Justice for Pylos State Crime
Solomon’s investigation–conducted in collaboration with El País, Die Tageszeitung, ARIJ, and The New Humanitarian–reveals that Egypt informed the Greek authorities that the nine survivors of the Pylos shipwreck were not members of the smuggling network. Yet, the men stayed behind bars for a year. *First Published on WeAreSolomon They were not smugglers – and the Greek authorities…
In the early morning hours of 14 June, 2023, the overcrowded fishing boat “Adriana” sank in international waters around 50 miles from the port of Pylos, Greece. Hundreds of people, including all women (and people assigned ‘female’ at birth) and children on board, drowned under the watch of the Hellenic Coast Guard. Only 104 people who were…
In an outrageous decision, the Three-Member Court of Appeal for Felonies in Kalamata today rejected the compensation claims of the “Pylos 9” for their unjust pre-trial detention, which lasted more than 11 months. It is worth recalling that the “9” were detained on charges of participating in a criminal organization, causing a fatal shipwreck, illegally transporting third…
On Tuesday, 19 November 2024, the Three – Member Court of Appeals for Felonies in Kalamata will hear the compensation claims of the ‘Pylos 9’. These nine individuals, survivors of the sinking of the vessel Adriana on June 14, 2023, were accused and detained by the Greek state for the shipwreck and also as alleged members of a smuggling…
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…
