Nine Egyptians acquitted on illegal trafficking charges still facing detention in Greece

Nine Egyptian nationals who survived one of the deadliest shipwrecks ever to take place in the Mediterranean continue to be detained by police in Greece, despite their acquittal on Tuesday from charges of illegal trafficking leading to the wreck. 

“This is totally absurd, they spent approximately one year of their life [in detention pending trial] for nothing,” said Alexandros Georgoulis, of the detainees' defense lawyers, speaking to Mada Masr.

The defendants were among the 103 survivors when a fishing boat thought to have been carrying around 750 undocumented migrants capsized off the Greek coast in June last year. They were arrested the day after the wreck and held in pre-trial detention for almost a year amid an investigation into accusations of causing a shipwreck, trafficking, forming a criminal organization and illegal entry into Greek territory.  

The Kalamata court ruled their innocence on Tuesday, saying the survivors had not entered Greece intentionally and ruling it lacked jurisdiction as the boat sank outside of Greek maritime territory. 

But instead of being released, the youngest of the nine survivors, a minor, was moved to a pre-deportation facility in Tavros, Athens. The other eight were held in police detention cells in Nafplio, according to a reporter for independent Greek outlet OmniaTV who spoke to Mada Masr.

Georgoulis explained that the police can detain undocumented foreign nationals in Greece at police detention facilities or camps for up to 18 months. Eight of the nine Egyptian nationals are in the process of applying for asylum, he added.

However, the lawyer said, the police normally give asylum seekers temporary documents to move freely within Greece, saying that this is what should be done for the Egyptian asylum seekers too.