Transcript for those unable to see the image file:
Equestria extradites Queen Chrysalis to The Hague
Main Article:
The former leader of the changeling empire, Queen Chrysalis has been flown to The Hague to attend the International Criminal Tribunal for Equestria to answer for the crimes during her reign.
Under heavy security, Queen Chrysalis was loaded on a USAF cargo plane, which departed for the twelve-hour trip to the Netherlands on Sunday night.
It has been more than a month since Equestrian soldiers managed to capture the fugitive regent of the aggressive changeling race.
The Equestrian crown had warranted her arrest after a foiled coup attempt in the Equestrian capital city of Canterlot.
Since this had not been the first instance of an unprovoked assault perpetrated by changelings, it is subject to prosecution under International Criminal Law.
Until recently, the Equestrian government had persisted to subjugate her solely to Equestrian Law, independent from human participation.
The Equestrian Princess Celestia had reasoned that Queen Chrysalis’ doings largely stemmed from a time prior to humanity’s first contact with equinity, and can therefore not fall under human laws.
Last Tuesday however, diplomats of the UNEVEG (United Nations Equestrian Evaluation Group) reached a compromise.
Queen Chrysalis was allowed to face The Hague’s International Criminal Court and answer to International Law, but with Equestrian legal participation.
As of September’s UN resolution that secured Equestria’s unique position as a country within the international community, the UNEVEG fathered the International Criminal Tribunal for Equestria for the purpose of subjecting the Equestrian isle to the UN’s resolved laws and customs.
Background of the arrest
Chrysalis had last tried to infiltrate the royal city of residence during the wedding of the Captain of the Royal Equestrian Guard, around September of 2013.
Posing as the country’s highest military commander’s bride, she had her changeling army launch a surprise attack with the intention of pillaging the city and enslaving the population.
The assault failed, and the invading force was dispersed.
Chrysalis, while separated from her flock, went into hiding by gaining the trust of an unsuspecting Equestrian civilian.
She managed to keep her identity a secret for nearly two years before being found out.
In the meantime, Equestria had established first contact with humanity, which caused her arrest to be widely publicised throughout the world.
According to Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis has a long history of agression and imperialism, leading the population under her command to attack and usurp neighbouring communities and nations, including Equestria.
“Chrysalis is a predator. She and her changelings survived solely by feeding off weaker creatures, even if that meant enslaving and terrorising them.”
Chrysalis is currently being charged under the Rome Statute, with added amendments originating from the Fillydelphia Review Conference earlier this year.
The charges include the crime of agression, multiple accounts of (occasionally planned) genocide, crimes against sapiency (formerly humanity), crime of apartheid, war crimes, and the violation of the sanctity of the mind.
The latter, a recently added amendment, interdicts the use of ‘mind control’, which Chrysalis used to subdue resisting opponents.
Captivity and trial
On Monday morning, the plane carrying Queen Chrysalis touched down at Rotterdam The Hague Airport, from where an armoured motorcade brought her to the Haaglanden Penal Institution in Belgisch Park, where she will await the start of the trial.
The regent will be kept in a cell specifically designed to hold such a physically imposing creature. It does, for one, contain measures to prevent the use of magic.
According to the director of the ICC Detention Centre, Otto Mjoberg, Chrysalis has indeed been acting “antagonistic” and “rampant” ever since her arrival, denying the court’s bailiffs any form of cooperation.
The trial itself is expected to be held in the Court’s Permanent Premises in the former Alexanderkazerne, and the pre-trial chamber is due to be in session on the 31st of this month.
The proceeding will be headed by a three-judge panel consisting of the Ugandan Jessica Suruma, the Irish Colm Mullan, and the Equestrian magistrate Lexy Fori.
The Queen’s defence will be supplied by the ICC as well, namely through the Swiss ICC defence counsel Alexander Estermann.
He told the press that “it would be an interesting, if without doubt complicated” case, seeing how there exists “no precedence for either side."
Criticism of the trial
Already in the weeks preceding the decision to trial the Queen in The Hague, there has been a tremendous political and legal backlash from various UN member countries.
The main point of criticism was the nature of the defendant and of the crimes committed.
It has been argued that Chrysalis’ motivation behind her action was not as egregious as popularily believed, and is even less so in the eyes of non-humans than the Rome Statute.
Nazmi Delikaya, an equinologist at the University of Istanbul argues that the supposedly malevolent nature of changelings is solely dependent on their survival instinct rather than on any conscious desicion-making.
“It would make as much sense as persecuting cats for the murder of mice.” he stated in a newspaper editorial released in the Hürryiet.
The ICC’s Prosecutor’s Office however disagreed, referring to the facts submitted for the case.
