THE TENETS OF JUSTICE
In the High Court, yesterday, three judges lifted the anonymity of the Royal Marine Sergeant found guilty of murdering a seriously wounded Taliban prisoner – the first British serviceman to be found guilty of murder on the battlefield since the Second World War. A fundamental and central tenet of British justice is that justice should be seen to be done.
Defence counsel argued, with reason, that both he and his family could become targets for vengeful extremists. The judges dismissed this argument.
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Yet, what of another trial currently taking place of two men accused of murdering Fusilier Lee Rigby? In this case, the jury has heard the statement from one of the accused, Michael Adebolajo, who has stated how he deliberately drove a motor vehicle into the soldier at 40mph, before attempting to decapitate him with a meat cleaver.
Adebolajo believed that Fusilier Rigby was a ‘fair target’ because, he said, a soldier is ‘someone who joins the army with a kind of understanding that your life is at risk.’ According to Adebolajo, this applies even if he is a ‘random individual’ who just happened to be walking down a street at the wrong time. However, the jury has decided in his case that Adebolajo is wrong that any soldier is deemed fair game for beheading just because they ‘know the risks’.
Primarily, the law needs to balance open justice with protecting the citizen. As long as there are those who feel it is perfectly acceptable to kill people for political or religious grounds and society is aware of such people, then the law really should protect potential targets. The Royal Marine Sergeant has been sentenced by the Court Martial Review Board to a life in prison, and he is to serve a minimum of ten years. He has also been dismissed from the service with disgrace. Any thought, however, of naming the other Royal Marines involved in the case of the murdered Taliban insurgent, who have subsequently been found not guilty, should be rejected outright as speedily as possible.
It is the view of this site that the Royal Marine Sergeant should not have been named.
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