Sign a Petition for the Release of Arrested ArmA Devs

Amid the continuing saga of Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar—two employees of ArmA-developer Bohemia Interactive arrested in Greece on spying charges—gamers are looking to help in any small way they can. In typical internet activism fashion, a petition’s been started at Helpivanmartin.org to try and move for the duo’s release:

“Facing up to 20 years in prison, for taking pictures of an island, just like countless other tourists before them, the Czech developers are being charged with espionage. Only because they happen to work on a computer game, a game that portrays Greece as a battlefield for a fictional futuristic conflict between the USA and Iran in the year 2035.

Ivan and Martin are no spies, but passionate community members, dedicated to the game and its experience for the player. Many of us have witnessed Ivan talking in interviews passionately about the progress of ARMA3 and all the new features, also developed by Martin.

It’s time to show our support, not only as a community, but as players and concerned citizens, for two developers, who now face a lifetime in prison for an unfortunate misunderstanding.”

At the time of this writing, the petition only has 4,252 signatures. It’s certainly not realistic to believe that an internet petition will convince the Greek government to release two men suspected of spying (Bohemia says that they were merely in Greece taking photos as tourists, not doing research for ArmA 3, which features a fictionalized version of a Greek military base). But every little bit of support for these two helps.

Via Eurogamer