As the appeal trial of Homayoun Sabetara approaches on 24 September, the Captain Support Network together with the undersigned organisations urgently call for his freedom and for an end to the systematic criminalisation of migrants under Greece’s broad anti-smuggling laws. In his original trial in 2021, Homayoun, a migrant fleeing Iran, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in Greece for “facilitating illegal…
*First published on Kathimerini High-ranking Hellenic Coast Guard officers have been appearing before the Greek Ombudsman since Monday over the fatal shipwreck off southern Greece in June 2023. The process is expected to be completed on September 20, with the examination of the coast guard head himself, Vice Admiral Georgios Alexandrakis. The process is part of an…
On 21 May 2024, the Criminal Court of Kalamata acquitted the nine defendants who had been arbitrarily accused of smuggling and illegal entry, and causing the deadly Pylos shipwreck, in which over 600 people were killed. The #FreePylos9 campaign celebrates this important decision and would like to thank everyone who supported to make this success possible. One…
In today’s episode, we speak with Spyros, from the Free Pylos 9 campaign. He’s going to tell us more about the Pylos Shipwreck, how the authorities refused to help the 750 people on the small fishing boat, and how it sank on June 14, 2023, when the Greek coastguards tried to tow it. Only 104 of the…
*First Published on InfoMigrants The war forced Ibrahim to flee Syria and seek refuge in Libya. But the militia there kidnapped him and demanded a ransom. Getting on the rusty fishing trawler and crossing the Mediterranean looked like a chance rather than a risk. Then the shipwreck happened. “My living conditions in Syria were bad in every…
More than a year after one of Europe’s deadliest migrant shipwrecks, survivors face potential deportation. *First Published on Inkstick More than a year on, questions remain about what led to one of Europe’s deadliest migrant shipwrecks, killing hundreds in the waters off Greece’s southwestern coast. In the early hours of June 14, 2023, a dramatically overcrowded fishing trawler, carrying…
On the 24th of May the Pylos 9 stood trail in the court of Kalamata. These 9 were put on this trail in order to to hold them responsible for the shipwreck that occurred in Pylos last year, where over 600 people lost their lives. It was yet another show trail on behalf of the Greek authorities,…
*First Published on Reuters By Renee Maltezou ATHENS, June 27 (Reuters) – Greek coastguard officers will testify as suspects as part of a disciplinary investigation into their role in a deadly migrant shipwreck off Greece, three sources told Reuters on Thursday. Hundreds are feared to have died when a vessel, monitored by the Greek coastguard for several hours,…
*First Published on Politico As many as 650 people may have died in the June 2023 disaster. BY NEKTARIA STAMOULI ATHENS — The Greek official investigating a deadly shipwreck in the Mediterranean has summoned the head of the Greek coast guard to testify on claims it may have pulled the vessel over. Eighty-two bodies were recovered following the…
*First Published on InfoMigrants Among the passengers aboard the trawler that sank off Greece on June 14 were two cousins from a village in Egypt. Only one survived. More information is coming out about the victims of the devastating shipwreck that took place June 14 off the coast of Greece. Ramy Ramadan Shasha, 20, was one of the Egyptian…
