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Proceeding contribution from Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 27 April 2006. It occurred during Ministerial statement on Fatal Shootings (Iraq).


Fatal Shootings (Iraq)

I am grateful to the Solicitor-General for his meticulous care in warning us of the statement that he has made today, and for its tone and content. He is right to say that our soldiers are not, and should never be, immune from prosecution. They are subject to the rule of law and that is what they are fighting for. The statement gives us a lot of information that we can look at now with the benefit of hindsight. I suppose the value of hindsight is that we can learn from it for the future. There are two aspects on which I hope that the Solicitor-General can comment. First, the maxim that justice delayed is justice denied is one to which insufficient attention has perhaps been given. Secondly, the Solicitor-General referred to differences of view in the Army Legal Services. Given the fact that our soldiers are fighting on behalf of all us—and doing a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances—does he agree that more benefit of the doubt could be given to our soldiers in relation to prosecutions such as this?


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
445 c734 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Criminal investigation Death Armed conflict Crown Prosecution Service Civilians Iraq Prosecutions Peacekeeping operations Military police Iraq conflict Army Prosecuting Authority Roberts, Steven Zaher, Zaher
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk