**Date for Diaries** Please join us outside HMP Edinburgh on the morning of 30 November 2021 to celebrate Craig’s release from prison. Speech from Craig. All welcome. It’s St Andrews Day – bring your Saltire. #cmcountdown #ScotlandJailsJournalists
— Craig Murray Justice campaign (@cmurrayjustice) November 17, 2021
Craig Murray #CountdownToFreedom series #ScotlandJailsJournalists Peter Oborne, journalist & former political commentator of the Daily Telegraph describes his friend as a hero, truthteller, dissident – https://t.co/MZhxu46YPR pic.twitter.com/hBcd1xj8A2
— Craig Murray Justice campaign (@cmurrayjustice) November 22, 2021
I want to make one or two points for you to ponder while I am in jail. This is the last post until about Christmas; we are not legally able to post anything while I am imprisoned. But the Justice for Craig Murray Campaign website is now up and running and will start to have more content shortly. Fora and comments here are planned to stay open.
I hope that one possible good effect of my imprisonment might be to coalesce opposition to the imminent abolition of jury trials in sexual assault cases by the Scottish Government, a plan for which Lady Dorrian – who wears far too many hats in all this – is front and centre. We will then have a situation where, as established by my imprisonment, no information at all on the defence case may be published in case it contributes to “jigsaw identification”, and where conviction will rest purely on the view of the judge.
That is plainly not “open justice”, it is not justice at all. And it is even worse than that, because the openly stated aim of abolishing juries is to increase conviction rates. So people will have their lives decided not by a jury of their peers, but by a judge who is acting under specific instruction to increase conviction rates.
It is often noted that conviction rates in rape trials are too low, and that is true. But have you ever heard this side of the argument? In Uzbekistan under the Karimov dictatorship, when I served there, conviction rates in rape trials were 100%. In fact very high conviction rates are a standard feature of all highly authoritarian regimes worldwide, because if the state prosecutes you then the state gets what it wants. The wishes of the state in such systems vastly outweigh the liberty of the individual.
My point is simply this. You cannot judge the validity of a system simply by high conviction rates. What we want is a system where the innocent are innocent and the guilty found guilty; not where an arbitrary conviction target is met.
The answer to the low conviction rates in sexual assault trials is not simple. Really serious increases in resources for timely collection of evidence, for police training and specialist units, for medical services, for victim support, all have a part to play. But that needs a lot of money and thought. Just abolishing juries and telling judges you want them to convict is of course free, or even a saving.
The right to have the facts judged in serious crime allegations by a jury of our peers is a glory of our civilisation. It is the product of millennia, not lightly to be thrown away and replaced by a huge increase in arbitrary state power. That movement is of course fueled by current fashionable political dogma which is that the victim must always be believed. That claim has morphed from an initial meaning that police and first responders must take accusations seriously, to a dogma that accusation is proof and it is wrong to even question the evidence, which is of course to deny the very possibility of false accusation.
That is precisely the position which Nicola Sturgeon has taken over the Alex Salmond trial; to be accused is to be guilty, irrespective of the defence evidence. That people are oblivious to the dangers of the dogma that there should be no defence against sexual assault allegations, is to me deeply worrying. Sexual allegation is the most common method that states have used to attack dissidents for centuries, worldwide and again especially in authoritarian regimes. Closer to home, think of history stretching from Roger Casement to Assange and Salmond.
Why would we remove the only barrier – a jury of ordinary citizens – that can stop abuse of state power?
I am worried that this abolition of juries will have been enacted by the Scottish Parliament, even before I am out of jail. I am worried Labour and the Lib Dems will support it out of fashionable political correctness. I am worried an important liberty will disappear.
I want to touch on one other aspect of liberty in my own imprisonment that appears not understood, or perhaps simply neglected, because somehow the very notion of liberty is slipping from our political culture. One point that features plainly in the troll talking points to be used against me, recurring continually on social media, is that I was ordered to take down material from my blog and refused.
There is an extremely important point here. I have always instantly complied with any order of a court to remove material. What I have not done is comply with instructions from the Crown or Procurator Fiscal to remove material. Because it is over 330 years since the Crown had the right of censorship in Scotland without the intervention of a judge.
It sickens me that so many Scottish Government backed trolls are tweeting out that I should have obeyed the instructions of the Crown. That Scotland has a governing party which actively supports the right of the Crown to exercise unrestrained censorship is extremely worrying, and I think a sign both of the lack of respect in modern political culture for liberties which were won by people being tortured to death, and of the sheer intellectual paucity of the current governing class.
But then we now learn that Scotland has a government which was prepared not only to be complicit in exempting the Crown from climate change legislation, but also complicit in hushing up the secret arrangement, so I am not surprised.
What is even more terrifying in my case is that the Court explicitly states that I should have followed the directions of the Crown Office in what I did and did not publish, and my failure to not publish as the Crown ordered is an aggravating factor in my sentencing.
If the Crown thinks something I write is in contempt and I think it is not, the Crown and I should stand as equals in court and argue our cases. There should be no presumption I ought to have obeyed the Crown in the first place. That Scottish “justice” has lost sight of this is disastrous, though perhaps as much from stupidity as malice.
My next thought on my trial is to emphasise again the dreadful doctrine Lady Dorrian has now enshrined in law, that bloggers should be held to a different (by implication higher) standard in law than the mainstream media (the judgement uses exactly those terms), because the mainstream media is self-regulated.
This doctrine is used to justify jailing me when mainstream media journalists have not been jailed for media contempt for over half a century, and also to explain why I have been prosecuted where the mainstream media, who were provably responsible for far more jigsaw identification, were not prosecuted.
