A Greek court has jailed two Afghan youths for five years for starting a fire that burnt down Europe’s largest migrant camp last year on the island of Lesbos, lawyers said on Wednesday.
The Lesbos court handed down the sentences late on Tuesday after a six-hour session, the local bar association told AFP.
Two consecutive fires in September destroyed the Moria camp on Lesbos, where migrants had been held in squalid conditions for years.
For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Nearly 13,000 people including families with young children, pregnant women and older people were left sleeping on roadsides for days until another tent camp could be erected.
The two Afghans were 17 years old at the time of their arrest, said Legal Centre Lesvos, a civil organization that offers legal support to asylum seekers and represented them at the trial.
The group said there had been a “lack of credible evidence” presented and that it would work to overturn the verdict on appeal.
“While we are disappointed with today’s result, things could have been much worse for the two young men,” the group said in a statement.
“The arson conviction alone could have carried a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.”
A migrant sits in the destroyed Moria camp on the Greek Island of Lesbos, as a few families decided to stay in the gutted camp, because they have nowhere to go on September 12, 2020. (AFP)
Four other youths detained in connection to the incident still await trial.
Fires have regularly broken out in Greek migrant camps and squats, usually by accident but occasionally set by residents in protest at living conditions and the rejection of their asylum claims.
Early on Wednesday, the bodies of three Algerian men were found in an abandoned building in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
They are believed to have died from smoke inhalation after lighting a fire to warm themselves, local authorities said.
Read more:
Greek PM Mitsotakis promises permanent migrant center after fire on Lesbos
Germany plans to take in around 1,500 migrants from Greek Islands
About 9,000 migrants on Greece’s Lesbos move into tent camp after massive fire
Also Read
-
Greece to move hundreds of migrants to mainland from camp on Lesbos
Greece will move hundreds of migrants from a camp on the island of Lesbos to mainland facilities on Sunday as part of efforts to ease overcrowding ... Coronavirus -
Pope visits refugees in Lesbos
Pope Francis took three families of Syrian refugees back to Rome after visiting the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis at a camp in Greece where ... Features -
Three migrants found dead after Greece building fire
Greece’s fire department says three migrants have been found dead following a fire in an abandoned building in the center of the northern Greek city ... World News -
Greece calls on EU to ensure Turkey takes back over 1,000 migrants
Greece called Thursday on European Union authorities to better enforce a landmark 2016 migrant deal and ensure that Turkey take back nearly 1,500 ... World News
