Thursday 11 September 2008

The end of the rule of law?

We are SO fucked:

The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.


It's not just ministers and energy companies who are shocked, I can tell you. This, as far as I can tell, sets a dangerous precedent: if you can link any future criminal activity to a global wormening protest, your lawyer can use that as an excuse to get you off the hook.

Please somebody, tell me that I'm wrong.

Update: I'm not the only one shitting bricks, then.

Update 2: Vindico is beyond shock.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable, isn't?

But it's one of the hazards of jury trial...

Anonymous said...

This is easy. Just try them again until you get the right verdict. its not like we aren't doing that already.

Vindico said...

Arrrggh! Makes me so very angry. Covered it here http://vindicovindico.blogspot.com/2008/09/when-is-crime-not-crime.html

Anonymous said...

Now just a sec while I get this straight.

I blow up my neighbour's car, cos its a gas-guzzling piece of shit that singlehandedly is killing the planet. I may get banged up for that (white, middle aged, middle class bloke in a good job).

BUT, if I do 50 of the buggers, I'll get let off cos I've saved £1,000,000,000 of damage to the planet.

Right?

Right...

Anonymous said...

Okay, so all the green maniacs now think they are above the law. No matter what they do, it's justified in law. There's now a precedent in this case so their lawyers can quote it.

Meanwhile the police are busy enforcing laws that don't exist against people who haven't broken them while newspapers do the investigating and the Met's bosses spend their time sueing each other.

Might as well don that blue overall and start learning Newspeak. Won't be long now.

Anonymous said...

They may be above the law but they're not immune to a good shoe-ing.

Tomrat said...

I actually see this as win-win; James Hansen and Zac Goldsmith were expert witnesses in this case - I've heard no cross-examination of this evidence nor an attempt to provide rebuttal witnesses.

As such this would make their evidence, which they have vested interests in promoting, shouldn't this enable a retrial on the ground of perjury? (please someone with better knowledge of the law correct me if I'm wrong)

Still, even if nothing happens when the proof that AGW is a myth finally comes out we can then jail Zac Goldsmith and James Hansen for lying in a court of law!

Old Holborn said...

I'm with nbc on this one.

Give the cunts a proper kicking. Then set fire to the bus they came on.

Anonymous said...

So two good outcomes for our Dear Leader's clique:
1. It gives the "Justice Department" the excuse they have been looking for to abolish the Jury Trial system.
2. It legitimises the use of Mob Rule to force things down the otherwise unwilling throats of the rest of the population.

One shit, two splats!