The story so far: Mike Wood, a former yachting resident of Palma was arrested and accused of smuggling 72 illegal immigrants into Greece from Turkey. Within 3 days of his arrest he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years and a fine of more than 400,000 euros.
Because of the summer recess of the judicial system in Greece, his appeal has yet to be scheduled.
I have contacted Mike´s Member of Parliament and she has assured me that she has written to the Foreign secretary, Jack Straw
Mike has written a second letter to us (first letter published in the Sept issue denying his guilt).These are extracts from a second letter dated 23rd. September.
In his second letter he complains of his treatment by the British Embassy:
"Sorry it has taken me so long to reply but the British Embassy plus the Foreign Office managed to screw up a money transfer from my brother in the UK leaving me without stamps and phone card etc. He sent it on the 16th August and between them it took one month to get to me".
He has also been sent a letter from a voluntary organisation called ´Fair Trials Abroad´; this is his comment:
"I received a letter from Fair Trials Abroad which suggests the Foreign Office has taken the opinion that my trial was fair and, in their view, a fait accompli."
I have subsequently contacted Fair Trials Abroad and sent them Mike´s original letter to me which spells out his side of the story. I received this reply from Fair Trials Abroad:
"Thank you for sending me Mike´s letter. I now have a much clearer picture of what happened. I had already written to Mike´s lawyer but did not receive a response".
Those of you who have read the article in the September issue will remember that Mike had been transferred to a hospital for treatment on his damaged arm, a result of ´manhandling´ by the police. He has this comment:
"About the hospital. When I was admitted one thing was immediately clear, I was not going to get any treatment, which was proven to be true. I was taken to a local emergency room on the first day when we battled our way to the relevant department only to be informed that this was the wrong hospital and to make an appointment elsewhere. This we did by telephone and that was the last I heard of it. I stayed one week and then was shipped back to the prison here untreated and uninformed about anything that could be done".
In Mike´s first letter he related that he had found out that ´his´ lawyer was ´in the pocket´ of Yannis, the organiser of the smuggling (who remains at large).
"Since having the luxury of a phone card I have called my lawyer to find out exactly where she stands vis a vis her connection to Yannis. She has told me that in previous cases she has indeed represented the captains employed by Yannis but, as I was not on his payroll, her representation of me was independent of him. I have very little choice but to believe her as my options are closed as far as other council is concerned. A date for my re-trail should be in October but she has told me that my release is dependent upon ´paying off´ a lighter sentence to the tune of 3000 euros. I asked her to explain this and it seems that no matter how much evidence I can give towards proving my innocence, of which I have almost none, they are going to remain with a guilty verdict, but on a lesser penalty. This is how the court system works here I´m afraid; no money, no honey. So I´m stuck with very little time to raise a lot of cash. I have spoken to my family who I hope can do something, but they are not rich, nor am I. If not, then I will have to do my time and write a book or something. We´ll see."
Mike also mentions that he has asked his brother to contact me but says:
"I gave him the green light to get in touch with you but he´s off on holiday to the USA and will be away for a couple of weeks."
"I think my family are a little shell-shocked at the moment and are trying to help through all the normal channels but Greece is not normal and sometimes downright bizarre. I only hope that I can get some sense out of this whole situation in the end and right now it is a matter of trusting all to people that I don´t really know (lawyer) and the others who seem to be indifferent at best (the Embassy). The Embassy have not visited me in two months and say that my prison, which is one hour drive away, is too far to come. Considering that it takes more than that to commute in Athens than I´m afraid that it´s a weak argument."
Mike still retains a sense of humour:
"I think I should save some room here for the plane-spotters whose case is still pending. It seems that the general opinion amongst the inmates and the guards alike is that they are spies working either for the Turks or the CIA/ Mossad. They truly cannot understand why anyone should want to jot own the serial numbers of aircraft for fun on holiday."
Mike remembers his time here in Palma:
"I would be interested as to what is happening with Phil at Bermudas bar and especially John and Mary (ex. Scallywags). If you see them say hi and yes, one day I will come back and pay off that bloody bar tab!"
If anyone wishes to communicate with Mike his address is:
K.F Halkida, T.K. 34100, Halkida, Greece.