CNN
,
A Greek court dropped espionage charges against a group of aid workers rescuing migrants from the sea, a move praised by rights groups and lawmakers.
Rape charges against Irish-German national Sean Binder and 23 other humanitarian activists were set aside by a court on the island of Lesbos on Friday, although felony charges remain pending against the group.
Outside court, Binder’s lawyer Zacharias Casas said a court in the island’s capital, Mytilene, had stayed the prosecution of some of the rape allegations because of “procedural irregularities” in the investigation.
“He held that there are certain procedural irregularities which make it impossible for the court to proceed on the substance of the charge, therefore in respect of the misdemeanors, one can say that the charges have been dropped,” the case said.
“But we can’t feel happy about this because they actually realized what we were shouting about for the last four years, so there are still many things to be done to get to the final stage, which is still ongoing hooliganism.” and the investigation is still in process.”
An Amnesty International statement said Friday that the Lesbos court “sent the indictment back to the prosecutor due to procedural deficiencies, including failure to translate the indictment.”
Binder and Syrian refugee Sara Mardini were arrested in 2018 after participating in several search and rescue operations with the non-profit organization Emergency Response Center International near Lesbos, an island in the Aegean Sea.
According to a statement by the United Nations Human Rights Office, the group faced four charges classified as “crimes” by the Greek judicial authorities: espionage, disclosure of state secrets, illegal use of radio frequencies and counterfeiting.
The court’s move was welcomed by rights groups and politicians.
EU lawmakers said it was “a step towards justice”.
Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, welcomed the court’s recommendation to drop some of the charges, but reiterated the UN’s call to “drop all charges against all defendants”.
Binder’s elected representative, MEP Grace O’Sullivan, called the prosecution “essentially full of holes” in a video posted on Twitter.
“Good news out of Greece. We just heard that the charges against Sean Binder and other search and rescue humanitarian workers have been dropped,” she said.
Amnesty International said in a statement that while the rape charges were dropped on Friday, the felony charges against the humanitarian workers are pending investigation.
According to a European Parliament report published in June 2021, the aid worker faces charges of aiding a smuggling network, being a member of a criminal organization and money laundering – they could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted .
Referring to the pending felony charges, O’Sullivan said while he did not know how long it would take, “Today is really a step in the right direction. One step towards justice.”
“What we want is justice. We want a hearing on this and seeing what happened today, it does not seem that it will happen soon.
“At the same time, we’ve been very fortunate to have so much support internationally, everywhere, and I think that this court’s prosecutors have been forced to at least recognize mistakes and at least to some extent There has been less injustice.”