Greece court dismisses charges against nine Egyptians over Pylos shipwreck
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/21/trial-under-way-in-greece-over-pylos-shipwreck-that-killed-more-than-500
Greece court dismisses charges against nine Egyptians over Pylos shipwreck
Rights groups also argued that the defendants right to a fair trial was compromised by incomplete evidence.
Survivors of the deadly shipwreck, Zahid Akbar, 21, and Inzimam Maqbool, 22, along with relatives, lawyers and supporters, participate in a protest calling for justice, ahead of the trial, in Athens, Greece, on May 20, 2024 [Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters]
21 May 2024
Updated: 15 minutes ago
A Greek court has dismissed charges against nine Egyptian men accused of causing a shipwreck that killed hundreds of migrants last year after a prosecutor said that Greece lacked jurisdiction.
Shortly after the trial opened 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 countrys territorial waters.
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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.
As many as 750 people on board the trawler, which was travelling from Libya to Italy, and more than 550 people are believed to have died, according to rights groups and independent investigators.
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