Protestors given secret trial and criminal convictions

Current Events > The DUmpster

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Crazy Horse:
Ahhh crap

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2785523

--- Quote ---annabanana (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:05 AM
Original message
Protesters Given Secret Trial and Criminal Conviction ..!!!!WTF!!!
UN-****ing believable!

Pioneering Blackwater Protesters Given Secret Trial and Criminal Conviction

http://www.alternet.org/rights/75244 /
Protesters who re-enacted one of Blackwater's worst civilian massacres in Iraq got jail time, while the real killers remain free.
~snip~

When their day in court arrived, on Dec. 5, the activists intended to put Blackwater on trial, something the Justice Department, the military and the courts have systematically failed to do. Their action at Blackwater, the activists said, was in response to war crimes, the killing of civilians and the fact that no legal system -- civilian or military -- was holding Blackwater responsible. The Nisour Square massacre, they said, "is the Iraq war in microcosm."

But District Court Judge Edgar Barnes would have none of it. So outraged was he at Baggarly, the first of the defendants to appear before him that day, that the judge cleared the court following his conviction. No spectators, no family members, no journalists, no defense witnesses remained. The other six activists were tried in total secrecy -- well, secret to everyone except the prosecutors, sheriffs, government witnesses and one Blackwater official. Judge Barnes swiftly tried the remaining six activists behind closed doors and convicted them all. It was as though Currituck, N.C., became Gitmo for a day.

How on Earth is this even MARGINALLY legal??
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--- Quote ---Solly Mack (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:06 AM
Response to Original message
1. Is it really that unbelievable?
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--- Quote ---zanne (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:08 AM
Response to Original message
2. The second time I've been flabbergasted by a D.C. judge...
The first time was when a judge in Florida ruled that the Republican disruptors at the recount were innocent, because they were not "tresspassing". (He was one of those Florida Dems).
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Dumbass.............it was NC Superior Judge Russell Duke, not a DC judge

--- Quote ---citizen_jane (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
4. Damn..
K and R

Think for yourself
as long as you can...
before that is illegal
too.
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--- Quote ---Dhalgren (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
5. What "rights" do you think these criminals have?
They are obviously anti-American criminals and as such they have no "rights". Nor do people who defend criminals like this. What was your name, again? Why is it that you choose sides against your own country?

Welcome to the USA! Shut up, do as you're told, enjoy your stay! We're number one! We're number one!
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--- Quote ---Javaman (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:43 AM
Response to Original message
6. Welcome to soviet criminal code 58. for those of you who have read
Gulag Archipelago, you know what I'm talking about.
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--- Quote ---LeftCoast (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:56 AM
Response to Original message
7. They shouldn't have waived a jury trial
That's the only way this could have happened. Otherwise the case would be overturned.
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--- Quote ---ThomCat (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 11:07 AM
Response to Original message
8. How is that legal?
No defense witnesses?

A blatantly rigged trial?
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Now for the rest of the story, as usual I figured that the primitives only read the OP and not the entire story.

--- Quote ---The symbolism was stark: Re-enact a Blackwater massacre, go to jail. Commit a massacre, walk around freely and perhaps never go to jail. All seven were charged with criminal trespassing, six of them with an additional charge of resisting arrest and one with another charge of injury to real property.
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--- Quote ---When their day in court arrived, on Dec. 5, the activists intended to put Blackwater on trial, something the Justice Department, the military and the courts have systematically failed to do
--- End quote ---

--- Quote ---It's not unusual for a judge to clear a courtroom when there is a disruption by the public. Nor is it rare for judges to try to prevent activists from turning the tables and attempting to put the government -- or in this case a mercenary company -- on trial. But witnesses that day report that there was no disruption -- and the defendants say they were immediately cut off when they strayed from the narrow scope of the trespass charge to discuss Blackwater's actions or the war.
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Looks like a pretty good reason right there. Just more moonbats trying to get their false message out and using the courts as a press conference

EDIT........I just saw that my fvaorite idiot posted this also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2785570

--- Quote ---kpete (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-29-08 10:15 AM
Original message
Blackwater Protesters Get Jail Time-While The Real Killers Remain Free
Pioneering Blackwater Protesters Given Secret Trial and Criminal Conviction

By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. Posted January 29, 2008.

Protesters who re-enacted one of Blackwater's worst civilian massacres in Iraq got jail time, while the real killers remain free.

Last week in Currituck County, N.C., Superior Court Judge Russell Duke presided over the final step in securing the first criminal conviction stemming from the deadly actions of Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration's favorite mercenary company. Lest you think you missed some earth-shifting, breaking news, hold on a moment. The "criminals" in question were not the armed thugs who gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded more than 20 others in Baghdad's Nisour Square last September. They were seven nonviolent activists who had the audacity to stage a demonstration at the gates of Blackwater's 7,000-acre private military base in North Carolina to protest the actions of mercenaries acting with impunity -- and apparent immunity -- in their names and those of every American.

The arrest of the activists and the subsequent five days they spent locked up in jail is more punishment than any Blackwater mercenaries have received for their deadly actions against Iraqi civilians. "The courts pretend that adherence to the law is what makes for an orderly and peaceable world," said Steve Baggarly, one of the protest organizers. "In fact, U.S. law and courts stand idly by while the U.S. military and private armies like Blackwater have killed, maimed, brutalized and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."

more at:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/75244/
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Bondai:
Too bad Blackwater didn't water board them while they were in custody. These type of people (protestors) are responsible for more deaths then Blackwater ever dreamed of....these mamby pamby kissy face peace activists are more dangerous than armed troops. They should stop their whining...if they got what they really deserved they would still be in the ICU unit at the hospital.

SSG Snuggle Bunny:
The article says (lies) that the demonstration occurred outside BW's gate.

But they were charged with trespassing and resisting arrest.

You can't trespass on public land, only private property.

BTW - Why do I suspect this can be upheld on the same grounds used to keep protesters away from the DUmmies beloved temples of worship--I mean--abortion clinics?

Can you say, "Law of Unintended Consequences"?

I knew you could.

Rebel:

--- Quote from: Mr Snuggle Bunny on January 29, 2008, 11:33:15 AM ---You can't trespass on public land, only private property.

--- End quote ---

Actually, I think you can.

SSG Snuggle Bunny:

--- Quote from: Rebel on January 29, 2008, 12:07:01 PM ---
--- Quote from: Mr Snuggle Bunny on January 29, 2008, 11:33:15 AM ---You can't trespass on public land, only private property.

--- End quote ---

Actually, I think you can.

--- End quote ---
I mean such as a public road or sidewalk.

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