Shortly after 02:00 in the morning of June 14, 2023, the fishing trawler the ‘Adriana’, loaded with approximately 750 people capsized and sank 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos. Survivors of the shipwreck recount that the sinking was directly caused by the towing of the Adriana by the vessel PPLS-920 of the Hellenic Coast Guard.
Only 104 men survived the shipwreck, 82 bodies were found and hundreds of people remain missing. The Hellenic Coast Guard transported those rescued from international waters to Greece and placed them in custody in a warehouse in the port of Kalamata.
Nine of the survivors were immediately arrested and charged with causing the shipwreck and participation in a criminal organization for the purpose of illegally transferring third country nationals into Greek territory (‘smuggling’). The Pylos Nine have since then been detained in the prisons of Nafplio and Avlona.
The trial of the Pylos Nine has been set for May 21, 2024 before the Three-member Criminal Appeal Court of Kalamata. The penalties for ‘smuggling’ are the harshest penalties of the Greek criminal code and each defendant faces life sentences and fines of hundreds of thousands of euros.
The shipwreck of the Adriana is one of the direct consequences of the normalization of pushbacks and general State criminality at the EU borders. The Pylos 9 are nine of the hundreds of victims of the deadliest shipwreck of the Aegean but were turned into scapegoats by the Greek authorities. The Pylos 9 are among thousands of people on the move who are currently imprisoned in Greece because they were accused or convicted of ‘smuggling’ in their flight for safety.
responsible for this tragedy are neither the people looking for safety nor the smuggling networks, as they are a symptom and not the root of the problem. The real culprit is Fortress Europe and the lack of freedom of movement.
It is therefore our duty to fight injustice, stand in solidarity with its victims and support in every possible way the defense of the nine survivors from the abuses they have already suffered from the prosecution and the investigative authorities. 4
By standing with the Pylos 9, we stand with the thousands of other victims of the brutal policies of the European Union and Greece.
Currently, there are two crowdfunding campaigns through which you may support the Pylos 9.
#It_is_our_duty campaign
The crowdfunding campaign #It_is_our_duty aims to cover the costs immediately required for legal actions and the best possible preparation of the defense, for the upcoming trial of the Pylos Nine on May 21, 2024. The amount will cover the expenses for various legal proceedings and, to an extent, the work of the defense lawyers and interpreters.
#Freepylos9 campaign
The crowdfunding campaign #FreePylos9 aims to cover witnesses' travel costs in light of the upcoming trial, as well as miscellaneous costs (such as additional legal costs, printing costs for the creation of communication material etc). Funds will also be used to support the defendants who are currently detained.
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