What?

A trust fund, the 'Planespotters Legal Fund' has been set up in order to raise money to assist the planespotters in meeting
the legal costs of their fight for justice in the Greek courts.

How?

Donations to the fund can be accepted in both sterling and euro cheques, payable to the 'Planespotters Legal Fund' and
sent to this address:-

Planespotters Legal Fund c/o Fawley Judge and Easton, 1 Parliament Street, HULL. HU1 2AS. Sort code: 20-43-47   Account number: 50522325

Why?

At Christmas 2001 the legal costs stood at £3,000 each. At this stage the group looked to meet these costs through their own resources, assisted by friends and family. However, with legal bills now reaching £100,000 up to last month's trial and with an appeal hearing to come, the group have been left with no alternative but to ask for help from the general public, whose strong support for the group has been evident from the start. The purpose of the fund is to raise money to cover the group's legal costs only. No money donated will be applied to any expenses incurred by the planespotters other than specific legal costs (lawyers'
fees and court costs). In the event of the 'Planespotters Legal Fund' exceeding the group's legal costs, the surplus will be applied
to related causes such as the registered charity Fair Trials Abroad so that it may be applied to the benefit of others who become victims of injustice overseas.

Background

The planespotters were arrested at the Greek Air Force open day at Kalamata on 8th November 2001 and falsely accused of
taking photographs. Touchdown Tours had made successful trips to Greece in 1998 and 2000 and the Greek authorities had
received full details of those participating in the ill-fated 2001 trip. All were charged with espionage and spent 37 days behind
bars until a judicial council downgraded charges to 'gathering secret information' and allowed their release on bail. The group
have always maintained their innocence of all charges and point out that full details of Greek military aviation, including aircraft
serial numbers, can be found in a wide variety of public sources. Despite the evidence produced in their defence by a number of expert witnesses, 8 of the planespotters were convicted of espionage on 26th April and the remaining 6 convicted of aiding and abetting, receiving sentences of 3 years custodial and 1 year suspended respectively. All the group are at present free pending
an appeal (those with a custodial sentence on bail of £9,000). In addition to bail, legal fees for the group have reached £100,000