Wilkes awaits verdict

Press, 21 December 1981, Page 6

Wilkes awaits verdict

By

KEN COATES,

in London

The New Zealander, Owen Wilkes, was a “competent peace researcher internationally known for his honesty,” said defence counsel, Mr H. G. Franck, in the Stockholm District Court.

Mr Franck-was summing up proceedings on the final day of Wilkes’s trial in which he was accused of -, gross unauthorised access to secret information pertaining to observations bf Swedish defence sites on the island of Gotland. The Court reserved its decision.

, Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr K. G. Svensson, said that Wilkes went from country to country exposing military installations. “He *has done the, same thing in Norway, Denmark, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand,” Mr Svensson said. “He went to Gotland, equipped with camera, binoculars, and notebook with the intention of making systematic notes on radar towers and publishing his findings on leaving the country.” Countering these accusations, Mr Franck said the Omega campaigns in Australia and New Zealand, in which Wilkes had been prominent,, had not resulted in any court action.

“Wilkes has not been near any defence installations in Denmark.

“In Japan, he attended peace conferences and went to military sites on guided tours.

“On Gotland, he followed cycle tracks recommended by the Swedish Tourist Association. His camera was crude, his binocular small.

and there was nothing odd about his carrying a notebook in which he did not make an entry until the fourth day of a 10-day trip.” Before the verdict is given, in late January, Wilkes hopes that the judge and jury will visit the sites in question and see that they are not protected by fences, and could hardly be termed secret.