• Snot Flickerman
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    3 months ago

    There were two separate crimes here.

    The crime of abusing the ANC for a political photo and the crime of physically assaulting someone who worked for the ANC.

    The crime of abusing it for political purposes is currently being ignored and the person assaulted has chosen to not press charges for the assault.

      • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Oh yeah actually good point. Probably still relevant since it involves a civilian though, it’s not like civilians can be tried through military court afaik

        Although I wonder if he could claim he was acting as Trump’s agent. Trump, being a former guy who tried to overthrow the government and technically former Commander in Chief of the military, maybe could be court martialed, right? If this is considered an attack by him, like a coup, on our Armed Forces?

        After review by any of these intermediate courts, the next level of appeal is the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF).[17][21] The Supreme Court of the United States has discretion under 28 U.S.C. § 1259 to review cases under the UCMJ on direct appeal where the CAAF has conducted a mandatory review (death penalty and certified cases), granted discretionary review of a petition, or otherwise granted relief.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Code_of_Military_Justice

        Idk. I doubt they will do anything regardless. But interesting thought experiment for sure.

    • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Assuming the only evidence for physical assault isn’t just the victims statements (but even then), I feel that both crimes are currently being ignored.

      To go back to the example of Germany: If you accuse someone of a crime (directed against your physical well-being or property) here, towards authorities (e.g. police) and then say “but I don’t want to press charges”, that no longer matters - they are obliged to record a report of a potential criminal offense and leave it to a judge to decide on how to proceed.