Thu 22 Dec 2005
Response to “One Nation Under Prosecutors: Guilty When Charged”
Posted by k under Civil LibertiesNo Comments
By Robert Thompson, Avocat Honoraire au Barreau de Boulogne-sur-Mer [See article directly below.]
Dear Paul Craig Roberts,
Katherine Hughes has had the kindness to send on your short article (dated yesterday) entitled “One Nation, Under Prosecutors – Guilty When Charged” and it merely confirms what I believed to be the case regarding plea-bargaining.
Our previous Minister of Justice, who has the mediaeval title of Garde des Sceaux, has tried to introduce plea-bargaining here, but my Confrères who are still practising have, with my total support, boycotted it.
After considerable youthful activity as an international lawyer, I ended my professional career as a defender of those accused (some rightly, others not) of serious criminal offences (many with international elements), but I am glad to say that, despite the shortcomings in our imperfect system, I have never come across the kind of injustice of which I hear so much from the U.S.A. (a country which I have never visited – I have never had occasion to cross the Atlantic).
I retired at the age of 69 in December 2000, and had two years of freedom before finding that I had a serious problem with cancer, which still persists. This has not prevented me from continuing to write many articles criticising international criminals, such as Mr George W. Bush and his servile Scottish side-kick, Anthony Charles Lynton (call me “Tony”) Blair.
The case of Dr Dhafir is the sort of tragedy that we consider to be a scandal – what harm was he doing? Succouring the hungry is one of the great acts of mercy, whatever any particular domestic law may say, which contrasts badly with the hideous breaches of international criminal law committed by the Bush administration, on which I have made legal comments several times.
It is no surprise to us that the U.S.A. refuse to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, since they would lose all their government in one fell swoop, as well as many members of previous administrations.
What worries us is that our government seems to be falling into the disastrous trap of going along with the Bush régime, and we are regularly making a fuss and complaining.
Many thanks for your comments, which deserve a wider audience.
Yours truly,
Robert Thompson
Avocat Honoraire au Barreau de Boulogne-sur-Mer