Rejection of Indictment
Reasons drafted by Zyvetskistaahn and joined by Lady Raven Wing and Wonderess.
Procedural Defect
The Court Rules and Procedures require that “All criminal charges brought before the Court must be presented in the form of an indictment.” They also require that “All indictments [...] must be presented using an established template, if one exists.”
The request for indictment that has been filed does not meet either of these requirements. It is fundamental to the form of an indictment that it must actually contain a criminal charge, the request does not appear to contain any specific charge. Further, template established by the Court has not been properly completed, as no specifics of the crime have been set out.
For those reasons, the request does not meet the procedural requirements of indictments.
No crime charged
Beyond amounting to a procedural defect, the lack of a specific crime being charged is also a substantive flaw in the request.
The Bill of Rights, in article 6, provides that “No Nation shall be held to answer for a crime in a manner not prescribed by the Constitution or the Legal Code.” The Legal Code, Chapter 1, clause 1 provides “No criminal case may be brought before the Court of the North Pacific against any resident for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.”
Absent a specific charge of a crime listed in the Criminal Code, the Court can not accept an indictment, by reason of the above provisions. Additionally, accepting a charge of an unspecified crime would rob the proposed Defendant of the ability to know and respond to the charges against them, key facets of the right to a fair trial, which the Court must protect.
Conclusion
For those reasons, the Court rejects the request for indictment filed by Rwekaza concerning Territorio di Nessuno. The request may be resubmitted only if significant changes have been made to address these reasons.
