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A Greek court dismisses allegations against aid workers.

A defence attorney and local media reported that a Greek court on Friday dismissed espionage charges against a group of humanitarian workers who were on trial in Greece and ordered a prosecutor to refile the case, citing flaws in the legal system.

 

The volunteers, some of whom were foreigners, worked for Emergency Response Centre International, a nonprofit search and rescue organisation that operated on Lesbos from 2016 to 2018. One of the volunteers was a Syrian refugee. The island was then at the epicentre of Europe’s refugee crisis, with hundreds of people seeking asylum every day, mostly from Turkey’s neighbour.

 

Humanitarian organisations have criticised the Greek government for taking extreme measures, including legal action, to dissuade volunteers from assisting asylum seekers at land and sea borders.

 

The misdemeanour charges against the defendants, which include forgery and espionage, have been refuted.

 

The espionage charges were found to be vague and the prosecution’s documents to not have been translated for the foreign defendants, the lawyer claimed. The court upheld the defendants’ objections in the hearing on Lesbos on Friday.

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