The president of the Czech Republic has spoken up on behalf of two of his citizens who were arrested in Greece and charged with espionage. The two were recently denied their appeal despite countless petitions to the Greek government.
For those not in the know, two game developers from Bohemia Interactive were arrested on the Greek island of Lemnos, which is set to feature as the main setting in the upcoming Arma 3. According to the studio, the two were on vacation and were not there to gather reference material, as the island within the game had already been designed.
The two were arrested on the grounds that they had taken pictures of military installations on the island. The military base they had supposedly taken photographs is close to the airport, and many tourists have taken (and even uploaded videos) of the facility onto YouTube without running into any trouble. It's hard to say, therefore, why these two individuals were singled out for being a threat to national security, considering the location's relative unimportance in the region.
The studio they work for, Bohemia Interactive, is reported to have had a previous run-in with Lemnos' mayor, Antonis Hatzidiamantis, who had objected to the studio's use of publicly available maps in its upcoming game. The arrests can therefore be seen as personally motivated attacks against the studio's employees, and are groundless in the government's claims of espionage. Buchta and Pezlar face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of spying.
Czech president Václav Klaus is no doubt privy to more information than we are, and has seen fit to speak on behalf of the two developers in that the Greek government expedites their case.
The following was translated from the Czech counterpart of Eurogamer:
"I would like to address a matter of two Czech citizens who were arrested in Greece and charged with espionage," Czech president Václav Klaus wrote. "This case is very sensitive to the Czech public and also to me as President of the Republic. The fate of our citizens anywhere in the world matters to us.
"I have no doubt that the democratic Greek authorities – police, prosecutors and the courts – will consider this unfortunate matter impartially and independently. Even I do not in any way want to interfere with their work.
"I want to ask you, Mr. President, to follow this unfortunate affair with special attention considering the excellent relations between our nations so this does not throw unnecessary shade onto our relationship.
"Once again, I want to assure you that I have the utmost certainty that our accused citizens will be given all the rights in the search for justice by the Greek authorities.”
Note: I've highlighted the sentence that matters, which was written in the midst of political niceties.
We'll keep you up to date as the story develops.