This is dreadful law, and my entire legal team are frankly astonished that the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on this point. This excellent article by Jonathan Cook explains further the chilling implications.
Those articles which the Court ordered me to take down, have been taken down. But I was not ordered to take down this one, which was found not to be in contempt of court. I was also not ordered to take down my affidavits, which though slightly redacted are still extremely valuable. I swore to the truth of every word and I stick by that. At the time I published these, far less was known about the Salmond affair than is known now, and I believe you will find it well worth reading them again in the light of your current state of wider knowledge – absolutely nothing to do with learning identities, but to do with what really happened on the whole plot to destroy Alex Salmond (something the judgement states I am allowed to say).
Finally I urge you to consider this truly remarkable speech from Kenny MacAskill MP. Scotland’s former Justice Secretary, and consider its quite staggering implications. It tells you everything you want to know about the British Establishment’s capture of the Scottish government, that the mainstream media felt no need to report the main points he was making, which constitute a simply astonishing outline of corrupt abuse of power.
An explanation: this blog is going dark because I cannot by law publish from prison or conduct a business from prison. Access to this blog has always been free and open and subscriptions have always been a voluntary contribution and not a purchase. It is understood that all new and continuing subscriptions from today, until we go live again, are voluntary contributions to the welfare of my family and not in exchange for anything.
I am afraid one off contributions to the defence fund are also still urgently needed. Legal costs so far paid amount to over £200,000 and continue to rise as we head towards the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which has to be via another Scottish Court called the nobile officium. Astonishingly, over 13,000 individuals from over 120 countries have contributed to the legal defence fund. People all over the world value freedom and realise the terrible precedents established by this case must be overturned.
We are equally grateful for all donations and all really do help – donations of £5 or less total over £30,000. But I must mention the special generosity of Roger Waters and Vivienne Westwood, and the anonymous individual who gave one bitcoin. 80% of the fund is reserved for legal fees, but up to 20% may be used to fund campaigning to raise public and political awareness of the human rights issues involved.
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Well said Nils –
Nils Melzer @NilsMelzer
Thanks
@Jonathan_K_Cook
for this troubling account on the suppression of independent #journalism.
If anyone in Scotland deserves to be called a «proper journalist» whose writing & integrity actually make a difference, it is
@CraigMurrayOrg
https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1421621527573848067
Yes Craig Murray stands head and shoulders above any main stream journalist I can think of .I value his integrity , the depth and breadth of his knowledge , and also his clear skilful writing style. I shall miss reading his articles more than I can say over the weeks that he will be in darkness. I hope the comments will keep coming in….and we will all be waiting so eagerly for his return. I hope he is aware of how valued and loved he is by so many people.
Any photos or videos from today somewhere?
“Auld Lang Syne” sung as Craig handed himself in at the police station this morning.
https://mobile.twitter.com/RaggedTP/status/1421836625353613316
Thanks for sharing this! Made tears on my eyes.
I didn’t even recognise that being a commenter here is a big part of my life. I learn so much here and found so many clever people here and I’m so grateful to you all contributors and moderators for your kind, welcoming, patient and supportive attitude.
Mr.Murray’s portrait is on the wall in my studio and it’s the first thing I see entering my workshop in the morning. I do not always agree with Mr. Murray and even once I threatened to draw horns on his portrait – of course I didn’t. I respect him too much.
I wish he walks out of jail very soon. I wish Mrs.Murray stays strong and optimistic. I wish all Mr.Murrays family and friends keep supporting him.
Thank you Mr. Murray for making it possible that I had so much wonderful time here on your website. I’ll be waiting for the restart.
Well keep coming Tatyana! Craig is leaving the comments open and we must keep sharing ideas and articles in his absence – he’d expect no less!
Hard to find the right words, but here are a few :
I agree that Craig should, in a peverse way, feel hounoured to be a political prisoner. He is in very esteemed company. I suspect he might struggle to see the bright side though.
Not sure whether I should be surprised that the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. Did I miss a post that explained why ? Is their ‘reasoning’ published for us to read ?
Next stop Europe – I find it very hard to believe they will not find in Craig’s favour, but by then he will have served his sentence. But this case addresses very important issues – the freedom of the non-mainstream media. As we have seen with both Salmond and Assange’s trials, as with so many other issues, we cannot rely on the mainstream media to hold power to account. So if the non-mainstream media are censored, where is the accountability ?
Which makes me think. Has Craig or his team thought of approaching the Open Society Foundation for support ? They are heavily into tackling corruption and promoting accountability.
All the best for your time in prison Craig. I look forward to shaking your hand at Doune the Rabbit 2022. The Kakatsitsi Drummers will pour Libation in your honour.
“Not sure whether I should be surprised that the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal”.
The High Court has traditionally been the final court of appeal (apart from the House of Lords). The “Supreme Court” was a solution for which there was no problem: a purely political superstructure violently jammed down on top of the British legal system.
Don’t expect the “Supreme Court” ever to pay attention to justice, decency or even law. Its members know what is expected of them.
Stephen Peake said:
“Not sure whether I should be surprised that the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. Did I miss a post that explained why ? Is their ‘reasoning’ published for us to read ?”
I’ve searched in vain to find the judgment relating to the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Mt Murray’s appeal. As Lady Dorrian refused leave to appeal, Mr Murray was entitled to apply to the Supreme court. But that court has refused to hear the case. There can’t be a SC judgment as it didn’t hear the appeal. But there must be some reasons set out somewhere. Especially where, as in the judgment being appealed, there are so many issues meriting a higher court’s consideration. I’ve searched on BAILLI, the most comprehensive data base of UK judgments and can find nothing. All very worrying and consistent with the general abuse of the legal system, justifying what is essentially, a political action.
