Council of Europe calls for effective investigation of Pylos shipwreck; minister responds

Greece has a legal obligation to conduct effective investigations into the Pylos shipwreck, which resulted in the deaths of more than 80 people with many hundreds still missing, Europe’s top human rights watchdog has said.

In a letter dated July 19 to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic said the authorities need to establish the facts and, where appropriate, to lead to the punishment of those responsible.

“The Commissioner expresses concern about reports of pressure having been exercised on survivors and about allegations of irregularities in the collection of evidence and testimonies, which may have led to a minimization of the focus on certain actors in this tragedy, including the Greek Coast Guard,” a Council of Europe statement said.

“Expressing concerns at restrictions on survivors’ freedom of movement and the way asylum interviews have been conducted,” the commissioner also requested information on the measures that Greece has taken to abide by its human rights obligations regarding reception conditions and access to the asylum procedure.

“In my view, the shipwreck of June 14 is unfortunately not an isolated incident,” the commissioner said, adding that this should prompt a reconsideration of the approach to refugees and migrants arriving by sea at the political, policy and practical level.

In a reply dated July 26, Migration and Asylum Minister Dimitris Kairidis said the tragedy was a reminder that “desperate people undertake perilous journeys of irregular migration, falling victim to criminal smuggling syndicates that overload unseaworthy vessels on shores beyond the reach of law enforcement.”

He said that the Pylos shipwreck “has fed a frenzy of criticism, which, in many cases, is politically motivated by advocates of an ‘open border’ agenda, preaching that all such tragedies can be averted by increasing Search and Rescue (SAR) capacity,” which he added was “not true.”

The root cause of the problem must be addressed, including the increase of legal pathways, he said.

Kairidis spoke of the Coast Guard’s priority of saving lives at risk, noting that 245,000 migrants were rescued between 2015 and 2023 in over 1,800 SAR operations. In addition, he underlined, the shipwreck survivors were processed by fast-track methods at the Malakasa reception center, while the Greek Dublin Unit “initiated processing family reunification requests, sending them to the authorities of the concerned EU member states,” which are still pending.

“As a free society, we have the greatest respect for the role of the press and take constructive criticism very seriously. Therefore, an independent judicial investigation has been launched, the results of which are currently pending,” the minister said.

“Furthermore, the Naval Court Prosecutor has been instructed by the Supreme Court Prosecutor to investigate the conduct of the Coast Guard during the said SAR operation,” he added.