Surely to be so it would have included some of the details from the company press release and/or their lawyer?

I see no reason to suggest their innocence because that’s yet to be established in court. The injustice here is the time spent in limbo due to the legal strike, not that they were arrested in the first place.

Patrick Vuleta: People keep saying that as if it means anything.

The point is that if you’re in an area with potential to blow up into a warzone, you don’t take happy snaps at all.

It does though. The fact you neglected to point this out in the article is contributing to folks like inaugral getting the impression that they were there doing this on purpose as research for the game as originally reported by the media which does not appear to be the case.

If you see a sign banning photography, or even if in doubt, sure you stop the photography. But to say tourists the world over should stop taking happy snaps/video or they deserve whatever fate the courts see fit is a bit much.

Lets be honest here. If the men in question weren’t in a position to get press time from their arrest they likely wouldn’t have been arrested. They are being made an example of and if the legal system wasn’t in disarray it would all be done and dusted by now.

Marius: Police aren’t mindreaders. You can test your no harm no foul theory by taking an unloaded gun and waving it at an officer. ;) They might discover it’s not loaded after you’re dead.

Many years ago while I was a Court Officer – a young man was charged and was facing severe penalties for walking around with a water pistol – which looked real – he was actually squirting a sign two metres in front of himself – but in a straight line behind that was the first floor of a police station – they sent six officers with drawn weapons out to locate this young fella.

He was lucky that the police observed him for a while before approaching – and there was else nobody around to make them consider him a threat to the public.

In court the point was re-inforced when a witness inadvertently pointed the “weapon” at me and was told in very clear terms by the Magistrate not to threaten a Court Officer – even with a replica.

jez: Where does intent come into this? If it wasn’t their intent to commit espionage, and none of their pictures reveal information of military value, then I’d say no harm and no foul.

Police aren’t mindreaders. You can test your no harm no foul theory by taking an unloaded gun and waving it at an officer. ;) They might discover it’s not loaded after you’re dead.

Patrick Vuleta:
The point is that if you’re in an area with potential to blow up into a warzone, you don’t take happy snaps at all.

Where does intent come into this? If it wasn’t their intent to commit espionage, and none of their pictures reveal information of military value, then I’d say no harm and no foul.

gambla:
If I had my way, if people are treated like this by countries I’d call for total annihilation of that dirt shit country.

erm…. k

giblet1:
“From what we understand, Ivan and Martin didn’t enter any military areas and—from what their lawyer has presented thus far in the media—it’s impossible to think that they’ve documented anything that could even remotely be classified as “espionage.”

People keep saying that as if it means anything.

The point is that if you’re in an area with potential to blow up into a warzone, you don’t take happy snaps at all.

Now, in the article I did say they were likely innocent, and this will probably wash out in court. But it could all have been avoided if they didn’t wave around a camera. Just like I can avoid spending a night in a police station if I don’t wave around a gun.

Well, this is a gaming forum after all. Same thing happened when that EVE Online fellow died in Libya during the attack on the U.S. Embassy. If he wasn’t working there, it would never have been reported on sites like this. I bet more people here would remember his name/handle than the dead U.S. ambassador who was definitely more significant (politically anyway).

hastarin:
You say, “The two were on Lemnos when they photographed a Greek air base.” You make it sound like they intentionally photographed the base in detail which certainly does not appear to be the case.

http://www.helpivanmartin.org/facts/

Well, a photo is a photo… I don’t think it really matters whether the photo was in detail. In general you don’t swing cameras near a military base in a country on the edge of a potential war. :P

It makes me sad that people can’t find better causes to champion than this one, nobody cares unless you’re a game developer or part of something they can feign outrage over. There are probably a hundred Australians languishing in foreign prisons for minor crap like this and nobody bats an eyelid because they don’t have someone like Rocket or Notch crying in outrage.

http://www.helpivanmartin.org/facts/

ralphwiggum: My thoughts exactly. Doesn’t matter where you do it. Theres a reason why military bases have fences.

Very slightly relevant anecdote: The army base near me didn’t actually have a fence until just 7 or 8 years ago. You could have walked across the paddocks and onto the airstrip or into the hangers and other buildings most likely without anyone even seeing you, let alone stopping you.

Anyone want a Blackhawk helicopter? I know a guy..