Euro-MP congratulates planespotters

12.00.00am GMT Thu 7th Nov 2002

A West Midlands Euro-MP is congratulating the 11 British planespotters who yesterday were cleared on appeal of the spying charges they were convicted of in April. Since his arrest last year, Liz Lynne MEP has campaigned on behalf of her constituent Wayne Groves, a Tamworth resident who was given a one-year suspended sentence for "aiding and abetting" espionage. She has asked the European Council of Ministers to look into the case on his behalf, called for the European Parliament to pass an Urgency Resolution on the issue and has raised his case with the President of the European Parliament several times in plenary. Commenting on the decision of the appeal court to quash the charges, Liz commented: "Justice has been seen to have been served, and the planespotters are to be congratulated for pressing ahead, despite the Greek court's unfair 'double or quits' system of appeal. "But the fact remains, this case should never have been brought in the first place. It is laughable to suggest that numbers painted on the sides of aeroplanes in foot high letters and available for all to see in military base open days counts as classified information. Clearly national security is an important concern, but it is trivialised and undermined when such cases are brought under the public gaze. "The Greek government needs to review its security protocols and come up with clear guidelines to prevent such anomalies from occurring in the future." "Meanwhile, the planespotters have spent a great deal of time and money fighting this case and the Greek authorities should reconsider their refusal to grant them leave to apply for compensation."