilt.
• Crete: Teenager acquitted after facing 4,670 years: On January 29, 2025, a teenager named M. Elfallah appeared before the juvenile court in Crete on charges of facilitating unauthorized entry. At age 15, on November 21, 2022, he boarded a large fishing vessel in Libya with his father and hundreds of others to reach Europe. His father, an experienced fisherman, took on tasks on board. Both were arrested for smuggling after arriving in Greece. His father was sentenced to 280 years two years ago. M. Elfallah was finally acquitted of all charges after waiting more than two years. His lawyer, Maria Flouraki, stated, “My client is just a child who was with his father.”
• Lesbos: Sensational acquittal for A.H.: On February 6, 2025, the Court of Mytilene acquitted A.H., a Palestinian refugee from Gaza, of smuggling and causing a shipwreck. A.H. was prosecuted for attempting to cross the EU border to seek asylum. On September 5, 2024, A.H. and other migrants from Syria and Palestine were on a rubber dinghy attacked by the Greek coast guard, which fired live ammunition and rammed their boat, causing it to capsize. A.H. was beaten and seriously injured by masked coast guard officers but was then charged as a “smuggler.” In court, A.H. said he only came to Greece to seek safety and asylum. Fellow passengers confirmed he was not steering but trying to stabilize the boat and save lives after the attack. The two coast guard officers, the prosecution’s only witnesses, did not appear in court, and their statements were excluded.
• Finally, acquittal: On February 18, 2025, J.A. was on trial at the Court of Appeal of Kalamata. Arrested on September 15, 2022, he was wrongly sentenced in the first instance to 270 years for smuggling 89 people seeking protection. He himself came to Europe as a refugee from Lebanon on the same boat. The alleged crime happened outside Greek territorial waters, so Greek courts lack jurisdiction. His lawyer, Alex Georgoulis, representing him for the Captain Support Network, has won several similar cases, including the Pylos 9.
• Good news from Syros: Justified acquittal for A.S.: On March 10, 2025, HRLP lawyers defended a Syrian asylum seeker facing up to 160 years for illegally transferring 16 asylum seekers before the Syros First Instance Court. Due to reasonable doubt, the court declared him innocent. After HRLP submitted a certificate for his pending asylum application, the judge acknowledged he entered to seek asylum, paying the same as other passengers. The court also noted that another driver initially controlled the boat but left during the journey.

Unfortunately, other defendants with similar charges received sentences of 20 years or more. This shows how crucial a strong defense is for the outcome and the lives of those involved. According to a study by borderline-europe, more than 2,000 migrants are currently in Greek prisons accused or convicted of “smuggling.”

This is why the Captain Support Network is committed to showing solidarity and providing financial support for these cases. Everyone deserves a fair trial and access to skilled defense lawyers. We will continue to fight against the systematic criminalization of migrants in an unfair legal system and strive to provide as many people as possible with fair trials through dedicated legal defense.

As Captain Support Network, a group of activists mainly based in Europe, we stand in solidarity with everyone criminalized for so-called “smuggling.”

We thank everyone who has already donated to make our work possible!
If you want to donate, you can use our fundraising campaign or donate directly to our bank account:
Name: Support Captain Support
IBAN: CH62 0900 0000 1626 2806 6
Bank: PostFinance

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[1] Note: Just a month after the shipwreck, Greek authorities had access to evidence clearing the nine. Yet they remained imprisoned for nearly a year, facing potential sentences of hundreds of years each.