The Open Society Foundation, George Soros’s outfit is heavily into regime change to serve the needs of western capital.
There was a time when justice was seen to be done, when all court proceedings in the UK courts were published online and available free of charge. Those days have gone. In order to examine proceedings, you either have to know someone in the legal profession who is willing to do you a favour or you have to pay a large sum of money (around £50-100 per PAGE) for a copy of a document which already exists. This money is supposed to defray the costs of the people who create the written records, but many see it as a thinly disguised attempt to restrict justice to the wealthy.
A grotesquely selective, malicious prosecution hatched in the First Minister’s office, forced through by placemen and women without comment from supposedly hostile media. SNP voters cover their eyes, determinedly blind to how they’re being played by the poison dwarf and her Unionist allies. Look after yourself in there Craig.
“Judge Lady Dorrian passed the order to protect the identities of the women who claimed to have been abused by the ex-SNP leader, who was acquitted of all 13 sexual assault charges.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58018127
I know it is hard to attribute any positives to this saga.
The above line from the BBC, reads to me like even the BBC think the alphabet people are liars.
BBC Knows they are liars as does everyone else who’s followed the Salmond saga.
That’s the point.
The liars prevailed and continue to rule Scotland.
Stick that up your kilt.
Salmond was acquitted, so was found innocent, so the claims of assault remain just that, claims. The BBC couldn’t legally write anything different – or at least avoid being sued by Salmond for a very large sum of money indeed. I wonder what communication, if any, Salmond has had with Craig – indeed has he commented anywhere about Craig’s travails? One wonders then if Craig’s support of Salmond was truly worth it?
At the very least, there must have been people talking, a grouping of people, maybe not all in one room at the same time.
13 sexual charges is like a shotgun going off in a sub-post office, almost bound to hit someone, however, as Salmond was lucky enough to have a trial by jury, the jury saw through these false accusers.
Salmond was cleared of all charges.
The only reasonable conclusion is, he did nothing that was illegal
and the Alphabet persons fabricated their stories.
For a very long time, Salmond has had a reputation of being rather “touchy-feely”. Given that the notion of what constitutes sexual assault has changed so much in recent times, anybody wishing to fit him up will not have had to think for long about how to proceed – what was once a friendly arm round the shoulder can now be construed as a deliberate and malicious attack on a woman’s virtue. The fact that at least one of the allegations against Salmond was made up rather than being an exaggerated version of real events is perhaps the strongest evidence that there was a conspiracy against him.
Even if Salmond is a scoundrel and coward, and I hope he isn’t, Craig’s support of Salmond was worth it, because it righted a wrong and exposed Sturgeon and her crew as the scum they are. People with eyes to see will know what happened and who was in the right.
“The above line from the BBC, reads to me like even the BBC think the alphabet people are liars.”
As I recall it was only one was a liar having claimed to be present at a time and a place where they could not have been present. The rest just had nothing to report which looked like a criminal matter to the jury.
Craig, wish you strength and health to go through this unjust imprisonment. May God be with you.
As I write this Craig will be sadly and disgracefully going through the procedures of incarceration. In the above blog he draws attention to the debate in Parliament led by Kenny Macaskill, which goes to the heart of the matter, which is the anomalous role of the Lord Advocate, without whose selective, politically motivated interventions none of this would have happened. I agree the speech shows an astonishing corruption of power, which needs merits discussion than that carried out in a nearly empty House of Commons.
It also shows the anomalies in devolution with the UK government able to say the Scottish government should set the ball rolling to sort it out and the Scottish representatives saying that they could sort it out if the UK government started the process. So stalemate is the likely result and nothing will change. It all feels like a catch – 22 and will certainly not be resolved by the time Craig returns to the fray.
Ironically independence would only be an answer if there existed the political will to ensure the new state was truly democratic, there might be a temptation to cling on to the current structures to maintain the current authoritarianism, which has exploited this anomaly, unlike evidently the Salmond government before it.
Hang in there, Craig.
Your actions WILL be vindicated.
Dear Crim Craig
I’m sorry that you have met the same fate as a lot of other decent honourable men.
The authorities treat most men with the same contempt as they treated you.
As a crim you will discover that jails are populated by men who it serves no useful purpose to imprison.
Just be aware that about 20% of the prison population are mentally unstable or career criminals.
Probably less than 5% of crims will victimise you but about 30% of prison guards will attempt to make you miserable in any petty way possible. The worst of the worst are the so called medical staff.
Parole should it be presented as an option to you is an absolute travesty. The main purpose of parole appears to be to get innocent victims to admit guilt. It is best avoided by decent people
I’m heartened by the fact that you mention the principle of “open justice” as determined in Scott & Anor v Scott 1913.
The root of your persecution lies in Dorian’s offence against the principle of “open justice”.
Dorrian’s suppression order is illegal.
As a decent honourable victim you actually support Dorian’s illegal suppression order and consequently you are now a crim. No suppression order could have been made in the Salmond case because the circumstances do not justify it and the charges should never have been laid.
Despite the main aim of incarceration being to prevent information flowing from inside the prison to us outside, I I look forward to hearing third party accounts of your life in prison and your further impoverishment by the legal industry.
If you survive you will remain a crim for evermore.
Best wishes
Jon
An extremely eloquent and well argued statement of the blatant flaws and political machinations in your case, Craig. One which every whining, smug SNP troll should read and digest, although of course they won’t. That the SNP now has a little troll army which are deployed with the same superficial, gloating statements, not to mention utter ignorance of the facts, is a sign of how far it has fallen into the gutter politics familiar to us from the worst of modern politicians and their parties. It is also a horrifying glimpse into the standards of Scottish political discourse, particularly in the institutions of law and parliament which are supposed to be concerned with upholding standards and the principles of liberal democracy.
