ATHENS — Six Afghani nationals were remanded in custody on Monday by order of a Lesvos prosecutor, who had been arrested on charges of arson and participation in a criminal group, for the fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp earlier in September.

Four of the six Afghanis are aged 19 and two are 17.

The defendants denied the charges against them and claimed that they fell victim to the testimony of a compatriot from the Pashtun tribe, who lived at the Moria camp, and who they said had reason to present them as arsonists because they belong to the ethnic group of Hazara, which they said is persecuted by the ethnic group of the Pashtun.