A 44-year-old Azerbaijani national holding a British passport pleaded not guilty on Thursday to five charges including espionage, after allegedly photographing British and Cypriot military bases and sending the images to a third party.
The defendant appeared before the Limassol Permanent Criminal Court, where the court rejected a defence application for access to material that the Law Office had not disclosed, ruling that it fell outside the definition of evidence and related to information exchanged between Cyprus Police and foreign states. The court then called on the defendant to enter pleas on all five charges.
The charges include espionage, publishing information relating to the defence of the Republic, illegally recording images of a prohibited area, and money laundering. The case was set down for hearing.
The defendant, who was arrested in Limassol in June 2025, is alleged to have taken photographs and gathered information on RAF Akrotiri and the Andreas Papandreou air base in Paphos and transmitted them to a third party.
He was in Cyprus between 1 April and 21 June 2025, according to the indictment. At the time of his arrest he was carrying more than €5,000 in cash — specifically €4,400 and £805, equivalent to approximately €925.
Police had previously told the court, in proceedings to secure a detention order, that the defendant was found in possession of a Nikon Coolpix P1100 camera capable of up to 125x optical zoom.
He was living in Zakaki, an area adjacent to the British RAF bases in Limassol, and had initially come to the attention of authorities after being reported as acting suspiciously on foot near the bases while carrying the camera.
He also had three mobile phones in his possession, and physical surveillance showed him photographing with both the professional camera and his phones.
According to a position presented in court by the CID headquarters, the defendant travelled from Limassol to the Andreas Papandreou air base in Paphos on 20 June, changing two buses, before renting a car from Paphos airport.
He is alleged to have arrived at the base shortly after the arrival of US military transport aircraft and marines.