Clearly they are entirely uninterested, content to fight their pathetic culture wars against perceived ‘enemies’ – which includes distinguished people in their own party, former members and their bête noir, Alba, who are subject to daily trolling as well as false accounts being set up in their name to spread disinformation. That tells you a lot about how hysterical they are about opposition to their tyranny in the independence movement. It horrifies me that not a single MSP, to my knowledge, has shown any understanding of the principles you outline here. It is entirely irrelevant what they think of you; it is very relevant, to Scottish justice and accountability, what has been done to you, and what the so-called arguments have been. They are the most feeble, speculative, unevidenced and biased set of judgements I have ever seen. And the fact that they potentially set precedents on two counts – identification and the rights of writers outside the MSM – should mean an appeal is automatic. That is exactly what appeals courts are for. The dereliction of their duty undermines any notion of checks and balances which are essential for the just application of laws. Of course, our MSP’s are so ignorant, they do not understand either the separation of powers, or the necessity of checks and balances in a system, in order to demonstrate impartiality and basic fairness. It appears that every MSP and official needs to do a course in basic liberal democratic institutions, since they appear not to have a clue how it works.
My own interpretation, for what it is worth, is as follows. Dorrian was extremely put out by your defence and particularly your affidavits, which allowed you to put in the public domain your real concerns about the conduct of the Salmond prosecution farce. You are provocative, and she was provoked. The evidence for that is ample, in her sneering disdain for you and your defence, completely unacceptable from a supposed impartial senior judge. This attitude, I believe, made her determined to find you guilty, since the crime of jigsaw identification is so vague it allows almost any interpretation, including no need whatsoever to supply evidence. This she duly did. However, having done so, she then realised that would mean absolutely no-one could report a court case involving anonymity, since the reporter would never know if they had mysteriously and inadvertently identifies someone. So she had to concoct a qualifying clause, with no precedent, no status in law, and no democratically scrutinised basis. Thus the MSM was let off the hook of this absurd draconian and Kafka-esque though police argument, creating two categories of writers, journalists and commentators where previously there had been none. The fact that no MSP or MSM journalist finds this untenable, unjust and blatantly prejudicial is horrifying in their betrayal of their own professions.
We learned recently that the same complainer in the Salmond case was responsible for the ridiculous assault on the freedom of Mark Hirst. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that person is behind your charges, and a couple of the other clearly targeted charges at SNP enemies. The autocracy of the Sturgeon regime has gone way too far, it is becoming urgent that they are held accountable and made to answer for their actions. Of course that political corruption explains the hysterical attacks on you and others by the SNP troll factory, and tells it own story of the broken gerrymandering of the SNP and their powerful allies against any challenge to their powers.
You at least can hold your head high, and will be proved right in time.
Under which law, either in the UK or Scotland, are journalists granted protected freedom of speech ? Is it not the case that *all* citizens and *all* publishers of whatever type are free to publish whatever they like so long as they do not breach any of the legislation regarding official secrets, libel, slander, defamation, hate crimes etc etc. If I am ignorant in this, please educate me.
The tale told here on the extradition to the US case of former Autonomy boss, Mike Lynch, and the enlightening comments that accompany it, appear to advise one and all that the law is an ass and justice is in the preserve of donkeys who imagine they be thought of and lauded as lions, but whenever evidence is either absent or not needed for prosecution or persecution, it is but one small step and a heartbeat away for such administrative systems to suffer any number of catastrophes which purges it of corrupt and perverse elements with prime examples being made of leading corrupt players and right rotten eggs.
And it does beg the question ….. How much does it cost, and who gets well paid, to persecute and prosecute a soul whenever there be a pantomime crime to milk and bilk in expeditious support of politically incorrect serial judgements?
It might be very lucrative for a chosen few, but it is hardly likely ever to be regarded sustainable and a good business model to follow with slavish support as everyone gets smarter and better informed or deeper misinformed.
Such activities are surely those highly indicative of a failed state already on its knees and with nothing worthwhile to offer the future, although one imagines hubris would try to paint an altogether different picture which bears no relationship to the evidence presented and accepted by an overwhelming number of others.
Any photos videos news from today somewhere?
These have a good few photos from the Main Sewer Media and others…
https://twitter.com/cmurrayjustice
Many thanks.
Firstly, along with many of the other commenters, could I extend my best wishes to our generous host and his young family at this difficult time.
Secondly, with regard to our host’s statement that his ‘Yes Minister Fan Fiction’ blogpost of 18 Jan 2020 was not found to be in contempt of court, a brief scan of the judges’ ruling of 25 Mar 2021 reveals that in paragraph 74, the judges state:
‘In our view these matters alone are sufficient to mean that the respondent breaches the order by continuing to publish the article on his website. It breaches the order when read alone; when read with the article of 23 August the breach is blatant.’
However, in paragraph 90, said blogpost is not listed as one of those found to be in contempt, merely as providing ‘context’ for the blogposts (& tweet) that were. This raises the pertinent question: Is it in contempt or not?
This is not the only bone of contention in their ruling. In paragraph 88, with regard to the 3 April 2020 blogpost, the judges opine that they ‘do not consider that the material is likely to lead to identification of a complainer’, yet it is included in the list of those found to breach the court order in paragraph 90.
Furthermore, my short perusal revealed the whole text to be riddled with obvious solecisms regarding dates etc. I’m not a lawyer, but surely in cases where a person’s liberty is at stake, the judgment has to be absolutely watertight – as opposed to downright contradictory and error-strewn – otherwise it can ruled unsafe on a technicality.
