Public Trials

Earlier this week, I attended my first public trial in Afghanistan.  Courts in the U.S. are no big deal.  They go on every day at the city, county, state, and federal level (oh and military).  We have court TV and only those pesky Supreme Court justices don’t want cameras in their courtroom (but they’re still public with spectators and the media).  In Afghanistan public trials are a big deal because they are a relatively recent phenomenon within the last couple years.  They are symbolic of GiROA as a functioning government working on behalf of its people – justice under the Constitution and laws of Afghanistan versus the Taliban shadow justice system.

So I was curious as to what I would find during my first trial.  It lasted for about an hour and there were three defendants (brothers) charged with stabbing a man during a dispute.  Both the prosecutor and defense attorney argued their cases.  The victim, a witness, and the treating doctor all testified and the AUP police report was read as well.  Very dramatically the victim lifted his shirt to show the judges the scar from his stab wound and then (for effect!) turned to show the spectators.  After a short adjournment the two judges (they sit in panels of up to three) came back to render their verdict. 

A few takeaways:  1) I am pleased to report that defense attorneys are just as dramatic in Afghanistan as in the U.S. – and I have his business card, so if you’re ever in trouble in Afghanistan, let me know, 2) I was impressed that there was sentence disparity – the same sentence was not rendered to all, and 3) it was wonderful to see how proud the spectators and district governor were that a public trial was being held in their district.  

Sidebar:  This is me in a cropped picture meeting with the district governor after the trial.  Can you tell what my name is?  Or my branch of service?  Probably not -- the AF thought they should be different and make our name tapes brown on the multicams.  Yeah cammo!