Arrested ArmA 3 Devs Denied Appeal for Espionage Charges

[Timothy Chang]

Arrested ArmA 3 Devs Denied Appeal for Espionage Charges

The two Bohemia Interactive employees could face 20 years in jail if found guilty in Greek court.

The ArmA 3 developers accused of espionage earlier this year have been refused bail and are set to face trial before Greek court.

Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar were denied appeal for the spying charges made against them earlier this year. The decision came after almost 70 days of waiting, partly due to strikes in the Greek legal system [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120111-Greek-Turmoil-Delays-Bohemia-Interactive-Spy-Trials] stemming from protests against austerity measures for the troubled region.

If found guilty, the pair could serve up to 20 years in jail.

The mother of Ivan Buchta gave a statement after the announcement [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lA0-yFIgOA4#!], saying that the families of the accused have been possibly "too optimistic" and put too much faith in the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help resolve the situation.

"The last telephone call from our boys has drastically changed the situation," reads a translation of her statement. "In the previous calls we have assured them that everything is being done to save them and they assured us that they're holding it together as well as they can.

"They no longer tell us that it's alright... After this judicial decision we have heard from Martin and Ivan something that no parent wants to hear. During the phone call, they basically told us one thing: 'Mom, Dad, please save us'."

The developers were arrested early this year while on vacation in Lemnos when law enforcement allegedly discovered images of military installations on a camcorder and camera in their possession.

At the time, the Czech government claimed that the men knowingly entered an area that was off-limits. Bohemia Interactive stated that the accusations were "completely false and without substance", saying that the developers were in public areas when they were taking the footage.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.helpivanmartin.org/]

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[razor343]

This situation is really getting out of hand isn't it?

I'm not one for empathy but I worry for the well being of these two. The last thing you'd expect a game dev to go to jail for would be god damn espionage.

 

[Jubbert]

Wow Greece just cant do anything right, not their economy or their legal system.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Ok guys, who wants to come to Greece with me and bust these two out? I'll bring the C4.

[sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub]I'm kidding, jeez! I really shouldn't have to put such a disclaimer, but considering what happened to these guys, I don't want to take chance.[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

 

[Matt Dellar]

Ok guys, who wants to come to Greece with me and bust these two out? I'll bring the C4.

[sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub]I'm kidding, jeez! I really shouldn't have to put such a disclaimer, but considering what happened to these guys, I don't want to take chance.[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

I'm in.

More seriously, can we actually do something for them? Sign a petition or something? Contact our representatives? [sub][sub]Call in an AC130?[/sub][/sub]

 

[bfgmetalhead]

Send in the SAS! Please? Jokes aside this is a major injustice an the EU or the UN needs to step in to free the innocents.

 

[Albino Boo]

Send in the SAS! Please? Jokes aside this is a major injustice an the EU or the UN needs to step in to free the innocents.

Innocent my arse, I strongly recommend that you look at this page http://products.bisimulations.com/training . Bohemia interactive sell military training based on its 3D environments. So you have a company that sells military training, building an 3D model of a base next to the Turkish coast. Seeing that Greece and Turkey have spent most of the last 1000 years at war with one another, Bohemia have at least been stupid and at worst have been building a 3d model of vital Greek base with a view to selling it to Turkey.

 

[Albino Boo]

Snooping around a foreign country's military base should definitely be punished, regardless of your reasons for doing so. However, 20 years is absolutely ridiculous for this situation.

apparently their snooping was filming footage on the way from the hotel back to the airport to go back home. there was apparently a military hanger in the background at the airport. they werent even there on official business. according to whats been released, they liked the place from their research and decided to go on holiday

the local government there has a real grudge against bohemia interactive for basing the next game on their island. apparently they got pissed that it will be depicted as a warzone..

They got pissed at a company building a model of a strategically important island by a company that sells military training.

 

[Saulkar]

Snooping around a foreign country's military base should definitely be punished, regardless of your reasons for doing so. However, 20 years is absolutely ridiculous for this situation.

apparently their snooping was filming footage on the way from the hotel back to the airport to go back home. there was apparently a military hanger in the background at the airport. they werent even there on official business. according to whats been released, they liked the place from their research and decided to go on holiday

the local government there has a real grudge against bohemia interactive for basing the next game on their island. apparently they got pissed that it will be depicted as a warzone..