Has anyone (Craig’s lawyers?) spotted these things before? What do people think about them?
Judges’ ruling: https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/default-source/cos-general-docs/pdf-docs-for-opinions/2021hcj002.pdf?sfvrsn=0
LA please note. Dorian goes on about the Journalistic code. e.g.
“Code of Conduct(“the IPSO Code”), clause 11 of which states: “The press must not identify or publish material likely to lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so. etc etc”
VICTIMS and COMPLAINERS are completely two different identities. All along Dorrian has treated the complainers as victims, which is a major flaw in her logic. Why bring up the Code of Conduct in the first place? No one except Lady Dorian would expect non-victim complainers to be treated the same.
Thanks for your reply Peter.
It’s possible that Lady D didn’t write that bit – it may have been either of Lords Menzies or Turnbull* – but judging by the ‘hatchet-job’ tone of that section, and the obsession with the IPSO code and ‘proper’ journalism that she showed when denying our generous host leave to appeal, I for one would put folding money on it.
I agree with you that Clause 11 of the IPSO code is badly worded with regard to distinguishing victims from accusers, but, in fairness, it’s not really a legal document – unlike the judges’ error-strewn ruling, which contains another howler in that paragraph (68) alone: the court order was made on 10 March *2020*, m’lady!
(*For a bit of context, perhaps it’s worth noting that Lord Turnbull presided over Tommy Sheridan’s ‘swingers’ clubs’ libel case against the News of the World a while back, in which, despite the jury finding in favour of Tommy, the noble lord recommended that he be investigated for perjury. This resulted in Tommy being convicted and sentenced to 3 years, in spite of a later hearing finding that the lies told in court didn’t affect the material outcome of the libel case, meaning that Davros & co. still had to pay Tommy £200 grand in damages. Make of that what you will.)
I still can’t get my head around Complainers versus Victims.
According to a legal dictionary….
“complainer – the person who instigates a criminal investigation in Scotland. The prosecution itself is initiated by the Crown.”
Therefore a complainer can be a lawyer or anyone such as probably in the Salmond case one person who went around organising the conspiracy. Lady Dorrian rather than making out orders protecting victims made sure to use the word complainer. (obviously if Salmond was cleared there were no victims) But in doing so has made it confusing. Everyone goes out of their way to protect victims. Why suddenly are complainers afforded so much protection on par with victims?
There is just no sense in the whole saga.
I might add if I was a genuine victim I would be up in arms over a journalist going to prison and not the accused.
Can I just add further that the status of a complainant changes after resolution.
Its just plain silly forever calling a person a complainant. Thats why we have courts i.e. so the complainant gets resolution and until the next event is no longer a complainant. Unless there were further complaints Dorrian could no longer refer to the instigators as complainers.
Thanks for your replies Peter.
In England & Wales, rightly or wrongly, the Sexual Offences Act of 1992 provides lifelong anonymity for complainants in sexual assault cases. No such law applies in Scotland, but in practice the Scottish media adhere to it. I believe the intent behind this is to encourage genuine victims of sexual assault to come forward by seeking to ensure that they won’t be pilloried, or even physically harmed, whether the accused is found guilty or not.
Aside from the draconian sentence, what galls me most about our generous host’s case is that if there were any genuine concern for the welfare of the complainers on the part of COPFS, they would have launched legal proceedings against those media outlets that revealed information which could have led to one or more complainers being identified – intent being irrelevant – in breach of the court order. At the very least, they should have sent emails/letters to their Legal Depts (as well as to overseas-based archive websites) requesting that any such information on their sites be redacted, which the recipients would have most likely complied with.
More info in the post on Wings: https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-poisoned-pens/
P.S. It seems that even the COPFS is a bit confused as to the difference between ‘victims’ and ‘complainers’.
https://twitter.com/copfs/status/1360670942549131275?lang=en
Fortunately, there are some legal experts amongst the replies to set them straight.
Thanks for the links.
I looked up the COPS legal terms dictionary which is extensive. The only refererence to complain was…..
“Complaint – A statement accusing someone of breaking the law.
Copy complaint – A letter from the procurator fiscal to an accused person, telling them what they have been charged with and when to appear in court.”
For something as important as victim you would have thought it would be referenced alongside complainer. Therefore the idea that a complainer is the Scottish legal term for sexual victim is rubbish.
Now after the Salmond trial the only victim was Salmond himself. Further since complainer cannot be equated with sexual crime victim Lady Dorian is doubly wrong. Her sentence on Craig was as if the complainers were victims..
I know what I am saying is obvious and basic but it has to be phrased in strict legal terminology. Perhaps Craig’s lawyers could assist.
Thanks for your reply.
I doubt whether the writer of the tweet has an in-depth knowledge of Scottish law or, judging by the time that it was sent, much of a social life – though granted the pubs & clubs would have been closed during lockdown.
Legally, Eck can only be said to be a victim at such time as one or more of the complainers are found guilty of perjury, or COPFS is found to have carried out a malicious prosecution (see the ongoing Rangers case).
Technical note: Our generous host’s sentence is 8 months (hopefully he’ll only serve half or less). The average gestation period of human beings is 9 months.
How could Scotland sink so low’
One day the society will say “let right be done’, and right will be done, Mr. Murray, the healthy core of Britishness will make sure of it.
If anyone pathetic it’s you, one can only pity a country that breeds someone like you.
