Turkish consulate worker, ship cook unanimously found guilty of spying in Rhodes

The two Greek Muslims, one a General Secretary of the Turkish Consulate in Rhodes, who were arrested last December were unanimously found guilty of espionage by the Mixed Jury Court of Rhodes on Wednesday afternoon.

The two Greek Muslims from Thrace are the 36-year-old General Secretary of the Turkish Consulate in Rhodes and the 53-year-old ship cook, who are accused of three crimes:

- Supporting enemy combat forces,
- Violation of state secrets, and
- Espionage (to a degree of felony) with the purpose to transfer state secrets to another for the purpose of endangering the interests of the state.

The court, by unanimous decision, found them guilty only of the espionage charge and acquitted them of the other two offenses against them.

Defence attorneys asked for mitigating circumstances of their subsequent good behavior to be recognised, while the prosecutor asked for the mitigation of their previous legal life to be recognised only for the 53-year-old cook and not the Turkish consulate worker.

Eventually, the court recognised the mitigation of the previous legal life of both defendants and imposed 5 years of imprisonment for the secretary of the Turkish consulate and 4 years of imprisonment for the cook.

As it is known, the investigation of the case had taken place on December 11, 2020.

The two men had been "locked" in the sights of the police and had been discreetly monitored since the end of the summer 2020.

According to the referral committee of the Council of Criminal Procedure of Rhodes, the two Greek Muslims are said to have committed the crimes attributed to them from August to November 2020.

READ MORE: Muslims of Rhodes: We are Greek, Turkey and their political games do not represent us.