New Zealander in a Norwegian spy trial

Press, 13 May 1981, Page 20

New Zealander in a Norwegian spy trial

By

CHRIS MOSEY

r in Stockholm

A trial that is likely to prove a severe embarrassment to the Norwegian Government in its relations with its N.A.T.O. allies started in Oslo this week. Two peace researchers are charged with spying. The two — a Norwegian, Mr Nils-Petter' Gleditsch, and a New Zealander, Mr Owen Wilkes — named 11 United States electronic spy stations set up in Norway under a bilateral agreement between the two countries. What makes matters worse is that the alleged spying operation was carried out using Government money funded to the Peace Research Institute, Oslo, for which the two men were working. To add to the element of high farce surrounding the trial, the two men claim they unmasked most of these “'top secret” spy stations by looking them up in the Norwegian phone book.

The report naming the stations and printing photographs of them took three years to prepare, ironically the maximum sentence Mr Gleditsch and Mr Wilkes now face. They have been charged with the lesser of two spying charges laid down in the Norwegian penal code. The most severe of these, spying for a foreign power, carries a sentence of 10 years. “But there is no suggestion that we did this. The stations were a secret only to the Norwegian people. The Russians had known about them for a long time,” said Mr Gleditsch.

The trial is expected to last for three weeks, with all witness testimony being translated into English for the benefit of Mr Wilkes, who does not speak Norwegian. The two men say they will call “internationally known” peace workers to give evidence on their behalf.

The spy stations — or electronic intelligence gathering stations, to give them their correct military definition — monitor the movements of Soviet submarines, intercept signals from military satellites and give early warning of Soviet missile launches, according to Mr Gleditsch and Mr Wilkes.

Mr Wilkes said most of them were listed in the Norwegian E' le book under “Defence io Posts.” Those that weren’t could be located by consulting trade union records, he said. “All defence workers belong to a trade union and if you come across 50 union members in a remote fishing village you know you’ve found another spy station,” said Mr Wilkes, who now works for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.—Copyright, London Observer Service.