Two British women are given six-month sentences after pole dancing routine at historic Corfu landmark sparked fury - as three others who were cleared apologise outside court
Two British women have been given a six-month suspended sentence after a video of a scantily-clad photo shoot in front of a historic Greek landmark went viral, local media reports.
The performers, who are also said to have organised the photo shoot last week, have also been handed a €200 fine covering court costs.
The troupe had been arrested over the weekend and charged with violating archaeological law and degrading the surrounding area after their racy performance at the Old Palace of St. Michael and St. George.
But three were acquitted and told reporters outside court that they are 'really sorry for causing any offence'.
The tearful women looked downcast as they admitted they 'let down' people in Greece and the UK and were thankful 'justice has been served'.
The first British woman told kerkyrasimera.org: 'We feel sorry to everyone we offended and let down in Greece and back home and we deeply regret what we do and want to thank the judge for seeing that we didn't mean to cause this.'
The other Brit said: 'We just wanted to say we are really sorry for causing any offence and we understand how important your monuments are to you, we just didn't realise.
'We couldn't be any more sorry and we are just glad that justice has been served today.'
The tearful women looked downcast as they admitted they 'let down' people in Greece and the UK and were thankful 'justice has been served'
A third woman added: 'I also just want to say we are incredibly sorry to have caused such an offence and such trouble.
'We are really happy that the judge gave us justice today.'
In one of the clips, believed to be the first two women who spoke outside court, two dancers were seen balancing together on a pole in bright red underwear by the 200-year-old UNESCO heritage site.
In another, believed to be the third woman, a dancer in black thong leotard is cheered on by a British woman who shouts 'yes Shelly, nice!'.
The group of women went to court yesterday but covered their faces with jumpers and pieces of clothing as they entered the building.
Local media reported that the judge had proposed acquitting all five women for the charge of Protection of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage.
He also wanted the charge of environmental degradation dropped and change the charge for the two organisers to environmental degradation due to negligence.
The first defendant was told that no damage intervention occurred and it was not for commercial use.
The performers, who are also said to have organised the photo shoot last week, have also been handed a €200 fine covering court costs
No prosecution is expected to be brought against the photographer, according to his lawyer Vasilis Provatas.
He claimed the event had been set up in October and therefore could not be held responsible for the organisation or conditions of the photo shoot.
He did not appear at the trial, citing health reasons.
The British tourists appeared before a prosecutor over the weekend and it had been allegedly postponed til Monday by the dancers' lawyer because the photographer had not been brought in.
The dancers had been visiting the island as part of a 'pole dancing vacation' that takes place every over the last two weeks of May and is set up by a British holiday organiser, according to local media.
Intensive pole and aerial hoop workshops are available as well as the opportunity to build their pole photo shoot portfolios.
The Municipality of Corfu and the Museum of Asian Art are also said to have filed a lawsuit against the dancers.
Local outlet Proto thema assessed at the time: 'Understandably, there were several reactions regarding who gave permission for such a photo shoot in the city centre.'
The former royal residence, commissioned by British Lord High Commissioner Sir Thomas Maitland and designed by Colonel George Whitmore, holds pride of place in the Old Town of Corfu, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Dozens of residents expressed online fury over the 'disgraceful' photo shoot taking place outside the historic palace with some claiming the dancers were British.
'The Corfu Palaces: they once hosted royals. Now, pole dancing,' commenter Panagiotis Kalogeros wrote on Facebook.
'If Lord Byron saw pole dancing at the Palaces, he would have returned to England without a second thought.'
'Would they do the same at Buckingham [Palace]?' wrote another. 'Of course, here we have been the inferior in Europe for years on vacation and binge. [sic]'
Another worried how the pole was supported, fearing 'that they pierced the slabs in the ground' to hold it in place. There was no evidence the site had been damaged.
The Palace of St. Michael and St. George was designed by British architects in the early 19th century, using neoclassical styles typical of the time.
For more than two centuries it has stood in the old city of Corfu, which has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2007.
The building is still in use today and remains a well preserved instance of Regency architecture towards the end of the Georgian period.
Greek users on Facebook were anxious that part of the site could have been damaged during the photo shoot, several asking how they gained permission.
'Did the permanent residents of the historic centre and their association take a position for this event?' one asked.
'Who gave the permission slip???' said another.
'Someone should call the police,' added a third.
The Directorate of the Museum of Asian Art, today housed inside the palace, was unaware of the event, according to local media.
Not all abhorred the dancers for performing outside the historic building, however.
User Bill Metallinos defended the performance.
'Basically, what we see is the backstage of some photography,' he said of the video.
'Otherwise dancing is part of culture[.] it's just that this one is misunderstood...
'Yes the concept offends the monument but as an open space unguarded and unmarked disappointing swimsuits or extra items I see no reason someone who wants to take photos to be banned, it is an open public space.
'But to see how hypocrit[ical] we are, we have passed a road of heavy vehicles through the Palace and under its Arch and we are sending all the exhaust pollution to Tufopetra that has been consumed by all this fuel gas...
'And instead of shouting about the damage we are doing to it we ourselves are shouting about the photography that was done by some professionals in the area.
'In the end, who damages the monument? Them or us?'
Another user disagreed and expanded: 'What do traditional dances have to do with stripping there?
'Me personally if my daughter was there I would be ashamed.'
The palace in Corfu was built over a five year period in the immediate aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 saw the Ionian Islands, including Corfu, become a protectorate of the UK through the Treaty of Paris.
In turn, Corfu became the seat of the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands.
It was Sir Thomas Maitland who commissioned the Palace of St. Michael and St. George as the official residence for the Lord High Commissioner.
There was a boom in Regency architecture building across Britain and its overseas holdings after the end of the Napoleonic Wars as government spending steadily recovered and timber shortages eased without the war demand.
Closer to home, examples of Regency architecture can be seen in the work of John Nash across London.
Britain revived some of the classical architectural styles of the Greeks and Romans during its imperial rise, after architects like Inigo Jones brought back to the British Isles techniques recovered by the Italians through the 16th and 17th centuries.
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