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"content": "humanity, genocide and so on. Therefore, it is important for that modern state to bear this in mind. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I can go on and on, but I cannot stop before I mention piracy. Right now, we have international piracy in our high seas, in the Indian Ocean which has adversely affected the cost of living in the East African region, all the way down to South Africa. This piracy delays the ships, raises the cost of goods, insurance and so on, and so forth. So, what am I saying, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir? Allow me to turn to the origins of criminal trial. It is widely acknowledged that the Magna Carta of 1715, when King John of England was forced by his own citizens â the Barons â to sign the Magna Carta, it is now widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy. You will now find it displayed in the West Lotunda Gallery at the National Archives out there in England. Then, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in addition to the Magna Carta, we also have the French Revolution. You will remember the issues of equality and so on, and so forth. But, above all, the outstanding issues on methods of determining whether you were guilty or innocent are vested now, not only in the Magna Carta, but also in the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, which says: âNo person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.â It amazes me; I am still pinching myself to know that I am real. Only on Thursday, this House unanimously passed the draft law, which also embraces this principle. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Magna Carta, passed 575 years ago, and signed by King John, and you know it well, Sir, says: âNo free man shall be taken, imprisoned or in any other way destroyed except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land; to no one will we sell; to no one will we deny or delay the right to justice.â Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you cannot talk of justice, or the due process, without talking about witnesses. The principle of witnesses appearing before a Tribunal that is charged with the responsibility of trying a citizen is everything. If there are no witnesses, the case will be thrown out. This reminds me of the famous trial of the Kosovo politicians, who led the genocide in that country. As you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, know very well, the trial out there in The Hague of that Tribunal led to the acquittal of those politicians, not because they were not guilty. The judges said that because a lot of the witnesses were killed; a lot of the others were intimidated while the others were threatened and in the end, there was no person willing to appear before the tribunal to give evidence against the perpetrators. Therefore, in my research, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have gone back all the way to 469 B.C. to the history of Socrates and the trial that he was subjected to. Allow me just to remind this House, and the country, what the problem then was. Mr. Socrates was accused of corrupting the minds of the youths of Athens by the methods by which he debated and argued issues. He was taken before the actual senate; the Senate was converted into a jury. The question that had been asked by Saint Cheveron--- He asked the oracle at Delphi if anyone was wiser than Socrates, in a way of setting up Socrates. The oracle responded that no one was wiser, thereby colliding Socrates with his fellow citizens."
}