Greek court rejects charges against aid workers

A Greek court dismissed espionage charges on Friday against a group of humanitarian workers on trial in Greece and ordered a prosecutor to refile the case, citing flaws in the litigation process, a defense lawyer and local media said.
The aid workers, some of them foreigners and including a Syrian refugee, were affiliated with Emergency Response Centre International, a nonprofit search-and-rescue group operating on Lesbos from 2016 to 2018. The island was then on the frontline of Europe’s refugee crisis, with scores of asylum seekers
arriving daily on its shores, mainly from neighboring Turkey.
Greek authorities have been criticized by humanitarian organizations for going to great lengths, including such legal action, to deter volunteers from helping asylum seekers at land and sea borders.
The defendants have denied the misdemeanor charges against them, which include espionage and forgery.