It has gotten quiet about two Bohemia Interactive who had been taken into custody following allegations of espionage. What first sounded like a comedians attempt at a Cold War movie, soon turned out to be bitter reality with both Martin Pezlar and Ivan Buchta being forced to enjoy the Greek prison system due to their possession of some photo material from the Island of Lemnos.
Rumour after rumour on the true intent of these two individuals were being drawn up with the most persistent one, that both were asked by Bohemia Interactive itself to take pictures of Military installations as part of the companies research for their future project turning out to be false.
Since then, numerous causes have been launched to support the two developers and call on the Greek government to release the suspects. Yeah, you can guess what the result of that was….τίποτα. With the Greek’s justice system on strike, the future of both men was rather obscured and thus the attention of the media moved on to other things.
Remaining incarcerated since just about 70 days, the accused appeal has been dismissed by the Greek court that finally carried on their work once more. Being denied their appeal and bail, it very much looks like a sentence of up to 20 years is not that unrealistic no more. Both families have asked the Czech Government to attempt the diplomatic route.
Posted 19-11-2012, 15:38
I can see why people would say that it is ridiculous what the Greek authorities are doing but at the same times, it is in the interest of each country and also its duty to their citizens to protect their assets from potential threats. Of course one might say that in this example, things have gone out of hand but then again, that is easy to say for us who have no direct interest or stake in the 'secrecy' of Greeks military assets.
Posted 18-11-2012, 19:41
I hope things work out for these guys, this is nuts!
Posted 18-11-2012, 13:29
Well there you see it, thye do have an army. Biggest military spender? Well, its Greece, loads of money flying through the cracks
Posted 18-11-2012, 03:59
Forgot to mention, this in perspective, Russia has 1 million, USA has 1.5 million and China has 2.3 million and the country in the entire world with the most military equipment (without any doubt at all) is America (thus ammo, guns, tanks, etc...)
Posted 18-11-2012, 03:56
According to Wikipedia it's the biggest spender in military of all the EU. However, in terms of total active personnel, Greece is 3rd highest of EU, falling below France, Germany and the UK with roughly 177 000 active military personnel (not necessarily soldiers, bear in mind, just a full time military staff, can be a soldier, can be the cook at a military installation)
Posted 17-11-2012, 13:44
Greece still has a lot of Island disputes with Turkey and even though their Army might not be considered the finest, it still is National Security that is of concern. Having a 'weak' army (tbh, I don't know what state the Greek army is in) does not mean you can be dismissive about people taking pictures of Military installations even if it was for Touristic reasons / far away in the background of a panorama shot.
Posted 17-11-2012, 13:34
Very strange story. I wonder why they really were taking those pictures. Also, am I the only one here who thinks the law is a bit silly there, I mean... what army do they even have? Who would want to spy on Greece (just invade them, it's not that hard considering they have barely any army to speak of!). So a law protecting against actions that are not plausible against a military which barely exists is all just for show at the cost of suffering for whoever is unfortunate enough to break this for-show law.