What a dark day for freedom, justice and liberty. Decades of progress rolled back in the twinkling of an eye, and with barely a murmur of disssent, criticism or opposition from within the ruling elite, especially the media. It’s like a news blackout. Important news just simply disappears these days. A pernicious form of censorship. I fear people will follow. It’s disturbing to see cherished ‘bourgeois freedoms’ eroded before one’s eyes. Sure, we never really lived in a truly democratic state, but still, the freedoms that were allowed and tolerated, made a real difference. Now we live in a kind of authoritarian, liberal state. It’s a form of corporate state, where the giant corporations, the political leadership, the media have basically merged into a new powerful whole, where wealth and power are concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. What was labelled ‘bourgeois democracy’, despite all of its conceits and failures, was preferable to this, what’s emerging from the shadows once more.
Love how Craig’s wife said he’ll be forced to mix with criminals in prison. What does she think politicians are? They’ve starved over 100K children to death in Yemen; they drove hundreds of disabled people to suicide with their welfare “reforms”; they exploited the pandemic to line their own pockets and the pockets of their rich cronies, leaving the most vulnerable in society to their fate; it goes on and on.
What Craig’s wife really means is: he’ll be around blue-collar, WORKING CLASS, criminals, as opposed to the well-educated, white-collar, criminals that he’s more used to being around.
We’re meant to believe that a former British ambassador became an ambassador to do Jesus’s work – because that’s what you do when you care: you CHOOSE to work for the worst criminals on this planet!
Murray believes in an “elite” being in charge – just as long as it’s HIS kind of “elite”. Live by the sword, die by the sword!
–
As soon as Julian Assange was in Belmarsh, we were told that he was on the verge of dying, yet he’s still alive.
Expect months of the same hyperbole about Craig Murray.
He’ll likely leave prison fitter and healthier, after paying his debt to society – oops, I mean to the Queen! – who paid for his dinners, paid for him to be an ambassador, and is paying for him to stay in jail – NOT us plebs – it’s NOT our money! – we’re all working class scroungers who need to be controlled by trusted men like Craig Murray.
Weak, nonsensical fare, Kevin, considering the effort you went to. You cannot seriously expect payment for this.
Actually, iain, what surprises me is that he didn’t sell it to The Times or the BBC for a handsome payment. They would like it.
I must say it seems a bit out of place here.
You sir [Kevin] demonstrate one thing clearly with your post: an idiot by any name is still an idiot. What a mash up of nonsense, innuendo and bad mouthing.
Sorry to distract from the topic of Murray’s post.
kevin, what an idiotic comment. You haven’t got a f-ing clue what Craig thinks and you clearly don’t know him.
Kevin, maybe you should get Perry to help you with your next post, eh?
I’ve found it concerning the number of women who believe that Lady Dorrian is a champion of anything.
In conversation with some of my female friends recently I tried to explain what LD was trying to bring about. They repeatedly wanted to focus on the low conviction rate for rape and sexual assault which, they seemed to think, somehow justified getting “barriers” out of the way. Barriers like actually establishing the guilt of the accused. I changed tack. I asked how many of them had husbands, brothers, sons, fathers, close male friends. Many nods. I reminded them that, should LD get her way, those men could be accused of rape or sexual assault and not have a hope in hell of winning a court case because, essentially, those men don’t count, they’re guilty from the start! I said I didn’t want to be any part of that sort of “justice”.
Rape is the most difficult charge to prove simply because, almost always, there are only two witnesses. THAT is why there is such a low conviction rate.
The ONLY thing you hear about rape in the corporate media is how the conviction rate must be increased. The Guardian says it at least twice every day. It has been saying this for quite some time.
Just as the Junta used rape as a wedge issue to split the Labour Party between conservative northern working class and trendy Islington types from 1997 and 2013, so they are splitting men and women today.
British Imperialism has without doubt come home.
Remember that logic (like mathematics, science and anything else involving reasoning) is a weapon of the White Male Patriarchy.
The “conviction rate” for rape allegations is measured by allegations against convictions, rather than prosecutions against convictions, which is the measure for other alleged crimes. The rate of convictions against trials for alleged rape was around 48% last time I looked, which suggests that juries don’t always give the defendant the benefit of the doubt, even in she said, he said. How many women have been convicted of rape by the way?
Craig’s case now featured on Independent website (with comments).
Also the Guardian website (without comments).
Thanks. Apparently SNP president Mike Russell criticized the sentence, which is an interesting step, or perhaps just about optics.
Both include a claim like “His posts contained details which, if put together, could lead readers to identify women who made allegations against Mr Salmond”. I don’t think this is accurate, is it? It suggests that Craig wrote two blog posts, one with the first names and one with the surnames. That would obviously have been bad, but that’s not what happened.
Mike Russell knows as well as anyone else that Craig’s prosecution was selective in the extreme; that this obscure blog was singled out by the Scottish government/legal authorities from all the mass media transgressors. Russell chose to omit that fact from his Sunday Times comments for reasons you can speculate on. I dare suggest he is a weasel who endorsed the prosecution and therefore supports Craig Murray like a rope supports a hanging man. Others may interpret him as a daring rebel, defying the Murrells and fighting for a man he admires. There are some very credulous people out there.
The Groan says NOTHING. Severin has gone awol. They are burying it. As they have buried the whole can of worms of the SNP. They are fascists in sheepskins.
I am inviting any Guardian reader here, who still believes it to be an antiestablishment, anti-unionist, anti-fascist rag to see actual facts and have a real free comment exchange.
i suggest a mass FREE CRAIG MURRAY! on every article open to comment. Seriously. Just get out there until they ban you. If every rider of this blog (who supports free speech, not you colonel pink eye) just spent an half an hour every day while Craig risks his life in jail did this it would cause a wave of movement that may in fact have a desired effect. I will be starting tomorrow. And of course, once you’re banned you can just get another email account. Think outside the box. Protest is not futile.
