Canadian Court Allows Bush Torture Prosecution

[Minstrel Boy]

The Georgia Straight, Oct 22

A Vancouver lawyer has won a procedural victory in her attempt to prosecute U.S. President George W. Bush under the Criminal Code. Gail Davidson, cofounder of an international group of jurists called Lawyers Against the War, expressed her delight on October 18 following the lifting of a publication ban on court proceedings against the U.S. president. “It’s great news, but really they had no choice,” Davidson told the Georgia Straight.

The Kitsilano lawyer got the ball rolling against Bush as soon as he set foot on Canadian soil for his November 30, 2004, visit. As a private citizen, she charged him with seven counts of counselling, aiding, and abetting torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay naval base. She had her charges accepted by a justice of the peace in Vancouver Provincial Court.

Bush faces prison time if the case goes to trial and he is found guilty.

On December 6, 2004, Davidson was at Provincial Court to fix a date for the process hearing. However, Provincial Court Judge William Kitchen promptly ordered a Straight reporter and other observers from the courtroom and cancelled the charges, declaring them a “nullity”. The meeting was deemed to be “in-camera” and Kitchen concluded immediately that Bush had diplomatic immunity during his two-day visit to Canada because he was a head of state.

...

http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=13646

also

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/12386

[William769]

1. I'll help pay for his trip to Canada.

[melody]

3. I think we'd all chip in for that

Do the citizens of the US get to pick where he serves out his sentence? Can we? Can we, huh? Can we, please?

[YDogg]

2. Gurgle gurgle gurgle

The bush regime goes down the drain ...

[LibertyorDeath]

4. OH Canada ! Recommended

Highly !
:grouphug:
:toast:

[sasquatch]

5. Does that mean he can go to Canadian Prison?

I hope he gets the biggest, meanest, ugliest, French Canadian man as his cellmate.

[rosesaylavee]

6. CANADA! Now he's done it. They don't get mad

at anyone. He is really the worst president... ever.

Kicked and recommended!

[sakabatou]

7. Woo-hoo!

[chalky]

8. I wish I could view that article through the Georgia Straight link

because the tone of the entry on that outsidethebeltway.com link really made my bloodpressure soar.

Not to mention the comments on the entry. :mad:

eta: ahhhh....here we go:

http://tinyurl.com/9wmek

[ixion]

9. wow... it'll be interesting to see what comes of this...

we can only hope there is still justice in the world.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[saskatoon]

11. Maple Leaf Rag

How I would love to be able to carry it off, been away from Canada birthplace for 70 years but Damn I am so proud of her, would love to go home again---too late at 87 years. Love you Canada.

[acmavm]

16. It's so nice that you're here. A lot of us aren't spring chickens. We have

a lot to bring to the table by was of experience and having been through tough times with republicans back in the 60s & 70s. But I have to admit this bunch makes the Nixon years seem like Sunday School. It's so hard to believe we've sunk to this level. Not that everything has ever been on the up and up none of our politicians have been paragons of virtue but this bunch, well let me say that years from now we'll still be hearing about some other ugly and criminal traitorous scheme that they pulled off.

[stevedeshazer]

12. The Georgia Straight nails it again

There won't be a sniff of this story in the US.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Kick!

[AndyTiedye]

14. There Is Only One Place For Bushler and his Gang

The Peace Palace in the Hague



Home of the International Criminal Court:

(Have you noticed how terrified Bushler is of the ICC? He must have nightmares about it).



and the prison for convicted war criminals.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AndyTiedye]

18. Send them to the Hague and Start to Restore Our Reputation

Sending Bush** et. al. to the Hague for trial would be a good start
to restoring our standing in the world.

Besides, any of the regime that gets convicted will be pardoned by Bush**.
They know this, which is why they flout the laws with such impunity.
But...
The pResidential Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card is not accepted in the Hague.

[Selteri]

15. Bush should go to Canada and face these charges

Admit guilt and prove he's a real man!

Oh wait... he's not... he's a cowardly chimp who hid a law making it illegal to criticize him into the Patriot Act.

[Maraya1969]

19. Can any country have a trial against him is he isn't there? War

crimes don't have to be charged in the country that they happened in. Germany is an example.

What About the War Crime Tribunal?

[Maraya1969]

20. Wikipedia on war crimes

The International Criminal Tribunal for Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the "International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia", acronym 'ICTY', is a body of the United Nations (UN) established to prosecute war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. The tribunal functions as an ad-hoc court and is located in The Hague.

It was established by Resolution 827 of the UN Security Council, which was passed on May 25, 1993. It has jurisdiction over certain types of crime committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991: grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war, genocide, and crime against humanity. It can try only individuals, not organizations or governments. The maximum sentence it can impose is life imprisonment. Various countries have signed agreements with the UN to carry out custodial sentences. The last indictment was issued March 15, 2004. It aims to complete all trials by the end of 2008 and all appeals by 2010.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_War_Crimes_Tribunal