Vigilantes who ‘arrested’ migrants are remanded

Three men who took the law into their own hands last week in Evros, northeastern Greece, by locking up in a trailer 13 migrants whom they accused of arson were temporarily remanded on Friday after a decision by the Judicial Council of Alexandroupoli. 

They had initially been placed under house arrest last week due to a disagreement between the investigative magistrate handling the case and the prosecutor. However, the three-member judicial council, which met on Friday, ruled they should be placed in custody.

The 13 have been released without restrictions on the charge of attempted arson that had been attributed to them.

A statement by the defense lawyers of eight of the migrants, Syrian nationals, said that the decision to remand the three men “represents for our clients a very important development in their journey toward full exoneration from all charges and recognition as victims of racist violence.”