Feel free to try. But I fear the Guardian might have an auto delete on Craig Murray comments. I suspect they’ve got a list of topics that people bring up aggressively, and they just auto delete.
I asked on the politics blog whether they would be covering Craig. I asked politely and neutrally, I think it’s a legitimate question. But it disappeared very quickly. I don’t usually bother to post on “controversial” issues so it’s not that I’ve not got a flag against my name.
The Guardian has a “delete immediately” policy on many issues and I suspect CM will be listed now too. Among other topics covered are daring to challenge on the whole “anti-S” debate or questioning why competitors who are still physically male are competing in events for women at the Olympics.
Mate, try and knock yourselves out, i did!
I have got barred from the shitfeeders of the Obsessive Groaniad years ago for asking about who the fuck the Syrian journalists and doctors and White Helmets were they were pushing and why it was a direct stenography of The Syria PR Organisation with dodgy Oil Tycoon Tory donors and what they were doing in the same space as the headchoppers who supposedly hated them???
Along with why they insist on a regular stories about their favourite boo boy petty fascist and his brown short toerags gang, Yaxley-Lennin who they always insist on introducing, thus reinforcing his celebrity, as ‘Tommy’, the dumb dumber and dumbest boy drummer – who is a deep state plant and being readied for political office with his ‘jailings’ and flash mob thugs being driven to areas under police protection and media support – just as ‘Adolf’ was, as they failed with Mosley and the Mitford who they still fawn over. They and the beeb did also with Fartage and his one man dog whistling that sold BrexShit. Etc
The Fact that I focused in on their extreme Zionist support of apartheid Israel and called out their old hags Cohen, Rawnsley, Freedman, Hutton…and The harridans Toynbee & co – with actual facts from their own archives as quickly as they were putting their turgid stinking ‘news’ up – really got their goat. They really lost it as I constantly tried to correct their lies about Corbyn and when the 2017 election went against them they fell in behind Murdoch and the DUP stitch up coup … and finally dragged me and many others off their patch and beyond their controlled farm.
40 years a daily reader and buyer I was. I’m happy with that, as these many £’s now go to support the family Murray. Where CM does singlehandedly more to destroy the daily bile of the whole MSM drones . Also a few other – real, investigative journalist bloggers who are ostracised from earning in the propaganda mills of the MSM.
I had exactly the same experience and trajectory with the fake ‘resistance’ DS agitprop supposed antiiGroaniad – OffGuardian, an obscurely setup and fronted agitprop platform aimed at doing the fascist job of bridging the thickos of the left/right into the red/brown forces that are being ushered in just as the Nazis were. Just an offshoot of the RCP and its mouthpiece Spiked, which helped deliver the BrexShit mindset of the ‘left’, as their DS plant Fox got elevated directly to the Lords by the extreme ‘right’ Bozo the BrexShit Clown, as a reward. OO7th-gee – Their flaky ‘never censor’ bullshit went straight out of the window as they have permanently barred (perma spam folder) me and deleted most of my comments. Poltroons.
As are these who straddle the boards as nothing more than btl troll blue monkey army with their scripts (yup I’m looking at you guys – you’ll never wear your medals with pride and you will not be allowed the defence of ‘following orders’ no matter what your officers guarantee you)
Fuckwits of the State don’t ‘like it up ‘em’.
We must fight them where we can. That means everytime they come into your hood and home and perception – EVERYWHERE is the Cable Street of these reinventing ancient bastards as is EVERY issue and platform, above and below the lines.
We can’t wait to choose the battles because they are not fighting on a battlefield but in our heads!
By all means write in all the fora available and be cancelled – but this war is going to the streets and it is there, where the kids and old people must be prepared to defend against the rising fascists. Just as they split families over BS as they try over CoV, keeping our attention divided and fighting amongst ourselves as they get away with evil – such as CM has written about and been jailed for by a ‘hanging’ judge who reports directly to the Crown at the behest of the Always Slave Owners of the Western World.
¡Non Pasaran!
Nice to see you’ve still got it, DunG!
We can’t wait to choose the battles because they are not fighting on a battlefield but in our heads!
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
Winston Churchill
Dunny my friend. I must vigorously protest… I have a tertiary education, not thick at all!
I had no idea OffG was an offshoot of the RCP. How interesting. Hope you’re ready for what’s coming. Buckle up buddy, things are going to get very tough.
Outrageous what has happened to Craig Murray, but, as you know, we’re all in the crosshairs now of those who really pull the strings.
Gezzah almost all of the most dangerously self compromised sjw and logically challenged personages I know have had tertiary bullshit education everything from Languages to History to Mathematics – now transmuted into endless variations of the same theme to stop people actually THINKING for themselves into ersatz ability of self enlightenment.
Many think they came to such current personal philosophies all by their own! They are encouraged to by cosy claques of the MSM and altstream media – their secret little gangs online sharing supposed restricted knowledge … hence some of you who may not be in employ of the ii/77th/5+1 eyed Gollum’s are allowed to shout as much about it at these fora. Many, like me have been disappeared and none of you lifted a finger never mind an eyebrow and wondered why? Or objected? Actually relishing it. Good little prewar protonazis…
To borrow a phrase ‘ if you thought any different you wouldn’t be allowed to shit where you do’
So trot back to the litter tray of OhOh77th-Gee where you and your fellow intellectual elites do their doodee like any common currs who set up a daily chorus of barks and howls in your self regulated echo chamber.
Do feel offended if I don’t engage any further with your petty threats, misquoting and ‘work’. I fully know what’s coming and have been preparing for the inevitable – because that is how to defeat the greater force.
