The Lifeboat News
[ Message Archive | The Lifeboat News ]

    It's hard to believe the 'jigsaw piece' is the reason for the prosecution Archived Message

    Posted by walter on April 26, 2020, 12:37 am, in reply to "Craig Murray is under attack by the PTB. He's fighting back."

    Referring to Murray's post on Mary's link, and to his links there...

    Clearly the legal system was irked by Murray's 'Yes Minister' parody. The 'jigsaw piece' (giving information that might help identify an accuser) fits the bill as a reason but as Murray points out, numerous other media sources did the same.
    Not only that, but again, in the interests of balance and fairness - like people in the justice system are supposed to do by second nature - the irksome parody should have been compared with other media coverage hostile to Salmond.

    Murray's claims of an establishment fit-up have been made loud and long. Though this could be the primary reason for prosecution, it's low-key in the indictment; gets a mentioned as an offence of some stated statute number. A lot more emphasis is put on the 'could have identified the accuser' offence. A clear-cut serious offence, but one which numerous others have committed who won't be sharing the dock with Murray.

    Murray's main crime, which may not be a crime, appears to be tweaking the tiger's tail while having a lot of readers.

    There is a kind of consistency there - in that the Scottish legal system, which I am aware has a tendency to mysteriously drop solid cases against inconvenient targets, is now 'mysteriously' prosecuting an inconvenient target. Or rather giving mysterious reasons for prosecuting this particular target. Maybe the Herald has had an indictment too for putting Salmond up next to a bunch of notorious killers, but I doubt that.

    I didn't see any mention in the indictment of Murray's main actions that could have influenced the trial - accusing the accusers of lying from day one, thereby leading a backlash against them.

    Murray's problem is likely to be that the arguments about the prosecution's reasons may not be put before the court, who will be expected to try the case in hand. Prior actions of procurators fiscal are difficult to challenge.

    With so much of his case being political and outside of the court he could be sitting in, I think the court of public opinion is his best bet.

    Message Thread: