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Grant immunity from prosecution for military, whilst on Govt Duty

UORMan

War hero
"A statutory time limit of 5 years to be applied and back-dated in regards to the rights of people to bring prosecutions for alleged offences committed by members of the British Military taking part in Govt Sanctioned Operations. After this period, the military should be exempt from prosecution."


Many people are amazed and disgusted at the treatment of our fellow ex and currently serving brothers and sisters, who are being prosecuted for crimes allegedly commit years ago. Please sign the attached petition, so that the politicians in Westminster wake up and do something about it.

Petition: Grant immunity from prosecution for military, whilst on Govt Duty.
 
"A statutory time limit of 5 years to be applied and back-dated in regards to the rights of people to bring prosecutions for alleged offences committed by members of the British Military taking part in Govt Sanctioned Operations. After this period, the military should be exempt from prosecution."


Many people are amazed and disgusted at the treatment of our fellow ex and currently serving brothers and sisters, who are being prosecuted for crimes allegedly commit years ago. Please sign the attached petition, so that the politicians in Westminster wake up and do something about it.

Petition: Grant immunity from prosecution for military, whilst on Govt Duty.
Does that include time barring for example, rape cases?
 
I'm going to go with 'No'

I may not be happy with the current system but, in my view, military cases can be just a little more complex than a fight outside Joanna's. A simple time limit for all potential crimes - and a short one at that, is far too simplistic.

(on the other hand I would now be clear of any legal retribution for anything i may, or may not, during my service)
 
The wording for a petition is very limited, so it is impossible to fully expand on what you want. The main thing is to get 100,000 signatures so they at least raise the issue in the house.
Obviously one would consider crimes such as rape to be out of the scope.
It is more to raise awareness of the actions of troops taken in the heat of a fire-fight etc, and although previously cleared of any offence, they are now facing being prosecuted for events that took place a long time ago.
 
I'm going to go with 'No'

I may not be happy with the current system but, in my view, military cases can be just a little more complex than a fight outside Joanna's. A simple time limit for all potential crimes - and a short one at that, is far too simplistic.

(on the other hand I would now be clear of any legal retribution for anything i may, or may not, during my service)
So go on then, tells us where you buried him/her/them.*


* Delete as necessary (pun intended)
 
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Aren’t we all supposed to be equal under the law?

Is there an implicit suggestion here that military personnel should be treated differently to civilians when, for example, new evidence or technical forensic methods provides sufficient evidence for a prosecution.

To add to the current 22 petitioners I think some explanation of why current national and international law is inadequate would be useful.

Smells of special pleading.
 
Current national law allows claimants to sue the MoD using my (and other peoples') money a la money grabbing UK solicitors and to drag hundreds of soldiers through the Courts. I am not signing I but I do get fecking annoyed.
 
Don't commit a crime. Simple. If anything what you should be asking for is an immediate enquiry following any incident that results in harm or death and for the investigation to be pursued to its limits. There is absolutely no need to fear investigation because if all the facts are brought to light then it leaves a lawyer 30 years later nowhere to go. It was investigated and the soldier exonerated. You have to disarm your accuser immediately. There is no better technique than to be able to say that the matter was investigated and closed, here's the file.

As a RMP in a E2 post I quite often got flak if I wrote a statement as per a witness statement to be seen in court rather than a "Sir, at the time and date stated" 5 liner and slung in the back of the DOB for the SSM/RSM. The difference was that everyone who did the 5 liner would get called for Courts Martial as a witness and my evidence was agreed, every single time. Because I wrote the statements in such a manner that left no room for doubt.

That's what the investigation immediately after the incident needs to do. Leave no room for doubt.
 
Would it not be better to apply a statute of limitations to all offences bar murder for all of the population?
Such a system exists in France and Germany and maybe other European countries. With the exception of murder there are any number of reasons not to prosecute after an appropriate length of time.
 
Would it not be better to apply a statute of limitations to all offences bar murder for all of the population?
Such a system exists in France and Germany and maybe other European countries. With the exception of murder there are any number of reasons not to prosecute after an appropriate length of time.

If you can prove a crime through an advancement in techniques such as DNA gave us, and you lose the ability to prosecute a week before, how is that raped man, or abused teenager, or, and, and, and etc, going to feel?

Time may heal all wounds but the crime should still stand.
 
Would it not be better to apply a statute of limitations to all offences bar murder for all of the population?
Such a system exists in France and Germany and maybe other European countries. With the exception of murder there are any number of reasons not to prosecute after an appropriate length of time.

I agree with the first paragraph but would extend it to all violent crime.

Take rape as an example. DNA evidence might be degraded or otherwise unsatisfactory to form the basis of a prosecution. However, advances in molecular biology might make it possible to recover degraded DNA data in the future. As you can hardly fake DNA data it could be used to successfully prosecute a suspect.


Crossed in the ether with @MrShanklysboots
 

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