Athens and Islamabad in search of smugglers

In Kalamata, in the Peloponnese peninsula, after being interviewed for more than twelve hours, nine Egyptians, arrested the day after the sinking of a migrant boat off Greece, on the night of June 13 to 14, were charged for “illegal trafficking” in human beings and remanded in custody. Some of them had been designated as smugglers by four other passengers on the trawler, which was carrying nearly 750 people. Also prosecuted for “negligent homicide”, they risk a life prison sentence. Tuesday, June 20, all claimed their innocence.

Only 104 passengers survived this sinking, one of the worst in the eastern Mediterranean in recent years. So far, 82 bodies have been found, but hundreds of people, including women and children, are missing. According to the survivors’ accounts, the smugglers recruited their “clients” through social networks and offered to reach European shores in exchange for a sum of between 4,000 and 6,000 euros.

Nine of them, considered key witnesses, were transported from the Malakasa camp, north of Athens, where they are staying, to be heard. In the statements taken by the Kalamata investigating judge, a Syrian survivor recounts that one of the smugglers “screamed at him and gave orders, he only gave food for money and [les] beat”. Hassan (anonymity requested), another Syrian survivor, told the World : “From Libya, where we were locked up in hangars by the hundreds, without electricity, without hot water, these smugglers behaved inhumanely with us. »

Second prison population

During their hearing, four of the defendants explained that a smuggler in Egypt had entrusted them with the mission of transferring the migrants to Italy. The other five denied being involved. One of them claims to have been wrongly accused ” because’[il] knew the captain. Another specifies that he gave orders on the boat “to bring order to the surrounding chaos”but that it was not for all that ” responsible “ of the tragic crossing to Europe.

Nearly 2,000 people convicted of illegal migrant smuggling fill Greek jails, representing the country’s second-largest prison population. Among them are also refugees who say they had no choice but to drive the canoes under the threat of “real passers”.