March 21, 2021 Weather in Arnton, WL today: - Cloudy, 18C/5C
DOMESTIC: Judicial Council makes way for Indenats trialARNTON (AN) - At a press conference this morning, Judicial-General Ander Kentarre announced that a full Court of the Judicial Council - a total of nine Judicial Councillors would hear a case concerning revelations surrounding alleged connections of Ainslie’s third largest political party - the Independent Nationalists Party - to a number of nefarious entities such as the Discipleship of the End and the Brothers of the Nigh Times, collectively known as the Ahnslen doomsday cults. The trial is expected to begin in a week and is set to have major ramifications for politics in Ainslie.
Following weeks of investigations and raids, the Advocate-General submitted an application to the Judicial Council in order for the case to bypass the Collective Court and go straight to the highest court in Ainslie. The application meeting, which was heard by three of the Councillors, took two hours.
Kentarre today outlined what people are likely to see in the case ahead.
“This will no doubt be a major case. What we are talking here is a public examination of a political party which has attracted controversy over recent years. This is what we should be expecting to see over the coming weeks.
It is my understanding that the Council is interested in three main points.
Firstly, they want to see whether Mr. Jackson’s acts as leader of the party is connected to the party as an institution or if the two have been effectively separated.
Secondly, they want to determine whether the party has significant links to the cults.
Thirdly, they want to want to examine the potential penalties available to individuals or parties which commit the acts which are alleged regardless of Jackson or the party’s guilt.
It is expected that the Advocate-General will be arguing that both Jackson and the Independent Nationalists Party have committed a number of criminal acts such as drug trafficking, terrorism and ultimately treason. I am not privy to the plans of the lawyers on the other side, however it is likely that they will look to the various parts of each offence and try and prove that this would be an overextension of the court’s discretion to render him guilty.”
He then continued to talk about technicalities of the case ahead before giving a warning to Ahnslens for the times ahead.
“What you will be hearing over the next few weeks are acts which are deeply troubling that are being alleged to have been done by people who are meant to represent your best interests and who additionally hold the balance of control in an electorate in Ainslie.
Now is not the time for division. We must look upon the times ahead with maturity and clarity of thought - now is not the time to blame the people who voted for the party nor paint the Council or those against the party as bringing a political attack against them.
The fact of the matter is that the Advocate-General is confident that there is enough evidence that a crime has taken place here. That allegation must be pursued, especially when it concerns those who participate in lawmaking and have a duty to you.”
The Independent Nationalists Party has not offered an official statement. However, the now former leader of the party, Lawrence Jackson offered an address to the people from the capital of Balnik, Rustov. In it he strongly condemned the actions of the Government and decried the move as a ‘political hitjob’, extending to claims that the Federal Government planted evidence on the Party and that he had to leave Ainslie for a country without an extradition treaty with the Unified Electorates to protect himself from ‘unjust action’ against him.
As stated before, it is not clear what the penalties will be. Early commentators from the various law schools around the country have cited the case as ‘novel’ and ‘unchartered’ territory for the legal system. Whilst conventional penalties such as imprisonment and monetary penalties may be on the table, the Centre for Legal Development suggests that what may be seen here is the barring of elected officials and potentially the deregistering of the party itself. This in turn would raise questions about just how much power the Judicial Council has from the Constitution and whether the banning of a political party, if it was to be decided upon, is indeed legal or is in fact illegal interference into the role and the jobs of democratically elected officials.
DOMESTIC: 'Maximum working temperature' laws repealedARNTON (AN) - The Assembly this morning repealed the Industrial Relations (Ahnslen Maximum Operations Temperature) Amendment Act 2017 which allowed workers to sue employers if they forced them to work over a specified temperature. The repeal amendment was passed by an almost unanimous margin, with every member from the two major political parties, ACEGAD and Ahnited, supporting the bill. The change back to the old law surrounding temperatures and working conditions has been met with wide support from the legal community and from employers associations, whilst trade unions and other employee groups welcomed the move but stressed that a better course could have been taken other than a simple repeal.
The repeal of the amendment marks another event where the Gifford administration has rolled back some of the more controversial aspects of the popular Kenzai administration’s decisions surrounding the law.
Whilst there was support both from ACEGAD and Ahnited for the move, in debates over the past week the minority party was much harsher in its rhetoric around the law. Whilst Arendai can confirm that the Prime Minister will not be holding a conference about the repeal, the minority leader has already given his remarks about the events of this morning.
Mr Carralen simply described the law as “misguided”, “stupid” and clearly “rushed” and looks forward to working with ACEGAD to develop a better law if that’s their intention. No such sentiment has been made public by the majority party.
As a result of the repeal, workers now must rely on the law of negligence and the conditions in their employment contracts and other agreements for protection from being forced to work in unhealthy temperatures.
The Judicial-General welcomed the return to this patchwork of law, explaining that the repeal was an important step back towards allowing courts to effectively navigate laws surrounding the rights of employees.
“This is a step towards protection and away from the uncertainty that has plagued the courts over the past four years with the small subsection of people who relied on these laws.”, Kentarre stated.
The Ahnslen Law Society, the peak body for lawyers and the legal profession in Ainslie expressed its ‘delight and relief at the removal of troublesome and problematic provisions’. On the other hand, the Ahnslen Trade Union Council were much more sober, noting that it is wary that this may be the start of a trend whereby workers rights begin to get wound back.
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