"Acquitted." As this single was word pronounced by the judge on Tuesday, May 21, the courtroom in Kalamata, southern Greece, exploded with joy. This marked the end of the trial of nine Egyptians accused of involvement in one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. Applause and shouts mixed with tears in the courtroom. The sister of one of the defendants, who had come from Germany, hugged her brother and immediately called her parents in Egypt. Walid El Ghurab, who had made the trip from Italy, burst into tears: "My brother will be able to get on with his life. He's only 34, he couldn't understand why he was in prison after going through such an ordeal and surviving a shipwreck where he himself lost a cousin."
On the night of June 13 to 14, 2023, around 47 nautical miles from the town of Pylos in southern Greece, the dilapidated trawler Adriana sank in international waters within the Greek search and rescue zone. The vessel was overloaded with around 750 passengers, including Syrians, Egyptians, Palestinians and Pakistanis. One hundred and four migrants survived and over 500 died, making it one of the worst boat disasters in the Mediterranean in recent years.
Questions soon arose about the rescue operations carried out by the Greek port police. Greek emergency workers were slow to arrive and assist, and according to survivors' testimonies, it was the coastguard towing the boat with a rope that caused it to capsize.
But from the day after the shipwreck, the Greek authorities sought to find the smugglers and present them as those responsible for the accident. This is standard procedure in Greece, where the criminalization of exiles is widespread, according to human rights NGOs. The nine migrants, aged between 21 and 37, were charged with "belonging to a criminal organization," "facilitating the illegal entry of migrants into Greek territory" and "causing a shipwreck." They faced life imprisonment.
However, on Tuesday, the Kalamata court acquitted them, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction given that the shipwreck had taken place in international waters and the migrants had intended to go to Italy, not Greece. This last point was confirmed by two Greek coastguards called to the stand. Courts on the islands of Rhodes and Crete had already taken similar decisions, and the defense lawyers relied on these precedents.
With their thumbs raised to the sky and smiles on their faces, the nine Egyptians were temporarily taken back to prison, while their lawyers decided where they would be transferred to have their asylum applications reviewed. Outside the Kalamata courthouse, around 100 demonstrators shouted: "Justice has won today! This crime must not be forgotten!" In the morning, scuffles between police and anti-racist activists left two people slightly injured.
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