Lawyers for a man accused of reckless foreign interference are concerned about secrecy surrounding his case amid claims a barrister was prevented from seeing him.
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Speaking outside court where her client Alexander Csergo's matter was further shrouded in mystery on Wednesday, Collaery Lawyers special counsel Jolan Draaisma told reporters he is "struggling" behind bars and his legal team has difficulties accessing him.
"Counsel Bernard Collaery travelled two-and-a-half hours from Canberra to visit him only to be refused at the front door, so that's the difficulties that we're dealing with," Ms Draaisma said outside Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court.
She said she was concerned about secrecy surrounding Csergo's case.
Further orders were made preventing disclosure of details of the case against Csergo, accused of recklessly assisting suspected Chinese spies while living and working in Shanghai in 2021.
Csergo was arrested by Australian Federal Police in Sydney's eastern suburbs in April after weeks of interviews with authorities.
He allegedly swapped handwritten reports for envelopes of cash with two suspected Chinese spies claiming to be from a thinktank.
Mr Collaery told a bail hearing in April Csergo used public documents and his own creative efforts in compiling the reports, and it was nothing close to espionage.
Csergo remains behind bars and his matter returns to court in August however his legal team may apply to the Supreme Court for bail before then.
Australian Associated Press
