There are upcoming war-crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; however, there are problems about how these trials will occur. “The rules governing war-crimes trials here require defense lawyers and prosecutors to inform each other of witnesses they will call and evidence they will present at the military commissions” (Williams). However, the rules are vague on how much time is needed for the lawyers to inform each other of witnesses. The law does not make it necessary for the government to make witnesses available for pretrial hearings and it is okay for the witnesses to not be named or seen in the trial. “Defense lawyers for the terrorism suspects contend that the deck is stacked against them in preparing their cases. They say the administration officials running the tribunals can hide critical information and helpful testimony from the defense” (Williams). Last week in a case against in Canadian war-crimes suspect the United States withheld the name of an eyewitness that the U.S. had known about five years ago; the Canadians found about the eyewitness thirty-six hours before trial. This eyewitness contradicted everything that the Canadian lawyers were going to bring up; therefore, causing many to say that these trials are unfair. Also, “Affidavits sworn by bounty hunters in Pakistan who turned over more than 200 of Guantanamo's prisoners in exchange for sums upward of $5,000 are among the classified documents that neither defendants nor trial observers are allowed to see. That withholding of classified information from the defense and the public has resulted in many of the 305 prisoners here remaining in detention for nearly six years without knowing exactly what they are accused of or who made the accusations.” (Willilams).
I do not find the war-crimes trials to be fair because they are giving the side with more evidence more of an edge against the other side. Trials are supposed to be fair; the judge or the jury is supposed to see both sides of the case, the lawyers are given time to create a case, and lawyers need to show evidence to the other side with enough time for the other side to make a case. However, in war-crimes trials this is not happening and, in fact, the law is not doing what it is supposed to be doing. I do not think that it matters that the United States is benefiting from this because it is basically cheating to be able to win, with an unfair advantage, at the end. The article made the great point that this would not be allowed in a U.S. courthouse; then why is it allowed in the world? This situation needs to be rectified quickly, so people are not put in jail for war crimes or other situations when they might not even be guilty. What do you think?
For More Information Read Carol Williams's article: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-gitmo13nov13,1,6567733.story
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I agree that it is unfair what the government is doing right now with the war crimes in Cuba. The thing is, the govt. already assumes the accused are guilty and, to them, it seems pointless to build a case for those will not convince a jury to let them go.
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