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Reflections on a Wandering Life.....
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The other day, I noticed an oblique reference in the Wall Street Journal to the case I have referred to previously in this blog (see Tuesday, September 19, 2006 and Tuesday, November 7, 2006), so I did some searching and came up with what I believe is the latest disposition in this case.
It may sound strange to say this, but I am not as concerned about the verdict as I am about the manner in which it was obtained. I should say first that four years is probably a severe sentence even in the case of guilt, because it just doesn't sound like what happened could really be called a riot. But there was a public disturbance, and one should be fair enough to allow that the government does have an interest in investigating to determine to what extent, if any, Mr. Chen contributed to the developments. The problem is, that in the process, they trampled all over the rights of the accused. I do not mean the rights of the accused as seen by outside foreign "human rights" nuts who don't know what is going on. I mean the rights of the accused as set out in Chinese law. This is perhaps my primary concern regarding the justice system in China at present. Over and over again, I hear of defendants being deprived of the right to defend themselves according to lawful criminal procedure. The gangsterism that seems to be standard fare in the countryside is a blight on China's reputation at a time when China should have a sincere interest in showing the world that this country cares about human rights. It is easy to have rights spelled out on paper. But we must go beyond that. We must beware the temptation to circumvent those rights when it is not convenient to honor them.
The Americans like to lecture the world about human rights. But the Americans have set up an off-shore prison at Guantanamo, Cuba that is far more worthy of Castro than the land of the free and the home of the brave. The Americans set up this prison not to circumvent Chinese standards of justice, or Afghan standards of justice, but to circumvent their own standards of justice. The American excuse is that these are war criminals who are not entitled to POW status. They do have a point. POWs and war criminals are not the same. A soldier in uniform who is obeying the orders of his commanding officer and fighting for his country is not a war criminal. He is not violating the law, he is obeying the law (of his country, and international law, assuming compliance with the Geneva conventions). Someone who just grabs a gun and starts shooting people is not entitled to the same level of respect as a soldier in uniform. That is a fair point. But the problem is that the Americans have used this distinction as an excuse to round up dozens of people, some of whom were not shooting anybody, and warehousing them indefinitely. There is no excuse for this. Many of these "war criminals" are guilty of something. But the process employed in bringing them to justice is horrendous, and has damaged America's reputation irreparably. The United States of America will never again be seen as the legitimate guardian of human rights.
It may sound strange to say this, but I am not as concerned about the verdict as I am about the manner in which it was obtained. I should say first that four years is probably a severe sentence even in the case of guilt, because it just doesn't sound like what happened could really be called a riot. But there was a public disturbance, and one should be fair enough to allow that the government does have an interest in investigating to determine to what extent, if any, Mr. Chen contributed to the developments. The problem is, that in the process, they trampled all over the rights of the accused. I do not mean the rights of the accused as seen by outside foreign "human rights" nuts who don't know what is going on. I mean the rights of the accused as set out in Chinese law. This is perhaps my primary concern regarding the justice system in China at present. Over and over again, I hear of defendants being deprived of the right to defend themselves according to lawful criminal procedure. The gangsterism that seems to be standard fare in the countryside is a blight on China's reputation at a time when China should have a sincere interest in showing the world that this country cares about human rights. It is easy to have rights spelled out on paper. But we must go beyond that. We must beware the temptation to circumvent those rights when it is not convenient to honor them.
The Americans like to lecture the world about human rights. But the Americans have set up an off-shore prison at Guantanamo, Cuba that is far more worthy of Castro than the land of the free and the home of the brave. The Americans set up this prison not to circumvent Chinese standards of justice, or Afghan standards of justice, but to circumvent their own standards of justice. The American excuse is that these are war criminals who are not entitled to POW status. They do have a point. POWs and war criminals are not the same. A soldier in uniform who is obeying the orders of his commanding officer and fighting for his country is not a war criminal. He is not violating the law, he is obeying the law (of his country, and international law, assuming compliance with the Geneva conventions). Someone who just grabs a gun and starts shooting people is not entitled to the same level of respect as a soldier in uniform. That is a fair point. But the problem is that the Americans have used this distinction as an excuse to round up dozens of people, some of whom were not shooting anybody, and warehousing them indefinitely. There is no excuse for this. Many of these "war criminals" are guilty of something. But the process employed in bringing them to justice is horrendous, and has damaged America's reputation irreparably. The United States of America will never again be seen as the legitimate guardian of human rights.
