Greek coastguards found guilty of beating Kurdish migrants

ATHENS, Oct 16 (AFP) - Five Greek coastguards have been given suspended jail sentences after being found guilty of beating illegal immigrants in their custody, judicial sources said on Saturday.
The incidents, which took place in June 2001, involved about 20 would-be Kurdish immigrants who were being held in a police station in Khania on the southern Greek island of Crete.
The maritime military court on Crete sentenced the five coastguards to suspended sentences of between one and two-and-a-half years. Another coastguard was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Greek maritime authorities had intercepted a total of 164 Iranian Kurds in May 2001 travelling in a small vessel off the coast of the island of Kithira, north of Crete.
The boat had come from Turkey and was on its way to Italy when the Greek coastguards stopped it.