Greece: Four Afghan immigrants jailed for Moria campfire | Human Rights News

Greece: Four Afghan immigrants jailed for Moria campfire | Human Rights News

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After the court found that the two were guilty of arson, the defendant’s lawyers condemned the “lack of justice.”

Four Afghan asylum seekers sentenced to 10 years in prison for their reasons In the fire The Moria immigration camp in Greece was destroyed last year.

The Chios court ruled that the defendant was guilty of arson on Saturday, while their lawyers condemned the “lack of justice” and told AFP that they appealed immediately after the sentence was pronounced.

The young Afghans were handcuffed and taken to the courtroom and are expected to return to Avlona prison outside Athens, where they were held before the trial.

In March, two other Afghan youths were sentenced to five years in prison for the case.

Camp Moria-on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea- Hold more Before being destroyed by two fires in September 2020, there were more than 10,000 people.No one died Fire.

Camp Moria destroyed after the fire on Lesbos [File: Reuters/Vassilis Triandafyllou]

Greek authorities believe that the fire was deliberately ignited by the camp occupants Isolation measures Enforcement was enforced after COVID-19 cases were found among people living in the location.

About 20 people, mainly members of foreign solidarity groups, gathered outside the court to call for the defendant’s release.

The defense lawyer said that the Afghans were not given a fair trial.

The prosecution is largely based on the testimony of another Afghan asylum seeker who identified the six as the perpetrators.

But according to the defense attorney, the witness did not appear in court on Friday, nor did he appear for trial in March because he could not be found.

The defendants claimed that they were the target of Pashtun eyewitnesses because the six people were all Hazaras from the persecuted minority in Afghanistan.

The other witnesses of the prosecution are the police, the firefighters who arrived at the scene in September 2020, the staff of the European Asylum Service and the NGOs working in the camp.

The Moria camp was built in 2013 and can accommodate up to 3,000 people, but it was overwhelmed in 2015 as large numbers of people began to arrive from Turkey in small boats.

Approximately 13,000 asylum seekers, including families with children, pregnant women and the disabled, had to sleep in the open One week After the camp was destroyed by fire.

Since then, the authorities have established a temporary camp on Lesbos, which can accommodate approximately 6,000 people.

The European Union has allocated $336 million to build a new permanent camp on Lesbos and similar facilities on Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros.

There are currently about 10,000 asylum-seekers living on these five Aegean islands, and most of them want to settle elsewhere in the European Union.

After a fire broke out in Camp Moria, a migrant carrying her belongings [File: Reuters]





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