The trial of David McBride

This is very interesting at a number of levels and with very high stakes. He will be the first Australian to be tried as a result of the Afghanistan War and preliminary court proceedings have commenced in Canberra.

A bit of background on McBride. He is a former British Army major and Australian Army lawyer. He provided information to the national broadcaster, the ABC detailing war crimes by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. The allegations were investigated and Major Brereton found the allegations “credible”, but no legal action has yet been commenced against the suspected war criminals. Instead, the government has gone after the whistle blower. He faces 50 years in prison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_...(whistleblower)

Quote:

In September 2018, McBride was charged with the theft of Commonwealth property contrary to s 131(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995; in March 2019 he was charged with a further four offences: three of breaching s 73A(1) of the Defence Act 1903; and another of "unlawfully disclosing a Commonwealth document contrary to s 70(1) of the Crimes Act 1914".[11][12][13][14][15] McBride pleaded not guilty to each of the charges at a 30 May 2019 preliminary hearing and is awaiting trial.[11][16] His legal team includes Nick Xenophon and Mark Davis.[2][17]

There is no dispute that he provided the classified information, but I have seen no evidence or even commentary that serving officers were put at risk.

Nuremberg has already been invoked:

Quote:

The barrister acting for defence whistleblower David McBride has told a judge that merely obeying orders “ignores Nuremberg” in arguing his client was duty-bound to leak confidential material relating to war crimes investigations to the media.

There is already conjecture that “Jury Nullification” could occur, which as far as I can tell has never been confirmed to have happened in Australia.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/f...14-p5ejrs.html

There are many things that do not sit well with me, most notably that disgraced Victoria Cross recipient Ben Robert’s-Smith has not yet been charged, and may not be. In a defamation trial brought by Robert’s-Smith, the judge found he killed four Afghan non-combatants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Roberts-Smith

So a big trial by Australian standards and I will post updates as it proceeds.

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