Mediterranean migrant boat disaster: men on trial are ‘scapegoats’, say lawyers

Survivors of shipwreck that killed 600 people not ‘real smugglers’, say defenders, with inquiry into coastguard’s role also incomplete

Nine men accused of causing one of the deadliest shipwrecks to have taken place in the Mediterranean are “scapegoats” who should never have been prosecuted, defence lawyers have said, before their long-awaited trial in Greece.

The Egyptian suspects, who have been held in pre-trial detention since the 14 June disaster last year, will appear in court in the southern city of Kalamata on Tuesday.