Greek Court Sentences Vigilantes for Holding Migrants in Trailer

A Greek court has sentenced three men to five years in prison for illegally detaining 13 migrants, suspecting them of involvement in a deadly fire. The court ruled the motives were not racist, generating criticism for undermining the severity of such attacks.

A Greek court has sentenced three men to five years in prison for holding 13 migrants in a trailer, suspecting them of involvement in a 2023 deadly fire, legal sources reported. The men acted on their own amid heightened anti-immigrant sentiment following the Evros fire, Europe's deadliest of the year, which claimed at least 20 lives, mostly migrants. The Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN) highlighted that such attacks by civilian militias were not uncommon in the region.

Despite the initial arson accusations against the migrants being dropped due to insufficient evidence, the court ruled this week that the three men did not act out of racial motives, a decision criticized by the migrants' lawyers as undermining the severity of such incidents. The court downgraded the prior kidnapping charges to illegal detention.

The men were arrested in August 2023 after a video surfaced showing the migrants confined in a trailer. Their lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, argued that the men held the migrants to hand them over to police, but the court's custodial sentence suggests otherwise. Critics fear this case is a microcosm of broader, underreported racist crimes in Greece.

(With inputs from agencies.)