i don't agree with or support any of this prosecution, i hope you realize (or any prosecution in the current non-private legal system, for that matter...)

That's fine and good to hear. What do you think they were falsely accused of, then. If it wasn't for writing code?

all accusations are "false" because the legal system is involuntary. but to answer your question: were they not also running and providing a service, beyond merely authoring code?

Is running and providing a service to others illegal?

by "illegal", do you mean the State will put you in jail for it? definitionally, yes, in this case. but now we're allowing that they didn't "just write code", I notice. which was my original point.