Four business figures were found guilty in Greece on Thursday, over illegal phone interceptions carried out using the Predator spyware, in a landmark ruling by an Athens court.
The Misdemeanour Court of Athens convicted Tal Dilian, Felix Bizio, Giannis Lavranos and Sara Alexandra Hamou, fully endorsing the recommendation of prosecutor Dimitris Pavlidis.
Dilian is the founder of Intellexa SA, while the remaining three were linked to the Greece-based company or related firms.
Dozens of offences
The defendants were found guilty of a series of offences, including illegal access to information systems and data, breaches of the confidentiality of telephone communications and oral conversations, and unlawful interference with personal data filing systems. The offences were deemed to have been carried out jointly, repeatedly, and in some instances both as completed acts and attempted crimes.
Announcing the verdict, the court’s president, Nikos Askianakis, said the evidence showed the defendants had acted with common intent and by joint decision, organising a network to gain unlawful access to private communications.
“From the assessment of all admissible evidence, chiefly witness testimony and documents clarifying the truth, it was established that the accused, following a joint decision and together with other associates, committed the acts with shared intent. They gained access to personal data and private conversations,” he told the court.
126-Year Combined Sentence
The court imposed a total custodial sentence of 126 years and eight months. Under Greek sentencing rules, however, the effective term to be served is set at eight years.
Despite the scale of the sentence, the convicted individuals were granted a suspension, pending appeal, allowing them to remain free until the case is heard at second instance. All requests for mitigating circumstances were rejected.
Of the 116 acts examined by the court, judges identified a real concurrence of crimes in relation to 87 victims. In three instances initially prosecuted as attempted offences, the court upgraded the charges to completed acts after evidence showed that the targeted individuals had activated infected links.
In contrast, criminal proceedings were definitively halted in relation to 108 alleged victims who did not file the required formal complaint.
The trial marks a significant development in Greece’s unfolding surveillance scandal linked to Predator spyware, with the case now set to continue at appeals level.
Spy van in Cyprus
In Cyprus, businessman Tal Dilian came to public attention through the high-profile “spy van” case in Larnaca in 2019. While in Athens the courts proceeded with convictions of individuals, in Cyprus the case reached an entirely different – and controversial – conclusion.
The sequence of events in Cyprus began in August 2019, when Dilian gave an interview to Forbes magazine, showcasing a state-of-the-art van owned by his company, WiSpear, which was capable of intercepting mobile phone communications within a 500-metre radius. Following strong public reaction, Cypriot authorities moved in November 2019 to seize the vehicle and launch an investigation. Three company employees were arrested, and an arrest warrant was issued for Dilian himself, who was abroad at the time.
The case took a new turn in December 2021, when the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection imposed an administrative fine of €925,000 on WiSpear, after the investigation established that the van had been used to unlawfully collect MAC addresses and Wi-Fi network names from thousands of unsuspecting citizens and tourists at Larnaca Airport. Despite these findings, in February 2022, when the case was brought before the Criminal Court, the Attorney General decided to suspend the criminal prosecution against Dilian and the other individuals involved.
The final outcome in Cyprus was that proceedings continued only against the company as a legal entity. WiSpear pleaded guilty to 42 charges relating to breaches of privacy and personal data protection, with the court ultimately imposing a fine of €76,000.