Suspicious Courts

People have a superstitious belief in the court of justice. Whoever is brought to court is only suspected and then the omniscient tribunal will somehow be able to unravel the truth.

He is suspected of war crimes, it is said. No, he isn’t. He is accused. The court will then decide if it agrees with the accusation. It’s not a matter of suspicion, because a suspicion may be proved.

How do you prove a war crime? Do you count the number of civilians killed and describe the horror of war. If that’s all, many American presidents would have been automatically convicted. No, the real question is whether or not the war was just, and who can objectively answer that question?

Suspected of war crimes? Suspected of having waged an unjust war? It is superstition to believe that a court can prove what can never be proved.