Response from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs to the Ombudsman report

Greece
Wed, 5 Feb 2025 8:22 GMT
Ombudsman's report on Pylos shipwreck attempting to shift the focus from migrant traffickers to the coast guard, maritime affairs ministry says.
Response from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs to the Ombudsman report

The report issued by the Greek Ombudsman regarding the migrant boat shipwreck at Pylos "seeks to shift the discussion from the criminal trafficking networks to the Coast Guard officers who strive day and night for the protection of the country," the maritime affairs and insular policy ministry said in an announcement on Tuesday.

"It considers that a large number of Coast Guard officers, who are not even named in the report's analysis, should be investigated for serious criminal offences, whereas among the many versions as regards the true elements of the case, it systematically supports the claims of those who question whether the powers of the Coast Guard were properly exercised, without any reliable verification," the announcement said.

The ministry also accused the Ombudsman of overstepping the organisation's remit, which was to record, investigate and forward complaints to the appropriate authorities for further action, by proceeding "to arbitrarily draw conclusions that are in danger of biasing the judicial assessment."

The ministry said that the legal content of the Ombudsman's report will be evaluated by the appropriate disciplinary and judicial bodies, according to the law, and their decisions will be "absolutely respected by the government".

The announcement was issued in response to a report issued by the Ombudsman after the independent authority decided to conduct its own investigation, in November 2023, in its capacity as the National Mechanism for Investigating Incidents of Abuse of Authority. This followed the refusal by the Coast Guard to conduct an internal disciplinary investigation requested by the Ombudsman in June 2023, after the tragic Pylos shipwreck.

After collecting roughly 5,000 pages of evidence, the Ombudsman drafted a 148-page report with a detailed analysis of the events surrounding the Pylos shipwreck, the actions and omissions of the Coast Guard officers involved relative to the legal framework for the Joint Search and Rescue Coordination Centre and particularly the international treaty on Search and Rescue, following a notification from the Italian centre about the existence of an overloaded fishing vessel with 750 people on board on June 13.

The report notes that this notification is confirmed by FRONTEX and tracks the events until the sinking of the boat 15 hours later, the rescue of 104 survivors and the recovery of 82 bodies. It finds clear indications that eight senior coast guard officers were aware of and overlooked the risk to the lives of those on the fishing boat Adriana, and should be investigated for exposing them to deadly danger. Its findings were forwarded to the maritime policy ministry so that it might conduct disciplinary action and to the Piraeus naval court prosecutor for evaluation of any possible criminal offences.

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