Enjoy Rendering!: Сборник текстов для перевода и реферирования. Батурина С.А. - 23 стр.

                 Are the Rules being Bent Again?                                take the widely expected step of dismissing all charges against Mr
                                                                                Moussaoui, who could face life imprisonment if convicted of the
       A judge says an accused terrorist can call the witnesses he wants. No,   charges still pending. Her desire to keep the case under civilian juris-
he can’t…
                                                                                diction appears to have been among her reasons for wishing to continue
        A federal judge has ruled that prosecutors may not seek the death       with a truncated trial. "This case can be resolved in an open and public
penalty against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person in the United               forum," she declared.
States to have been charged so far in connection with the September                    Among the options now facing the government is the possibility
11th terror attacks. Nor may they present any evidence linking this so-         of transferring the trial to a military tribunal whose rules, including the
called "20th hijacker" with the planning or execution of the attacks.           right to extensive hearings behind closed doors, would be likely to help
The ruling, by a district judge, Leonie Brinkema, came after the federal        the prosecution. But this would attract widespread criticism. The gov-
government refused to allow Mr Moussaoui to question al-Qaeda sus-              ernment is already under attack for its treatment of some 660 al-Qaeda
pects who, he claims, could prove his innocence. The government says            and Taliban suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, an American naval base
it will appeal .                                                                in Cuba, where they are supposed to be awaiting trial before special
        Mr Moussaoui, a 35-year-old French man of Moroccan descent,             military courts. Although some have now been detained for over 21
was first arrested in the United States in August 2001 on minor immi-           months, no charges have yet been brought. Nor have any of the prison-
gration charges. It was not until after the suicide hijackings the next         ers, who include citizens of some of America's closest allies, had ac-
month that investigators began to take a keener interest in the Muslim          cess to a lawyer or a consular official.
trainee pilot being held in a Minnesota jail. Three months later Mr                    Despite the criticism, the American government insists the
                                                                                Guantanamo Bay detainees are not prisoners of war but "enemy com-
Moussaoui was charged on six counts of conspiracy – four of them
                                                                                batants", who are being held outside strictly-defined United States ter-
punishable by death – to commit acts of terrorism, aircraft piracy, use
                                                                                ritory (the Guantanamo base is leased in perpetuity from Cuba) and
of weapons of mass destruction, destruction of aircraft, murder of gov-
                                                                                therefore have no rights under either the Geneva Conventions or the
ernment employees and destruction of government property.
                                                                                American constitution. Last month Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of
        Although he admitted being a member of al-Qaeda, Mr Mous-
                                                                                defence, seemed to confirm suspicions that the government does not
saoui claimed he knew nothing about the attacks until after they had
                                                                                wish to bring these prisoners to trial. "Our interest," he said, "is not in
occurred. In an attempt to prove his innocence, he sought to question           trying them and letting them out. Our interest is in-during this global
three key al-Qaeda prisoners, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the             war on terror-keeping them off the streets, and so that's what's taking
alleged mastermind of 9/11, and Mustafa Ahmed, its alleged financier.           place." But that war could go on for a very long time, perhaps for dec-
In two rulings earlier this year, Judge Brinkema ordered that he should         ades.
be allowed to question by satellite link the three men, all being held at              The government insists the Guantanamo prisoners are being
secret locations outside the United States. The government has refused          treated "humanely". All now have individual indoor cells, proper beds,
to comply, arguing that national security could be jeopardised by the           washing facilities and toilets. In July six of them, including two Britons
disclosure of confidential information.                                         and an Australian, were said to be eligible for trial. But, since then,
        In her latest ruling, delivered on October 2nd, Judge Brinkema          nothing. No charges have been brought and no trial date set. Britain has
said the government could not "maintain this capital prosecution while          made known its "strong reservations" about it all.
simultaneously refusing to produce witnesses who could, at a mini-
mum, help the defendant avoid a sentence of death". But she refused to

                                     45                                                                             46