ATEHNS: The head of Greece’s coast guard has been prosecuted over the country’s deadliest migrant shipwreck which claimed hundreds of lives, rights groups representing the survivors and victims said Friday.
“By order of the prosecutor of the court of appeal, criminal proceedings are to be brought against four senior officers of the coast guard, including its current chief,” Trifonas Kontizas, the groups said in a joint statement.
The move in connection to the 2023 sinking follows similar proceedings initiated for 17 members of the coast guard in May.
State security personnel are rarely sanctioned in Greece.
Survivors on board the rusty and overloaded trawler Adriana said the coast guard failed to respond adequately when it capsized and sank on the night of June 13, 2023 off Pylos, southern Greece, en route to Italy.
It was carrying more than 750 people, according to the United Nations, but only 82 bodies were found.
The felony charges include failure to rescue and assist persons in distress and manslaughter by negligence, the rights groups said Friday.
The latest case had originally been shelved by the prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court but survivors lodged an appeal.
Among the 104 survivors, dozens have filed a group criminal complaint, alleging the coast guard took hours to mount a response when the boat was in trouble, despite warnings from EU border agency Frontex and the NGO Alarm Phone.
The boat was sailing from Tobruk, Libya to Italy. As well as Syrians and Palestinians, it was carrying nearly 350 Pakistanis, according to the Pakistani government.
Survivors said the coast guard eventually responded and was towing the vessel when it finally capsized and sank 47 nautical miles off the coast of Pylos.
The prosecutor has said that “the sudden and powerful towing by the coast guard vessel appears to be the only possible and active cause” that led the trawler to capsize.
The coast guard has said it communicated with people on board who “refused any help,” rendering any rescue operation in high seas risky.
But lawyers for the survivors have said the coast guard chose to dispatch just a patrol boat from Crete — and not a larger rescue tugboat stationed closer by at the port of Gytheion in the Peloponnese region.
The patrol boat’s voyage data recorder was damaged and was only repaired two months after the accident, they said — nor was there any video footage from the patrol boat.
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Greek coast guard head prosecuted over migrant tragedy: rights groups
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Greek coast guard head prosecuted over migrant tragedy: rights groups
- State security personnel are rarely sanctioned in Greece
- Survivors on board the rusty and overloaded trawler Adriana said the coast guard failed to respond adequately when it capsized
White House steps up attacks on CNN
- Communications director Steven Cheung calls CNN cowardly for not inviting Trump adviser Stephen Miller to be interviewed
- On Wednesday, President Donald Trump accused a CNN journalist of being “an arm of the Democrat Party”
WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday intensified its attacks on CNN, the news network at the center of a financial battle that President Donald Trump is tied up in politically and through family.
Echoing the president’s frequent anti-media barbs, senior members of his administration lashed out.
“CNN = Chicken News Network,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X Thursday, calling CNN cowardly for not inviting Trump adviser Stephen Miller to be interviewed “presumably because they are scared Stephen will school them.”
Vice President JD Vance then shared the post, adding: “If CNN wants to be a real news network it should feature important voices from our administration.”
A CNN spokesperson said Miller would be welcome back on the channel, Fox News reported Thursday.
“As a news organization, we make editorial decisions about the stories we cover and when, and that depends on the news priorities of the day. We look forward to having Stephen on again in the future as the news warrants,” the CNN spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The harshest attack on CNN from the Trump administration came from an official White House account called Rapid Response 47, which went after Kaitlan Collins, one of the network’s most prominent correspondents, saying she “is not a journalist. She is a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party.”
On Wednesday, the president confronted another CNN journalist similarly, and said “you know you work for the Democrats, don’t you? You are basically an arm of the Democrat Party.”
CNN has yet to comment publicly on those allegations. In the past, the network has responded to criticism of political bias by asserting that it is committed to objective journalism and fairness.
CNN for sale
Founded in 1980 to provide global television news coverage, CNN is currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the media conglomerate at the heart of a bidding war between streaming giant Netflix and Paramount Skydance, the latter of which is led by CEO David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has joined Paramount’s bid through his investment firm.
And Trump has already indicated he intends to get involved in the government’s decision to approve or block a sale, which would typically involve the Justice Department.
Under Paramount’s offer, CNN would fall into Ellison’s hands.
Under the Netflix deal, Warner Bros. Discovery would sell off CNN and other cable news properties separately before closing the sale of its studio and streaming operations.
The 79-year-old president said Wednesday he wants to ensure CNN gets new ownership as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery sale, seeming to favor a Paramount purchase.
“I don’t think the people that are running that company right now and running CNN, which is a very dishonest group of people, I don’t think that should be allowed to continue. I think CNN should be sold along with everything else,” Trump said.
Echoing the president’s frequent anti-media barbs, senior members of his administration lashed out.
“CNN = Chicken News Network,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X Thursday, calling CNN cowardly for not inviting Trump adviser Stephen Miller to be interviewed “presumably because they are scared Stephen will school them.”
Vice President JD Vance then shared the post, adding: “If CNN wants to be a real news network it should feature important voices from our administration.”
A CNN spokesperson said Miller would be welcome back on the channel, Fox News reported Thursday.
“As a news organization, we make editorial decisions about the stories we cover and when, and that depends on the news priorities of the day. We look forward to having Stephen on again in the future as the news warrants,” the CNN spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The harshest attack on CNN from the Trump administration came from an official White House account called Rapid Response 47, which went after Kaitlan Collins, one of the network’s most prominent correspondents, saying she “is not a journalist. She is a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party.”
On Wednesday, the president confronted another CNN journalist similarly, and said “you know you work for the Democrats, don’t you? You are basically an arm of the Democrat Party.”
CNN has yet to comment publicly on those allegations. In the past, the network has responded to criticism of political bias by asserting that it is committed to objective journalism and fairness.
CNN for sale
Founded in 1980 to provide global television news coverage, CNN is currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the media conglomerate at the heart of a bidding war between streaming giant Netflix and Paramount Skydance, the latter of which is led by CEO David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has joined Paramount’s bid through his investment firm.
And Trump has already indicated he intends to get involved in the government’s decision to approve or block a sale, which would typically involve the Justice Department.
Under Paramount’s offer, CNN would fall into Ellison’s hands.
Under the Netflix deal, Warner Bros. Discovery would sell off CNN and other cable news properties separately before closing the sale of its studio and streaming operations.
The 79-year-old president said Wednesday he wants to ensure CNN gets new ownership as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery sale, seeming to favor a Paramount purchase.
“I don’t think the people that are running that company right now and running CNN, which is a very dishonest group of people, I don’t think that should be allowed to continue. I think CNN should be sold along with everything else,” Trump said.
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