Are we living in Dystopia ?
Monday, 25 September 2023 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bens_dadhttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/19/protester-who-held-sign-outside-london-climate-trial-prosecuted
https://goodlawproject.org/gagging-juries/
https://goodlawproject.org/solicitor-general-launches-proceedings-for-holding-a-placard/
https://goodlawproject.org/case/silencing-of-protesters/
https://goodlawproject.org/hundreds-copy-trudi-warners-banner-in-backlash-against-solicitor-general/
The story so far, as I understand it (but check the links):
Part 1
Two climate change protesters were on trial for protesting.
The judge told them they could not mention climate change in their defence.
One of them did.
The judge charged her with contempt of court, and she served 7 weeks in jail.
However, the jury could not agree on a verdict for the original charge and the case collapsed.
Part 2
Whilst the trial was going on Trudi Warner stood outside the building where climate protesters were on trial with a placard reading “Jurors: you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.”
This legal right was established in 1670, after a judge imprisoned a jury for reaching a verdict he would not accept. Yet holding this sign was enough to put Warner in front of a judge at the Old Bailey – a building with a plaque at the entrance that declares the same legal right.
The Solicitor General, the Government Minister Michael Tomlinson KC, threatened Warner with committal for contempt of court in July. He has now taken the decision to proceed, with a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office telling the Guardian he considers the case is “in the public interest”.
Warner described the Solicitor General’s conclusion as “Orwellian”.
“My action was to literally uphold the law,” she said. “This is a gross abuse of state power. It is a chilling attack on freedom of speech and should concern everyone.”
https://goodlawproject.org/gagging-juries/
https://goodlawproject.org/solicitor-general-launches-proceedings-for-holding-a-placard/
https://goodlawproject.org/case/silencing-of-protesters/
https://goodlawproject.org/hundreds-copy-trudi-warners-banner-in-backlash-against-solicitor-general/
The story so far, as I understand it (but check the links):
Part 1
Two climate change protesters were on trial for protesting.
The judge told them they could not mention climate change in their defence.
One of them did.
The judge charged her with contempt of court, and she served 7 weeks in jail.
However, the jury could not agree on a verdict for the original charge and the case collapsed.
Part 2
Whilst the trial was going on Trudi Warner stood outside the building where climate protesters were on trial with a placard reading “Jurors: you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.”
This legal right was established in 1670, after a judge imprisoned a jury for reaching a verdict he would not accept. Yet holding this sign was enough to put Warner in front of a judge at the Old Bailey – a building with a plaque at the entrance that declares the same legal right.
The Solicitor General, the Government Minister Michael Tomlinson KC, threatened Warner with committal for contempt of court in July. He has now taken the decision to proceed, with a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office telling the Guardian he considers the case is “in the public interest”.
Warner described the Solicitor General’s conclusion as “Orwellian”.
“My action was to literally uphold the law,” she said. “This is a gross abuse of state power. It is a chilling attack on freedom of speech and should concern everyone.”
