Nine men accused of people smuggling and operating the trawler that sank off the southern coast of Greece last week, killing 78 and leaving hundreds missing, pleaded not guilty on Monday to the charges at a court in Kalamata in southern Greece.
The men – all Egyptian and aged between 20 and 40 – were remanded in custody at the Messinia Police Directorate and will appear in court on Tuesday morning.
The court panel kept the hearing brief in order to give lawyers representing the accused more time to review the testimonies of nine Syrian and Pakistani survivors.
Relatives of the passengers who had been on board gathered outside the courthouse, shouting the names of their loved ones, Greek media reported.
Estimates have put the number of people packed onto the dilapidated fishing trawler at around 700-750.
On Monday, the Greek Coast Guard has said it had rescued 104 migrants – mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Pakistan – after the boat sank about 80 kilometres off the southern town of Pylos on Wednesday.
It had set out from Egypt and sailed to Tobruk in Libya before heading towards Italy.
After it emerged that dozens of Pakistanis were on board, the country's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced Monday as a day of mourning, with the national flag flying at half staff.
Criticism
Greek authorities have come under fire for their failure to act faster. They say the migrants insisted they diid not need any help, but non-governmental organisations say they received a number of calls for help.
French interior minister Gérald Darmanin and his German counterpart Nancy Faeser travelled to Tunisia on Sunday night for talks on regulating migration and measures to try to prevent deaths on dangerous routes across the Mediterranean.
Tunisia, which neighbours Libya, is a major north African stepping stone for people trying to reach Europe.
Faeser said about her trip with Darmanin: “We want to create legal migration routes in order to remove the basis for the inhumane business of smugglers.
"We want the human rights of refugees to be protected and the terrible deaths on the Mediterranean to stop."
