Greek Heritage Chief on Artefact Charges

Veteran politicians were yesterday rallying around an Oxford-educated businessman whose efforts to protect Greece's cultural heritage - including Athens's historic Plaka quarter - have won plaudits abroad but earned him enemies at home and a possible prison sentence.

Costa Carras, the Anglo-Greek scion of a shipping family, who founded a conservation society that has been likened to Britain's National Trust, spent three days in the cells of the capital's security police headquarters after being accused of one of Greece's worst cultural crimes: illegal ownership of ancient artefacts.

The charge, which followed a police swoop on his home and his organization's premises, has outraged supporters who claim Carras is the victim of a smear campaign. For many, his ordeal has highlighted the perils of championing aesthetic and environmental matters in one of the EU's least conservation-minded countries.

"It is ludicrous that authorities should attack the one person who has spent a lifetime preserving the items and ideas that the authorities themselves are supposed to protect," said Stefanos Manos, a former conservative politician who twice served as environment minister. "It says a lot about corruption in this country. In doing the right thing, Costa has upset people."

The ex-Harrovian, who could face a lengthy prison sentence, was remanded in custody after police and archeology service inspectors confiscated three Russian icons and other items from his home in the Plaka district. Two large earthenware pots and parts of an olive press were seized from the Plaka offices of his organization, the Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and Cultural Heritage. In both cases, Carras, an officially declared collector, says he notified the appropriate department at the culture ministry and archaeological service.

"Archaeologists responsible for private collections always refused to catalog the three icons that were Russian while documenting the 50 Greek ones," said the conservationist's wife, Lydia, a documentary film-maker who also sits on the society's board.

"As for the objects found on the premises of the society, the important ones were incorporated in the buildings and some movable ones were left in situ so that schoolchildren and other visitors can admire them. We followed the letter of the law and have the documents to prove so."

The police raids took place in the week leading up to the 35th anniversary of the society's founding. Carras, who is also vice-president of the conservation movement Europa Nostra, has often clashed with the country's bureaucracy and vested interests. His causes have included the preservation of traditional architecture in Athens, land-use plans on tourist islands, and diversion of the Aheloos river in western Greece, a project opposed by environmentalists. He has been credited with helping to transform the disco-infested 5th century Plaka district into one of Europe's most beautiful residential areas - winning Greece international awards.

But these successes have been opposed by developers and construction companies who want to move into such prime sites. "None of this would have happened if the society's actions were not bearing fruit," said Ioannis Palaiocrassas, a former economy minister and European environment commissioner.

The Greek culture ministry declined to comment.