On May 21, nine men stood in a courtroom in Kalamata Greece, charged with criminal responsibility for the deaths of over six hundred people in the shipwreck of the Adriana off the coast of Pylos last summer. Almost a year before, the nine men had been taken directly from the waters of the Mediterranean to a police interrogation — and then to prison. They were held for eleven months in pretrial detention. Several told the court they were bewildered as to why they were there.

“I don’t know why I am imprisoned,” said one of the defendants on the stand. “I want my justice, to see my family, and to be acquitted. A relative of mine who was on the ship died. I would have liked [to travel in] better conditions, but this was the only way to go to another country.”