ArmA 3 developers denied appeal, must face trial over espionage charges

[Deleted_171835]

“They’re in a cell with over 25 people, they sleep on the ground,” he said. “They have food twice a day.”

“Our boys no longer tell us on the phone that it’s alright, that they’re handling it,” said a mother of one of the men. “After the court’s decision we only hear from them something that no parent ever wants to hear: Mom, dad, please save us.”

The families have taken the matter up with the Czech president and prime minister as they feel the foreign ministry has provided ample help.

“We cannot agree with the statement [that we're not doing enough],” a foreign ministry spokesman commented. “We are very intensely working on this matter from all possible angles.”

Buchta and Pezlar face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of spying.

For those who don't know about the situation, these developers took pictures of a military base in Greece for use in Arma 3 and were detained for it.

On Slashdot, it's been said (according to Greece Media) that the devs had taken photos of

* An MM-40 Exocet Block II installation (anti-ship missile)
* The 130th Battle Squadron
* A radar installation
* Army base and barracks.

Media report that the military authorities were particularly concerned that the data captured from the devs showed no only the position of these installations and the type of equipment they contained, but also things like access routes, alternative routes, fuel depots etc.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/16/arm...ppeal-must-face-trial-over-espionage-charges/

 

[Foxi4]

Wow... talk about overkill. They were clearly not spies, this is horrible...

...that said, they probably should've thought of getting a permit first.

 

[Maverick Lunar X]

My thing is, why not just confiscate the pictures and send them on their way?

 

[FAST6191]

I had not heard a thing about this. Anyway Greece has a bit of a history of this sort of thing ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/12/newsid_2518000/2518385.stm ) although this could possibly be a cut above that, of course a list like that is a bit more towards.

Relevant video

Edit- Have two

 

[ProtoKun7]

Of course, they spend their time prosecuting these developers; meanwhile real spies will take the opportunity to set up entire video cameras and practically make a documentary over the same buildings and sell it to the Discovery Channel.*


*The above is speculation and may not be accurate.

 

[Gahars]

You'd think Greece would have more pressing matters to be concerned with. It's not like the nation is struggling to avoid financial collapse and alleviate civil unrest or anything...

 

[nando]

That's pretty messed up. But they should know better than to document military facilities without permission.

Obviously they aren't spies of course, so the whole thing seems quite severe.

 

[ProtoKun7]

You'd think Greece would have more pressing matters to be concerned with. It's not like the nation is struggling to avoid financial collapse and alleviate civil unrest or anything...

BUT THESE GUYS ARE TAKING PICTURES OF OUR STUFF AND MONEY WILL GET STOLEN THROUGH THEIR CAMERAS BECAUSE SPIES

 

[Foxi4]

BUT THESE GUYS ARE TAKING PICTURES OF OUR STUFF AND MONEY WILL GET STOLEN THROUGH THEIR CAMERAS BECAUSE SPIES

Cameras are dangerous - haven't you heard of photo shoots? Someone could've gotten shot during that incident! It's no laughing matter!





...okay, that one was bad, so what? Bite me!

 

[Rydian]

I heard those camera things steal souls too.

 

[ProtoKun7]

I heard those camera things steal souls too.

That's debatable; as Milton Jones once said, were that true then supermodels would have really shallow, vacant personali...oh.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

BUT THESE GUYS ARE TAKING PICTURES OF OUR STUFF AND MONEY WILL GET STOLEN THROUGH THEIR CAMERAS BECAUSE SPIES

Because Greece is totally worth spying on.

 

[chyyran]

This is insane, I hope they make it out OK..

Also, I'd be surprised if they're going to continue developing ArmA 3, if they ever make it out.. They would have PTSD for quite a while..

 

[Celice]

I still can't believe these charges--especially considering that Google Maps likely everything these photos had, which means Google itself is compromising their military too.

 

[Frank Cadena]

Oh dear. I can understand the concerns the authorities have but this is a bit overkill. Confiscation of the photography equipment and a slap on the wrist or a fine would have sufficed.

 

[Veho]

You'd think Greece would have more pressing matters to be concerned with. It's not like the nation is struggling to avoid financial collapse and alleviate civil unrest or anything...

This may be the new government policy to make some money: arresting random tourists and charging bail.

 

[ferofax]

My thing is, why not just confiscate the pictures and send them on their way?

When a random citizen starts taking photographs of equipment and location that a particular government deems "sensitive", you can't just walk away from that unscathed.

These ridiculously stupid devs who actually did this and thought they could get away with it certainly had it coming. It takes a certain kind of idiocy to even think about meddling with military stuff.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

When a random citizen starts taking photographs of equipment and location that a particular government deems "sensitive", you can't just walk away from that unscathed.

These ridiculously stupid devs who actually did this and thought they could get away with it certainly had it coming. It takes a certain kind of idiocy to even think about meddling with military stuff.

I don't think "had it coming" warrants months of imprisonment in horrible conditions with a potential of twenty years of jail time.

I mean it was a bit stupid of them to photograph military installations and such but this is overkill. I mean couldn't they have just been doing research on ArmA 3?

What were they doing in there anyway? I always assumed it was just fact finding for ArmA 3.

 

[Maverick Lunar X]

When a random citizen starts taking photographs of equipment and location that a particular government deems "sensitive", you can't just walk away from that unscathed.

These ridiculously stupid devs who actually did this and thought they could get away with it certainly had it coming. It takes a certain kind of idiocy to even think about meddling with military stuff.

Protip: I'm military, and we don't elevate it this high unless it was something mega strategic that google maps couldn't zoom in on.

As far as what they were doing, I've heard everything from they were on vacation to doing ArmA 3 research, so who knows. I highly doubt they were spying it up.

 

[Qtis]

Protip: I'm military, and we don't elevate it this high unless it was something mega strategic that google maps couldn't zoom in on.

You do know that a huge part of Google Maps concerning military installations is blacked out already? Actually strategic locations are blacked out too. Blacked out = not showing current imaging or imaging at all.

Photographing military locations is just plain stupid, though the treatment here is a bit too harsh. ID info for new tech/access routes/guard routes/etc. is very valuable for basically anyone doing something in the military/intelligence department. Basically you could make a fortune with espionage because there is always someone willing to pay for info like this. Just look at what George Black was able to do with sensitive info (as a double agent, but still): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Blake