Greek legal system in dock over 11-year sentence for truck driver

Date: 22/05/03

By Martin Banks

THE case of a UK truck driver, who was sentenced to 11 years in jail by a Greek court after illegal immigrants were found in the back of his lorry, raises serious questions about the Greek legal system, his MEP claims.

Haulage company owner David Wilson has been granted a bail hearing tomorrow (23 May) after lobbying by Socialist deputy Richard Corbett and campaign group Fair Trials Abroad.

Wilson, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, was jailed and fined €60,000 a little over a month ago after being found guilty under Greece's 'fast-track' legal system. He was on his way back to Britain after making a delivery when he was stopped by customs officers in the port of Patras. They found 19 Iraqi Kurds in the back of his vehicle.

Wilson was given a Greek lawyer, who did not speak English, and an 'interpreter' who turned out to be a local shopkeeper. He maintains that he had no knowledge of his human cargo and claims they must have climbed into the back of the wagon when he was taking a sleep break.

At tomorrow's hearing, Wilson will be represented by an Athens-based British lawyer and hopes to be granted bail pending an appeal.

Corbett said: "I am very concerned about Wilson and the way he's been treated by the Greek authorities. The British Embassy in Athens was not informed of his arrest until after his trial and so it was too late for them to support him and provide one of their lawyers."

The MEP believes that the Greeks have breached the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that anyone charged with a criminal offence has the right "to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence".

Corbett, a constitutional expert, says this case, along with the 2001 trial of the UK and Dutch plane-spotters who were jailed for alleged spying in Greece, raises serious questions about the country's legal system.

"Judicial cooperation in Europe is proceeding on the basis of mutual recognition of judgements. This will only work if there is a general feeling of confidence in each other's legal systems," he added.

The 11 year sentence imposed on a UK truck driver by a Greek court after illegal immigrants were found in the back of his lorry has raised questions about the Greek legal system, according to the trucker's local MEP, Richard Corbett.