Well-known DXpeditioner Baldur Drobnica DJ6SI arrested in Greece for "espionage"

VISAS ? This is the EU. No Visa necessary.

 

This is how the Greeks intend to pay off their humongous debt: arrest everyone and have them post bail....This way it will take about 24,000,000 more years to get out of debt but they are hopeful they can cut it down to 12,000,000 if Germany bails them out!

 

Ich werde NIEMALS Griechenland besuchen!

 

A different culture so one must (try to) look from different angles.

Dear OMs and YLs,
first of all I must express my regret for what has happened to a fellow ham. After all, under the ionosphere we are all brothers and sisters (ham radio should have nothing to do with politics-race-religion). Each and every country have different cultures and the way authorities deal with the same matter might change quite a bit. "spying" in the modern world with a classical hf or vhf rig is quite funny, as you urinate in your back garden in an urgency, you might recieve a SMS or e-mail from one of "the big companies" with a detailed result of your urine analysis, samples checked by some low-orbit satellite.
I propose you (any ham planning to go out to a different country) contact some local hams and get info about local customs. By customs I mean both the official bureacracy and the way people behave.
For example, in our group's website we have a page http://www.tcswat.org/info.html for the foreigners planning to operate from TA. We have put the letters from the customs, telecommunications authority and the police, all in Turkish so that if the foreign ham is asked any questions about his activity there will be some info to be given to the authority in Turkish. You might still run into trouble but these can clear some misunderstandings before things get out of control.
Hope the problem will be resolved and "world will be a safer place"!!
73 de TA1HZ

 

I am not sure if sidekicks about the greek economy are helpful to solve this matter and i think this sidekicks are poisening the atmosphere for discussion.

Even that i stayed several times in Greece and like the country and i never had any bad contact with the country-authorities in any case.

I would say that like every time, there will be at least two sides of the story that should be known for getting a objective opinion, and even that i don´t know the "why" - i am also asking what needs to happen that a Radioamateur (and this hobby is also well known in Greece) is taken to justice in that way. Only because he´s on the air???

It will be interesting when the hole story will be avaiable.

73, Roland OE5RBO

 

I think that DJ6SI deserves much more support than he gets from us, his colleagues. Opinions expressed on a website or on a forum can be very convincing, but they doesn't help him too much to prove his innocence in front of an ignorant, incompetent and malevolent court, which is applying an ancient law dated 1929... What happened and still happens to him can happen to each of us while traveling in foreign countries, members of non-members of the CEPT. It's an extremely dangerous precedent and every possible and legal effort should be invested by individuals and associations in order to prevent it's repetition in the future.
Francisc, YO4PX
http://yo4px.blogspot.com

 

I agree with YO4PX,

The IARU and the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club must lodge a formal complaint with the Radio Amateur Association of Greece and the Greek Government.

John G8KHS

 

Are you jealous? How he spends his money is nobody's business but his!

Chris/NU1O

 

So that's how my medical lab results come back so quickly!

Great post Doc! Your insight and unifying humor is a great remedy, especially diplomatic. Congratulations to your amateur radio group for anticipating this kind of potential issue for visiting hams using CEPT licenses, and obtaining the extra supporting documentation from the authorities in your native language. A great example to follow, if the opportunity to visit arises, I will certainly use that info as well as contacl local hams. Good luck with the special events and EMCOMM efforts as well.

 

Most places have ancient laws that nobody enforces but they're still on the books.

Even here in America:

I didn't make any of that up, it's from a website run by lawyers, http://www.legalzoom.com

 

More information on www.watchtv.de
73 de dk5kf

 

I love it!! Tnx for the hearty laugh; I needed it. Gonna check out that website, too. Vy 73...Joe

 

more on www.watchtv.de

73 de dk5kf

 

@DK5KF, thanks for your important update. Here is the translation of Baldur’s statement into English, for those who doesn’t speak Goethe’s language:
"June 3rd, 2012, 20:46 (UTC 2)
Dear Michael, I wasn’t charged with espionage. As a reason of my arrest was stated that
1. I performed radio traffic without the approval of the Greek authorities;
2. I owned transmitting equipment which enabled the reception of other frequencies;
To the accusation was later added an other point:
I hindered the visualition of the content of my notebook.
I would like to ask you to eliminate the information that I was arrested for espionage, or to replace it with my statement.
Vy 73 Baldur DJ6SI"