Greek court drops spying charges against refugee rescue activists

Ruling comes hours after UN called for charges to be dropped in largest case of criminalisation of solidarity in Europe'

A Greek appeals court has dropped espionage charges against 24 activists involved in rescuing people from migrant boats in the Mediterranean after recognising that the case was riddled with procedural errors.

The three-member panel of judges upheld a prosecutor's recommendation that the spying charges be dropped on the basis of being overly vague". The verdict was announced to the sound of applause in the courtroom.