Six spy-case Britons should be acquitted, says prosecutor

Six Britons found guilty of aiding and abetting a group of planespotters convicted of spying in Greece should be acquitted, the public prosecutor told an appeal hearing today.

But he said convictions should stand for the other six Britons, who were previously convicted of the more serious charge of espionage.

Defence speeches were set to begin before the panel of judges retire to consider their verdicts.

If they accept the prosecutor’s recommendation, then Michael Bursell, Lesley Coppin, Wayne Groves, Steve Rush, Christopher Wilson and Michael Keane would be acquitted.

The public prosecutor, Nick Pantelis, said the planespotters were not spies in the style of James Bond.

“I’m not saying that these people are like spies as described by Ian Fleming, or like Mata Hari,” he told the two-day appeal in Kalamata, southern Greece.

“What you have in front of you are ordinary people who have got involved with the Greek justice system in the context of this planespotting.

“But unfortunately for them, someone who is planespotting can be described as breaking the law of Greece.”

He continued: “Whoever tries or has the intention to obtain material defined under our law as classified should be sentenced to at least a year.”

It was not clear if that was his formal recommendation.

He said the officers who had arrested the group could be described as “over-zealous” but said accusations that the appeal was a “witch hunt” were not true.

The spotters had endangered national security by collecting the serial numbers of planes, he said, adding that two reports by the Greek security services agreed that the information was classified.

The spotters had argued that they could not be expected to know that writing down the numbers was illegal, as there were signs at the air bases banning photography but none forbidding writing.

Mr Pantelis said the other defence argument, that the information was available on the Internet and in books, was flawed because the spotters contributed to such publications.

“Such an argument reminds me of the man who has killed his father but asks for leniency because he has lost his father,” he told the court.

Even those who were guilty of aiding and abetting had encouraged the others, he claimed.

“They encouraged the others to continue their activities but I cannot suggest these people come back again and I am asking for their acquittal.”

Defence lawyer Yannis Zacharias said he supported the public prosecutor's recommendation that the six found guilty of aiding and abetting should be acquitted.

But he also called on the court to acquit the others, saying they were “ordinary, working class people” who are simply obsessed by their hobby.

The case was adjourned until 6.15pm (4.15pm Irish time) when two more defence lawyers will speak before the judges retire to consider their verdicts.