A court on Crete has convicted an Azeri man arrested on the island last year of espionage and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment, state ERT television reported Wednesday.
The 26-year-old defendant was arrested in June 2025 on suspicion of photographing the strategic naval base that hosts US operations at Souda Bay. Authorities found some 5,000 deleted images in his possession.
He arrived in Greece from Poland in January 2025, and surfaced in June in Crete, when he rented a room in a Hania hotel offering panoramic views of Souda Bay.
ERT said he was sentenced Tuesday to seven years and one month in prison.
Several people have been accused of espionage over the past year for allegedly taking photos of military assets in Souda Bay, including a Georgian and a Polish national arrested in March.
