Australian director Peter Weir has told a Cambodian court that fellow filmmaker and alleged spy James Ricketson "could be annoying" but is the victim of an "unfortunate misunderstanding".
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"He's an artist, don't misunderstand him," Weir told a bench of three judges on Thursday.
"We're strange people but we're pretty harmless."
Weir said Ricketson could annoy people with his opinions and would always argue his case strongly but "he's a freethinker like me" and was not a member of any political party.
Weir told the trial he had directed actors including Robin Williams, Jim Carey and Mel Gibson and worked for production companies like MGM, Walt Disney and Paramount.
Ricketson, 69, also produced 1600 pages of evidence handed to him by Cambodian prosecutors alleging he was a spy and that this dates back to when he first visited the country in 1995.
Ricketson said the documents were taken from his computer and included emails to journalists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
"There's not one shred of evidence in there to support claims I am a spy," he said before the start of his espionage trial.
Dressed in prison orange and looking tired after and having lost weight after more than a year in prison, Ricketson was met in the packed court room by family and friends including Weir.
Weir appeared as a character witness for Ricketson who was accused of spying after flying a drone over a rally by an opposition party before local elections in June last year.
"I had to come up," Weir told AAP outside the court. "He's been one of my best friends for 45 years and we live in the same suburb."
The director of films such as Gallipoli and Dead Poets Society spoke eloquently and gripped the public gallery as he took the stand for more than an hour on Thursday.
Weir said Ricketson had visited him more than a year ago and told him how he wanted to film from above an island and so he had bought a drone.
"I saw the shots and they were beautiful. James is totally a non violent man but he's always filming with his camera," he told the court.
Ricketson was born in Melbourne but moved to Sydney to attend university in the late 1960s. He told judge Seng Leang his home address was in Palm Beach in Sydney.
Ricketson's case faced a further delay after his lawyer surprised the court with a further bail application, which was again rejected.
Ricketson said some of the emails on his computer were sent to opposition politicians including Sam Rainsy, former leader of the now banned Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP).
But he added those emails were conducted in the normal course of business between a journalist and a politician.
Ricketson's case was tied to the CNRP ahead of elections held three weeks ago which were marred by controversy.
His trial was adjourned until August 20.
Australian Associated Press
