{"id":3513,"date":"2024-05-21T11:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/?p=3513"},"modified":"2024-05-27T11:38:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T11:38:40","slug":"greece-court-dismisses-charges-against-nine-egyptians-over-pylos-shipwreck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/greece-court-dismisses-charges-against-nine-egyptians-over-pylos-shipwreck\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece court dismisses charges against nine Egyptians over Pylos shipwreck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rights groups also argue that the defendants\u2019 right to a fair trial is compromised by \u2018incomplete\u2019 evidence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*First Published on Al Jazeera<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Greek court has dismissed charges against nine Egyptian men accused of causing a shipwreck that killed hundreds of refugees and migrants last year after a prosecutor said Greece had no jurisdiction over the site of the mishap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the\u00a0trial<\/a>\u00a0opened on Tuesday in the southern city of Kalamata, public prosecutor Ekaterini Tsironi recommended that the charges be dismissed, saying that Greek jurisdiction could not be established because the overcrowded trawler sank outside the country\u2019s territorial waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the trial, international human rights groups argued that the defendants\u2019 right to a fair trial had been compromised as they faced judgement before an investigation had been concluded into claims the Hellenic coastguard may have botched the rescue attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small group of protesters clashed with riot police earlier on Tuesday outside the court as the proceedings got under way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defendants, most of whom are in their 20s, could have faced up to life in prison if convicted on multiple criminal charges over the sinking of the Adriana fishing trawler on June 14, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were about 750 people on board the trawler, which was travelling from Libya to Italy, and more than 550 people were believed to have died, according to rights groups and independent investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the sinking, 104 people were rescued \u2013 mostly from Syria, Pakistan and Egypt \u2013 and 82 bodies were recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the shipwreck off the southern coast of Greece as \u201chorrific\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pylos
Police clash with protesters outside the court in Kalamata, Greece, on May 21, 2024 [Thanassis Stavrakis\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Allegations against Hellenic coastguard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers from Greek human rights groups represent the nine Egyptians, who deny the smuggling charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to remember that justice will only be done via a full and transparent accounting of the responsibilities of the Greek authorities,\u201d Judith Sunderland, an associate director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said before Tuesday\u2019s dismissal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities had said the defendants were identified by other survivors, and the indictments were based on their testimonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Survivor testimonies<\/a> provided to Al Jazeera pin the blame on the Greek coastguard, which attempted to tow the vessel, causing it to flip over, saying it did not sufficiently act to save the lives of those in the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hellenic coastguard has denied these allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People
Paramedics of the Greek National Emergency Ambulance Service (EKAV) and members of the Greek Red Cross help refugees and migrants upon arrival at Kalamata\u2019s port [File: Bougiotis Evangelos\/EPA-EFE]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A joint Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report, based on testimonies from representatives of the Hellenic coastguard, the Greek police, and nongovernmental organisations, also concluded that the coastguard did not properly respond to distress calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An investigation in Greece\u2019s naval court into the Hellenic coastguard\u2019s role in the shipwreck has yet to conclude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Pylos 9 defendants were unjustly arrested and charged with smuggling offences based on limited and questionable evidence,\u201d Marion Bouchetel, a member of Legal Centre Lesvos, which is defending the accused, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur argument, following the testimonies of the survivors, is that these nine people are not responsible for the sinking at the very least. The coastguard is responsible for the sinking,\u201d Stefanos Levidis, one of the lead researchers in an investigation into the shipwreck, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rights groups also argue that the defendants\u2019 right to a fair trial is compromised by \u2018incomplete\u2019 evidence. *First Published on Al Jazeera A Greek court has dismissed charges against nine Egyptian men accused of causing a shipwreck that killed hundreds of refugees and migrants last year after a prosecutor said Greece had no jurisdiction over the site…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-3513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-el","category-news-articles-el","tag-english"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/02\/AlJazeera.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3515,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513\/revisions\/3515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}