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British, Dutch Plane-Spotters Charged In Greece With Spying
KALAMATA,
Greece, April 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Greek court
found a group of British and Dutch "plane-spotters" guilty
of espionage Friday, handing them sentences of between one and three
years for snooping on Greek military bases.
In a case which has strained relations between Britain and Greece, the
Judge sentenced six of Britons and their two Dutch friends to three
years in jail for espionage, but did not order them behind bars
pending an immediate appeal lodged by their lawyers.
The remaining six Britons were sentenced for complicity to the crime,
and were each handed one-year suspended sentences in the court in the
southern Greek town of Kalamata.
The British government released a statement saying Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw "has always made clear he feels the response to this
case has been disproportionate".
It said Straw was relieved the defendants would return home on
Saturday. "British embassy officials were present at the trial
and are giving all the support and advice they can to the
plane-spotters and their families."
Their defense lawyer said he was not satisfied with the verdicts. "I
expected the court to recognize that these people were just following
their hobby. I still think that the sentence will be reduced on
appeal." Lawyers acting for the group immediately filed an
appeal, allowing the group to be released pending a further hearing.
The
issue has clouded relations between Athens and London, with Britain
threatening to take diplomatic steps against Greece when the 14 were
arrested on spy charges last November and held for over a month.
At the time, they insisted they were simply aviation enthusiasts who
make a hobby out of collecting aircraft identification numbers and
photographs.
The pastime is popular in Britain, but virtually unheard of in Greece. They
had also based their defense on the assertion that the information
they had gathered was already in the public domain.
The verdict came as a shock to the group and their lawyers, who had
earlier expressed confidence that they would be acquitted.
The defendants had faced up to five years in jail, and the prosecutor
had argued they serve the full terms and feel the full brunt of the
law.
"There is no doubt that
these eight people used illegal means to note down the serial numbers
and types of aircraft at military bases to which the public does not
have access," he told the court.
The
group was arrested at the air show in Kalamata, southern Greece, last
November. They denied the espionage charges, which carry a maximum
penalty of five years in jail or a hefty fine.
They
were at the show on the invitation of the Greek authority. They
claimed any information they collected was already freely available.
However, they were charged with taking pictures in a military zone.
The
felony charge of spying carries a 20-year sentence, but this was later
downgraded to misdemeanor charges
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