They got pissed at a company building a model of a strategically important island by a company that sells military training.

You do realise that the recreation of the island is far removed from reality and thus a 1 to 1 recreation? You could not use it anymore to plan an invasion of the island than GTAIV to navigate New York.

 

[Albino Boo]

Snooping around a foreign country's military base should definitely be punished, regardless of your reasons for doing so. However, 20 years is absolutely ridiculous for this situation.

apparently their snooping was filming footage on the way from the hotel back to the airport to go back home. there was apparently a military hanger in the background at the airport. they werent even there on official business. according to whats been released, they liked the place from their research and decided to go on holiday

the local government there has a real grudge against bohemia interactive for basing the next game on their island. apparently they got pissed that it will be depicted as a warzone..

They got pissed at a company building a model of a strategically important island by a company that sells military training.

You do realise that the recreation of the island is far removed from reality and thus a 1 to 1 recreation? You could not use it anymore to plan an invasion of the island than GTAIV to navigate New York.

So why did they spend money on sending people to to photograph the island then? Just because the model in the game isn't a 1 to 1 recreation does not mean they can't use the information to build one. The model has one very obvious customer in Turkey, who the Greeks have been war with for the most of the last 1000 years. Why even use that Greek island out of the 100s that Greece has? Why choose one of the most strategically important islands as opposed to Eubeoa which has no importance what so ever?

 

[Saulkar]

Snooping around a foreign country's military base should definitely be punished, regardless of your reasons for doing so. However, 20 years is absolutely ridiculous for this situation.

apparently their snooping was filming footage on the way from the hotel back to the airport to go back home. there was apparently a military hanger in the background at the airport. they werent even there on official business. according to whats been released, they liked the place from their research and decided to go on holiday

the local government there has a real grudge against bohemia interactive for basing the next game on their island. apparently they got pissed that it will be depicted as a warzone..

They got pissed at a company building a model of a strategically important island by a company that sells military training.

You do realise that the recreation of the island is far removed from reality and thus a 1 to 1 recreation? You could not use it anymore to plan an invasion of the island than GTAIV to navigate New York.

So why did they spend money on sending people to to photograph the island then? Just because the model in the game isn't a 1 to 1 recreation does not mean they can't use the information to build one. The model has one very obvious customer in Turkey, who the Greeks have been war with for the most of the last 1000 years. Why even use that Greek island out of the 100s that Greece has? Why choose one of the most strategically important islands as opposed to Eubeoa which has no importance what so ever?

Why send photographers and artists to Venezuela for the film UP? Why send photographers and artists to Scotland for the film Brave? Why send photographers and artists around Washington D.C. for Fallout 3? Inspiration.

I can't use any of the information from those two films and game to plan... anything. The island in the game does not have the same scale, the military installations are completely, COMPLETELY re-imagined and not even in the same places given that they are all set up by NATO and Iran fifteen to twenty years from now in an alternative timeline.

The one airport in the game that exists today is completely visible on Google-maps and does not look exactly the same as the in game trailers. Hell most of the structures in the game despite sharing architecture do not look the same (most notably military based ones).

The roads in the game do not completely line up/exist at all with the real thing despite the availability of Google-maps. Furthermore the towns and city(ies) are almost completely re-imagined with a skewed layout.

Lastly the team that develops the military contracted simulators and the team that develops the games are completely separate with no overlap. They have two completely different pursuits/game engine derivatives.

P.S. The reason they chose Limnos is because it does indeed have real life relevance but the fact that anything the game can do, you can do infinitely better with Google maps. Turkey at any time can download heightmaps and satellite images of Limnos and recreate an even more accurate version of Limnos in Arma 2 before Arma 3 is even released.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Man, some countries are fucking scary. Here's hoping it works out.

 

[lacktheknack]

They went onto the base and without permission. Doesn't matter why they did the crime and they should do the time. Good on Greece for throwing the book @ those idiots. My sympathy for them is less than 0.

But is 20 years a reasonable time?

If you end up in prison for three months for jaywalking, remember this day...

I personally think that the seventy days they've already been in plus a hammer to the camcorder should be enough.