Aid workers face trial in Greece for spying after refugee rescues

Sean Binder holds a placard during a demonstration by Amnesty International activists in solidarity with Sean Binder and Sarah Mardini, aid workers on trial over refugee rescues, outside the parliament building, in Athens, Greece, November 15, 2021. REUTERS/Louiza Vradi

ATHENS (Reuters) - Dozens of aid workers involved in refugee rescues, including a Syrian refugee, go on trial in Greece this week on charges of spying and disclosing state secrets, in a case rights groups have decried as "farcical" and "politically motivated".

Twenty-four people affiliated with the Emergency Response Center International (ERCI), a nonprofit search-and-rescue group that operated on Lesbos from 2016 to 2018, face up to eight years in prison when the trial begins on Thursday.