Saturday, November 03, 2007

Justice one, Stasi nil

"We'll take a pause" says the Judge, "to see if the prosecution can get their case together."
I leave the dock and pass through the vestibule where my barrister, the cops and the prosecution service are talking. This is undoubtedly the worst prepared case the authorities have ever put forward.
A journalist has followed me out,
"What the fuck's going on? They're prosecuting you for the content of a website?"
I hand him a flier for this blog as my solicitor and barrister come out and join me. He leaves us to it.
"This is descending into farce " I say.
Their agreement is both eloquent and profane.

I return to the dock. Stevie Kingsman's in the witness box. He has some printouts from the site in front of him.
"Your worship", my barrister begins, "we would like to change my client's bail conditions. They're an infringement on his freedom of speech"
She looks at Kingsman,
"Well?"
"We're prosecuting him for the content of his blog"
She turns to my barrister,
"What do you say?"
"He should be allowed to write whatever he wants.If the complainant wants to take out an injunction, that's a civil matter"
"Constable Kingsman?"
"The complainant feels intimidated and harrassed about the content of this blog."
"Can you point to any specific statements?"
"I'm afraid the complainant would have to be here to discuss that herself"
"We're talking about criticism of a resident's group", my barrister cuts in, "What we have here is a very sinister, a very Orwellian situation where people are prosecuted for free speech."
"OK", she says, "he's not allowed to write anything insulting or intimidating about her."
"Insulting your Worship? If I want to write an article about a football manager and I say disparaging things about him should I be prosecuted?"
"OK", nothing intimidating"
"But that's illegal. He's not allowed to do that anyway."
"Nonetheless, we often stipulate illegal acts as bail conditions"
"OK, now this business about not having direct or indirect contact with her. Is he not allowed to attend Residents' meetings?"
"He can attend, but have no contact with her"
"What if she's on a panel your worship? And he wishes to attend Police Liason Committee meetings."
"OK, he can have no contact with her other than through the medium of public meetings."
"This business about Agincourt Street Your Worship; he should be allowed to walk anywhere he wants"
She looks at Stevie Kingsman, he's very uncomfortable.
"Well, ah, there was an incident in Agincourt Street Your Worship"
He means the attempt on my life. He's trying to incriminate me. She cuts him off.
"In terms of this case Constable?"
He fumbles, struggling for words.
"Your Worship", my barrister intercedes.
"OK. He's barred from her property"

City Church have been informed of the new bail conditions. They have big questions to ask themselves. Should they side with a fake residents' group against the community? What moral right do they have to impose their prejudices on other people's pain? Does someone have to die before they reset their moral compass? I, for one, live in fear for my life. It's decision time. They can't pretend to have acted impartially. If they beleive they have, this should help them think.
"To remain neutral in the face of injustice is to side with the oppressor."
The words of Archbishop and Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

aw poor poor you lol the world seems in your head to be all against you, it must be lonely, do u want a hug is that what you need? oh yea and you are about as intimidating as a bag full of wee so if you would please stop embarrassing yourself by trying lol ;P the whole grr i am looking at you thing is just pure comedy!

belfast samizdat said...

I wish people wouldn't write in textspeak. It's like encountering a drunken stream of consciousness. In fact that's probably what this is.

Anonymous said...

For once I agree with you about the text speak. There's no reason to try and save the amount of letters you use on a computer.

Anonymous said...

How much is your court case costing the taxpayer? £££s I would have thought, get a life and a job!

Anonymous said...

i am most sorry for using text speech, the next time i laugh at you i shall make sure i write it out in full, and was reading some other comments on this site, yea were does the money come from i would suppose it is grants and govt support, again poor you it must be hard to accept hand outs that the rest of us are paying for but hey again the world seems to owe you something and out of interest could you actually get a job? i mean really who would hire you apart from your mates the landlords. tee hee (that is me laughing at you in short form just so you don't miss it)

belfast samizdat said...

More drunken gibberish. They must have let you out of rehab.

Anonymous said...

Have you checked out Holylandwarzone? Looks like you might have a bit of competition...