Text 19262, 48 rader
Skriven 2011-05-22 14:05:51 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Another Euro in jail
============================
Hello Robert,

On Sunday May 22 2011 11:48, you wrote to me:

 MV>> TO THEIR OWN CITIZENS!

 MV>> I always added those four words when critisizing the US legal
 MV>> system. When a citizens of another country is involved, there are
 MV>> international treaties to respect and international relations to
 MV>> consider.

 RB> Trouble is, you're wrong. Go to Germany and you obey German laws - or
 RB> else. Same on a visit to France or anywhere else. Doesn't matter a
 RB> whit that you're not a national, you're in _their_ country and must
 RB> obey _their_ laws.

You are completely missing the point. I am not saying that foreigners are
exempt from local law. Of course they are not. If they have broken the law,
they should be tried and when found guilty, convicted. No problem there.

I am discussing the treatment of SUSPECTS and the presumption of innocence
until found guilty in a court of law.

What the US does to their own citizens on their own territory is their
business. If they want to hang on to the humiliating and barbaric practise of
parading suspects of a crime in public, that is their choice.

However... Roy commented "this does not look good for Europe". I am not denying
it.

When submitting a non US citizen to the perp walk and let the whole world be a
witness, international relations get involved. There is no law that says
suspects must be "perp walked" It is a choice. And whatever way you look at it,
it does not look good for the US.

We consider it barbaric. So the USAIANs are barbarians in our POV. If it
concerns not a convict, but a suspect, we consider it a breach of the
presumption of innocence. If they retort "we don't care what you think", not
only are they barbarians and their presumption of innocence is worthless, they
have contempt for the rest of the world as well, which makes it even worse.

Those are the international relations to consider that I was talking about.


Cheers, Michiel

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