Town Hall 26, Apr. 30, 2024, 10:30 a.m.

At 10:30 a.m. (US East Coast time) on Tuesday, April 30, Global Military Justice Reform will hold a zoom Town Hall on today's important decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. H.M. The King, 2024 SCC 15. Associate Editor Rory Fowler will kick off the conversation.

Please join us, and encourage friends to do so as well. Information on joining can be found here.

Link: https://yale.zoom.us/my/fidell?omn=98497668319

Meeting ID: 898 664 5482

Who's on first?

The Supreme Court of Pakistan's "military courts case" is back on hold, one of the judges having recused himself earlier this week. Here we go again. Details here.

Edwards appeals dismissed, 6-1

The Supreme Court of Canada has today dismissed the appeals in the judicial independence case of Edwards v. H.M. The King by a vote of 6-1. The decision can be found here. We'll have more on this, including a Town Hall.

Edwards decision on Friday

At 9:45 a.m., Friday, April 26, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada will hand down its decision in Edwards v. H.M. The King, No. 39820, and four other cases that raise the same or similar issues. From the court's summary:

The appellants are members of the Canadian Armed Forces who had various charges laid against them. They each filed a preliminary application in the Court Martial seeking a stay of proceedings because of an alleged infringement of their constitutional right to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal guaranteed by s. 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They argued that their right was infringed by an order by the Chief of Defence Staff dated October 2, 2019 regarding the designation of a commanding officer for purposes of considering disciplinary matters for military judges (“impugned order”). Captain Crépeau, in her application, also asked the tribunal to declare ss. 12, 18 and 60 of the National Defence Act to be of no force or effect, alleging that their combined effect was to allow the Chief of Defence Staff to issue an order, like the impugned order, relating directly to discipline for military judges and thus to permit the military hierarchy to exert pressure on a military judge presiding at a court martial. In a series of decisions, military judges concluded that there was an infringement of the accused’s right guaranteed by s. 11(d) of the Charter. In each of the proceedings, they made a similar declaration to the effect that the impugned order was an infringement of the right set out in s. 11(d) of the Charter. They also stayed the proceedings under s. 24(1) of the Charter. The Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada allowed the Crown’s appeals, ruling that no informed person would conclude that there was an apprehension of bias or that the independence of courts martial was compromised. It dismissed Captain Crépeau’s cross-appeal.  

The court's full news release can be found here. Global Military Justice Reform will host a Town Hall (No. 26 if you are counting) after the decision. Watch this space.

Speaking of free speech (and misuse of military courts)

Moscow Times reports:

A Russian court has sentenced Meta spokesman Andy Stone to six years in prison in absentia on “terrorism” charges linked to the company’s wartime content moderation policy, the independent Mediazona news website reported Monday.

Stone was charged with the “promotion,” “public calls for” and “justification” of terrorism after his March 2022 announcement that the Facebook and Instagram parent company would temporarily lift its ban on violent speech for comments against the “Russian invaders” of Ukraine. 

Moscow’s Second Western Military Garrison Court on Monday found Stone guilty of the “justification of terrorism” and handed him a six-year sentence in a high-security prison in absentia, according to Mediazona.