Two men arrested last year on the island of Rhodes were found guilty of espionage against Greece, the online edition of the Athens newspaper Kathimerini reported.
They are Sebahatin Bayram, 36, a secretary who worked at the Turkish Consulate General on the island of Rhodes, and Mehmet Nezametin, 53, a cook on a passenger ship serving the Rhodes-Kastelorizo route. Both are from Thrace, Northeastern Greece.
Bayram was sentenced to five years behind bars, and Nezametin was sentenced to four years in prison.
The cook was accused of providing Nezametin with information about the positions of Greek warships and the number of Greek soldiers traveling to and from the remote island of Kastelorizo on the ship he worked on, informing him repeatedly.
The two were acquitted on other charges of aiding and abetting a state secret.
The decision was immediately condemned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. "All principles of law, including international law and private international law, have been violated," the ministry said in a statement.
"Even the right to defense was violated due to procedural violations of the court. The prosecutor and the panel of judges acted biased, "the statement said.
The ministry said that "all necessary steps in Greek domestic law and international law will continue to be taken in order to protect the rights of our employees."
No comments:
Post a Comment