By Charlie Charalambous
A DRAMATIC prosecution U-turn could see two Israeli suspects walk free after spying charges were unexpectedly dropped yesterday.
Later, Attorney-general Alecos Markides held a press conference to defend the decision, denying that it had been taken under political pressure from Israel.
“I believe under the circumstances that our side moved correctly and it was done in the public interest,” Markides said.
Markides said the prosecution felt the court was now more likely to impose a prison term on the two remaining charges, because the defence had failed to back its version of events with hard evidence.
The Attorney-general added that another reason for watering down the charges had been to prevent military secrets being aired in court before the suspects and their Israeli lawyers.
“They would have had access to classified information in the presence of foreign lawyers who were co-operating with the defence,” Markides said yesterday from his office.
Following behind-the-scenes plea bargaining, the prosecution yesterday withdrew more serious charges of spying against Cyprus and its military facilities, and of conspiracy to commit espionage.
In return, the accused Israelis, Udi Hargov, 37, and Igal Damary, 49, pleaded guilty to lesser charges relating to possession of illegal listening devices (three scanners) and “approaching a prohibited area”.
Approaching a prohibited area was a new charge, which replaced the one of spying and passing on information to a third country.
Under state security laws, approaching a prohibited area carries a six-year jail term, while spying carries a 10-year maximum prison term.
“It’s not as serious as the original charge, but still serious enough to carry a sentence of six years,” said Markides, describing the compromise achieved as “a satisfactory result”.
Once Hargov and Damary – both smartly dressed in jacket and tie – had pleaded guilty to the revised charges yesterday, defence lawyer Andis Triantafyllides entered a plea for mitigation.
During the 45-minute court hearing, Triantafyllides argued that Hargov and Damary were not collecting information against Cyprus, but were members of a crack anti-terrorist unit trying to prevent attacks against Israel.
“They are members of an élite anti-terrorist squad who brought with them three scanners as part of an operation to obstruct terrorism against Israel and the murder of innocent civilians,” Triantafyllides told the court.
He explained that the Israelis’ specific job was to act as electronic lookouts for a covert meeting of informants who had gathered intelligence against international terrorists.
“The accused came to Cyprus for one reason only: to take part in a meeting between foreigners at Zygi, who had information on possible plans of international terrorist organisations against Israel.”
Triantafyllides said the scanners were used to track Cyprus police movements in case they uncovered the meeting.
The Israeli government had repeatedly told the Cyprus authorities about the mission, and the Cypriot intelligence service (KYP) had not dismissed this version of events, the defence lawyer told the court.
“The prosecution has no evidence to show my clients collected information or transmitted information against the Cyprus Republic.”
Prosecutor George Papaioannou said there was no evidence to back up the defence version of why the Israelis were in Cyprus.
“That KYP do not deny this version of events may be the case, but as a representative of the Attorney-general’s office I cannot accept that this be considered as a mitigating circumstance.”
When reading out the facts of the case, Papaioannou said the Israelis had been spotted near a secret military site during very sensitive army operations.
“On the night of November 6, 1998 there was a serious military operation in the Zygi area which the National Guard classified as highly secret,” said Papaioannou.
“At Vassiliko port there was unloading of sophisticated military equipment. The details of these movements were only known by high ranking National Guard officers.”
Israel’s Attorney-general Elyakim Rubenstein has visited Cyprus on at least two occasions (December 1998 and January 1999) since the arrest of Hargov and Damary at a holiday flat in Zygi on November 7.
Markides yesterday denied that the two meetings he had with Rubenstein – at a Nicosia restaurant and in his office library – had been secret.
But he did confirm that Rubenstein had mediated on behalf of the accused, claiming that they were tracking terrorists on the island.
“The official Israeli position is that mistakes were made in not getting our permission first. The Israeli Attorney-general admitted this to me personally,” said Markides.
Hargov and Damary will remain in custody until they appear in court for sentencing on Monday.
