Greek authorities refer 9 Egyptian shipwreck survivors to trial on human trafficking charges

Nine Egyptian nationals have been referred to trial in Greece on human trafficking charges following the 2023 sinking of a boat carrying an estimated 750 migrants, according to a Sunday report from independent Greek outlet OmniaTV.

The first hearing in the trial is set to take place on May 21 at the Kalamata Criminal Appeals Court.

The nine Egyptians have been held in pretrial detention in Greece since the shipwreck off Pylos in June last year. They were among 103 survivors. At least 82 bodies were recovered, and over 500 more people who were on the boat are still missing, presumed dead.

At the time of the wreck, the brother-in-law of one of the nine defendants now facing trial told Mada Masr that his brother had traveled to Greece from Libya just like all the other passengers on the Pylos boat, hoping to make it to Europe.

But Greek authorities closed the investigation in January, rejecting the legal defense’s request for further evidence to be considered.

The nine Egyptian survivors have also said that they were pressured by the Hellenic Coast Guard to sign their names on testimonies in Greece without being aware of their contents, speaking to reporters from Greek outlet OmniaTV over payphones from prisons in Nafplio and Avlona. 

They said that when they inquired about the nature of the documents, a translator appointed by the coast guard told them that the documents were part of bureaucratic procedures for their asylum applications, while others were told, moments after they were accused of smuggling and causing the shipwreck, that they were signing their official statements.

The statements, extracted from the nine Egyptians under duress only hours after they had survived the wreck, were later submitted to the investigating authorities. 

In other cases, foreign nationals facing human trafficking charges in Greece have been subject to an established pattern of human rights infractions during their arrest and preliminary investigations, OmniaTV has previously reported. Practices such as arbitrary arrest, violence and coercion, limited or no access to an interpreter or legal support, and difficulties in accessing asylum application processes during detention are regular.