An Azerbaijani man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison by a Greek court after being found guilty of espionage for monitoring the strategically important Souda naval base in Crete, according to legal sources.
The 27-year-old, who denies any wrongdoing, was handed a prison sentence of seven years and one month. He has appealed the ruling through his legal team.
The man was arrested in June 2025 following a surveillance operation conducted by Greek police and intelligence services. Authorities suspected him of monitoring the Souda naval base, a key military facility used by Greece, the United States and NATO.
Investigators said the suspect first arrived in Greece in January 2025 using a temporary residence permit issued by Poland. Since mid-June, he had reportedly been staying in a hotel room overlooking the naval and air force installations in Chania, western Crete.
According to police sources, the investigation concluded that he had collected and transmitted state secrets and sensitive military information to foreign actors. Evidence presented by authorities included 23 videos and nine photographs of a Greek Navy frigate that had docked at Souda for refueling operations.
His lawyer, Sofia Saripanidou, rejected the allegations, arguing that her client had no intention of engaging in espionage.
“He did not intend to spy,” she told Reuters. “He took pictures of a view, where everyone has access.”
Authorities said items recovered from the suspect’s hotel room included a high-resolution camera equipped with a telephoto lens, a tripod, USB card readers and digital storage devices. Investigators also discovered encryption software installed on his laptop, according to police sources.
The case comes amid heightened scrutiny of alleged espionage activities in the region. Days before the arrest became public, authorities in Cyprus detained a British man on suspicion of terrorism-related offences and espionage. Israel subsequently accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of attempting to target Israeli citizens on the island.
Greek and Cypriot authorities have been examining possible connections between the two investigations.
The Souda base has also been the focus of another recent security probe. Earlier this year, Greek authorities detained a 36-year-old man at Athens International Airport on suspicion of gathering intelligence on the same military facility, according to police and intelligence sources.
The base remains one of the most strategically significant military hubs in the eastern Mediterranean. Earlier this year, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford visited Souda for resupply operations before deploying to the Middle East.
