UK planespotters' Greek trial to open

Paul Coppin organised the trip and is one of the accused

ATHENS, Greece -- The trial is scheduled to start this week of a group of British aircraft enthusiasts accused of spying by Greece.

The 12-strong group, who were arrested in November last year and held in prison for almost six weeks, said they were confident they could clear their names of the allegations.

They have always denied that they took any photographs in restricted areas and say they only wrote down numbers from planes because of their interest in plane spotting.

Lawyers have had to try to explain the hobby to Greek authorities as it is not a widely-recognised hobby in the country.

The 11 men and one woman, who were arrested along with two Dutch men in their group, admit they were at the air base in Kalamata, southern Greece, where they were arrested but insist they are plane spotters and not spies.

They were due to arrive in Athens on Monday ahead of the scheduled start of the trial on Wednesday.

They were originally charged with gathering information to pass on to an enemy of Greece, which carried a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.

But that was reduced to a single "misdemeanour" charge of espionage, which has a maximum penalty of five years, or a hefty fine. (Full story)

Fax 'evidence'

Their defence will claim that the secret information they were accused of gathering is freely available in books and on the Internet.

Defence lawyer Yannis Zacharias said he hoped to get the charges dropped completely and would be calling expert witnesses from the air force and other areas.

"We have to explain their intentions, that is the important part," Zacharias told Reuters.

"I think we don't have a case that is black and white, this is not a case which is simple and straightforward."

Photographing military installations is strictly forbidden in Greece, which shares borders with former Iron Curtain countries and long-time rival Turkey, with which it nearly went to war as recently as 1996.

The trip was organised by Paul Coppin, one of the accused, who runs Touchdown Tours, based in Suffolk, east England.

He has run many such trips and was said to have a fax from the Greek air force saying they would be allowed to visit airfields. The base in Kalamata was having an open day.

Speaking earlier this month, his wife Lesley Coppin, who was the sole woman in the group, said: "We want the evidence to be heard, that is all we need, if people look at the evidence they will have to acquit us."