I thank the Prosecution and the Defense for their time and for keeping decorum during the Trial.
At this Time, the Court will recess to deliberate on a Verdict. Once a Verdict is reached, it will be announced here.
I apologize for the delay in the release of this Verdict. Work was busy and insane, and I needed the rest IRL.
That being said, A Verdict has been reached.
It is the opinion of this presiding Arbiter to find the Defendant, @Kingdom_of_Napels (Soramra/JoWhatup) NOT GUITLY.
The Court, in private discussions, has found that the bar of High Treason and Omission have not been reached. High Treason requires the active participation in the active undermining of the legitimate TEP government. In all other circumstances where High Treason would also apply would require TEP to be in a state of war, and TEP has not had a state of war in the time frame of 2019 to present day. In discussions about Omission, it is important to note that TEP laws are only the jurisdiction of TEP. It would be unreasonable to extend the power of TEP’s laws to also involve other regions. For TEP laws to apply to a specific person, they would also have to be a citizen. In reviewing the logs, Soramra would not have legally been a citizen until he reapplied as there have been several Citizenship overhauls and in those overhauls, all citizen were legally no longer citizens. It is the opinion of this Court that since Soramra did not actively hold citizenship until he had reapplied and since TEP and LWU (the region where the logs were pulled) did not have any treaty obligations to each other, Soramra did not have any legal obligations to TEP.
So it is Said, So it is done.
It would appear the Presiding Arbiter acknowledges wrongdoing but that the defendant has escaped justice due to a technicality. It would appear that, in order to freely commit crimes against TEP, one need only create a lapse in citizenship while said actions are perpetrated. The Prosecution believes this to be an extremely dangerous precedent.
In order to do my due diligence as a prosecutor on this case and as one who truly, genuinely believes that the law has been egregiously violated, I am obligated to appeal to the broader Conclave. While I accept and understand the difficulty of the Presiding Arbiter’s extenuating circumstances and obligations I am still confused by how long it took to deliver this verdict. I would like to initiate an official appeal process for a complete second look from other justices of the court to see if they agree with the leniency of this verdict.
Regardless of this verdict or its reaffirmation by the Conclave as a whole, this appears to be a hollow victory for the defendant.
In the interest of letting this run it’s full procedural course and avoid any creativity under § 2.19.a - d of the SOC, I endorse this application for an appeal as Arbiter under § 2.19.e of the SOC.