A person imprisoned for expressing an opinion honestly held and which does not advocate nor condone personal violence and who has not conspired with a foreign government is deemed a prisoner of conscience.
Scotland, a country whose beloved leader snuggles with war criminals and jails antiwar truthtellers. We are bang in trouble.
George Galloway’s show on YouTube interviews Afshin Ratansi of Going Underground on Craig’s imprisonment.
WikiKettle,
“George Galloway’s show on YouTube interviews Afshin Ratansi of Going Underground on Craig’s imprisonment.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGCHoMr0LPA
35 mins 26 secs – 44 mins
Stay strong, Craig. You’re not a proper journalist until you’ve done a stretch for telling the truth. Which means that, as of today, you’re the only journalist in the UK. And I speak as someone who doesn’t always agree with you.
Stand strong my friend: https://twitter.com/coiaorguk/status/1421919271328825344
……. fear not Craig, for you are merely a hindrance to the existence of the Fourth Reich that will soon take it’s place in the history books as the most successful eugenics hit on the human race ever.
Their existence will be short lived as the fast asleep public realise what is happening just too late but each and every one will face the rope as the truth slowly emerges.
Everybody loves a hero and you will always be one in my eyes. You dared to take the tyranny on and will be deemed clear of any charges leveled against you.
Many more will take on your unfinished business, Craig until the world is free of the scum that you have exposed for all to see.
Those who pull the strings are merely living on borrowed time as the whistle blower’s gather the courage to join ranks.
The house of cards is starting to wobble uncontrollably when silicon valley blocks Australian Sky News……
Intend to increase my subscription just as soon as I sign my new contract which will hopefully be in a few week’s time. And should the expected contract fail to materialize, my current subscription will continue regardless. You will be back. And we are not going away. Stay strong.
1st of August will forever live in infamy as the day open season was declared on real fearless journalism as the controlled stenographers relish and celebrate that an honest man was sent down for doing the job they should.
Let us look at one hundred years ago and see what happened to honest journalism in another region of Europe.
——————
‘The voices that fought against Adolf Hitler were among the most courageous and most daring of all time. These voices were loud and passionate; they continued to fight for democracy and freedom even as the shadow of fascism loomed over their nation.
These individuals included Martin Gruber, Erhard Auer, Edmund Goldschagg, Julius Zerfass and others. They were the reporters and editors of the Munich Post.
The journalists of the Munich Post faced – and, later, met – imprisonment, concentration camps, and systematic genocide. In the process, they embodied the very essence of journalistic responsibility. These individuals never stopped fighting for what they believed in. They never stopped fighting fascism and bigotry.’
—————
There is not a SINGLE mainstream news media publication that is doing that in the U.K. as they crow about the jailing of a blogger who did nothing more than the century ago Munich Post and its brave journalism. As time moves faster, it won’t be a decade before full-fledged jingoism will have us attacking everyone for the benefit of our Crown and Corporate Interests.
I wish CM a restful first night on the calvary that he is forced to endure for us all.
I am physically and socially isolated from the events that have led to Craig Murray’s imprisonment, apart from of course access to this blog. But I have felt really depressed and anxious about today’s developments, which feelings have been made worse by just reading about the imprisonment of several of the protestors in the Bristol protests against the anti – protest legislation that will soon be law. The situation is indeed dark all round.
Anyone else feel like painting FREE CRAIG MURRAY on various railway bridges throughout this fucked up Isle? All power to you Craig, we will be thinking of you with love and gratefulness for your being you. x
reposted from abroad
I see another pattern emerging, vis a vis the persecution of Craig Murray and the persecution of Julian Assange.
The same defect, twice.
First, the arrest warrant was issued by a Swedish prosecutor rather than by a judge, as required by law.
The English court legitimised this defect by adopting an obscure and foreign definition of “judge”
Now, Judge Dorrian appears to have endorsed similar actions in the Craig Murray case.
According to Craig:
There is an extremely important point here. I have always instantly complied with any order of a court to remove material. What I have not done is comply with instructions from the Crown or Procurator Fiscal to remove material. Because it is over 330 years since the Crown had the right of censorship in Scotland without the intervention of a judge.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk
Both times, passing off for the judiciary by the executive.
That’s a methodology, a modus operandi.
Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Posted by: John Cleary | Aug 2 2021 1:07 utc | 93
John Cleary,
Excellent point:-
“There is an extremely important point here. I have always instantly complied with any order of a court to remove material. What I have not done is comply with instructions from the Crown or Procurator Fiscal to remove material. Because it is over 330 years since the Crown had the right of censorship in Scotland without the intervention of a judge.”
Yes – was there ever any jurisdictional basis requiring compliance? For, if there never was then where is the transgression from necessary compliance with jurisdictional authority?
The corrupt Supreme Court of Britain probably saw this and many other points going to the heart of press freedom and freedom of expression – so rather than enter into terrain where a nonsense judgment would have to be delivered on the points in play – just avoid the entire case.
Corruption in high places – if you ask me.
These decisions need to be examined in the context of escalation and in the fidelity of the record. We must fiercely resist losses in these two places. Mr. Murray has been removed from the front lines. I hope he can produce output during this time that strikes the roots of injustice and stimulates that part of the mind that cannot be made not to listen.
Revolutions have started from prisons.
Bastille.
Gandhi.
Robber Island.
Wherever the hell Craig is in?
These who meet him will not be untouched by OUR Ambassador.
For the record I have never seen or met him in person and he has still had a profound effect on my fleeting life on this Earth in the mere few years I have had a privilege to find this blog. Which MUST stand as an archive worthy of posterity and never be burned down as the history erasers have done through the ages.
Onivar!