The following code demonstrates the issue:
==========================================
appContext.xml
------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<objects xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/springpython/schema/objects"
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/springpython/schema/objects
                http://springpython.webfactional.com/schema/context/spring-python-context-1.0.xsd">

    <object id="controller" class="sample.Controller">
        <property name="executors">
            <list>
                <ref object="exec1"/>
                <ref object="exec2"/>
            </list>
        </property>
    </object>

    <object id="exec1" class="sample.Executor"/>

    <object id="exec2" class="sample.Executor"/>

</objects>
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sample.py
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from springpython.config import XMLConfig
from springpython.context import ApplicationContext

class Controller(object):
    def __init__(self, executors=None):
        self.executors = executors

class Executor(object):
    pass

if __name__ == "__main__":
    appContext = ApplicationContext(XMLConfig("appContext.xml"))

    obj = appContext.get_object("controller")

    print obj
    print dir(obj)
    print obj.executors