An official statement asserted that the crimes committed were the result of “drawn-out planning” and were carried out with “willful efficiency”, by creatures “sentient enough to distinguish ‘necessary’ from ‘excessive’.”
Queen Chrysalis herself has been subject to the same and more accusations, as she is popularly seen as the unquestioned leader, and essentially as “the queen of a [bee] hive”.
With that said, the Queen is considered innocent until proven guilty, so as of this point, the incriminating evidence has yet to turn out pivotal.
A subject of controversy has also been the decision to the trial itself.
Queen Chrysalis had been the ruler of the changeling population for a nondescript but long period time before Equestria’s existence was even acknowledged by a human state.
Accordingly the Rome Statute declares that only offences may be prosecuted that actually fell into its jurisdiction by the time of its initiation.
It has been suggested that the trial itself has merely been an attempt of the UN to gain the favour of the Equestrian civilisations to instill confidence and to promote long-term cooperation with the UN.
The Doctor of Jurisprudence Jose Alvarez sees links between this suspicion and the active Equestrian participation in the trial’s legal process,
He stated that “In the face of all political niceties.” it could become a “Kangaroo show trial” for the changeling regent herself.
Analysis:
Roger Keating, BBC News The Hague
The Queen is obviously not amused. Strained from the long plane trip, she is unloaded behind the infamous red gate of the Haaglanden Prison, dragging along heavy chains of captivity, a weighty muzzle obscuring her five senses. Her wings are stashed under an improvised restraining jacket, and her horn is wrapped in plastic and foil, a battery dangling around it on a cable.
The guards usher her up the ramp of the ICC Detention Centre’s main building, and the doors close behind her, trapping her in her new domicile. Whether or not this stay will be short-term is yet to be known, The tribunal has yet to find her guilty of the crimes she is said to have perpetrated against the equine races of Equestria.
Once upon a time, she had been both hailed and feared as a powerful queen, leading a swarm of changelings - tens of thousands of creatures - with aggressive determination and unidsputed hegemony. Now, she is but an animal led into a cage, anticipating the ruling of creatures other than herself. Even as she persisted that she had always been in the right, the other dwellers of the Equestrian island, be it ponies, pegasi, unicorns, griffins, buffaloes or donkeys, cheer openly about the capture of one of the country’s most ruthless and devious warlords.
She is accused of charges that paint an all the more graphic picture of the mystical creature. For countless decades, she had been the scourge of the land, having her changelings lash out at hapless victims and possible opposition, beating many, enslaving many, killing many, discriminating solely by the fact that they were not changelings, and utterly defenceless. She had instigated plundering and burnings, leaving entire communities for dead. Few details are known yet, but light will be shed on them in her subsequent trial.
That said, Chrysalis is far from broken. A wrathful gleam in her squinting eyes, the occasional lunging at her chains and flexes of her limbs; those are subtle reminders of her old, vengeful and determined self, who led her subjects from loot to loot, and from prey to prey. It is apparent that she won’t bow to her fate, and will be defiant, regardless of how her human and unicorn judges rule. In her eyes, they are merely some other inferior creatures, some of whom she herself had been holding a sway over for a long time. For her, no tide has turned.
Comments:
434. dinomelly11
16TH NOVEMBER 2015 - 20:47
What can you say about ‘Queen’ Chrysalis? Everybody is saying she‘s the next Mladic or Taylor... but really, I totally side with Delikaya! She is an animal, they even brought her in with a muzzle!! How much more proof do you need that she can’t control her instinctual impulses?! This is not a legitimate trial, this is a publicity stunt of the UN, to proove that they can convict Anything if they really want to. But hey, if it impresses Celestia... then it’s all just hunky dory!
370. northstar5
16TH NOVEMBER 2015 - 18:51 I now that not many ponys have axess to the internet yet, so I may be realy alone here. All so, please forgive my english. I was born and rased in Canterlot, and I was there a gain for the royal weding, wen the changlings came. I think its realy kind of the humans to care, but I would have given a lot for Krysalis to be ruled over bye my princess, Changelings are very trecherous creatures feeding on love and passion to live. Only a magic as powerfull as Celestias could make a tyrant like Krysalis atone.
358. Neil Glover
16TH NOVEMBER 2015 - 18:10
I have skimmed through some of the previous comments, and all I can say is, I disagree. Violence, injustice and oppression come out in many forms, so why not also among intelligent equines? Ever since I fought with the Desert Rats in Kosovo, I know how high the stakes are when fighting tyranny. The UN is justified to trial an equine just like a human. If the Equestrian island wants to be part of the world community, they’ve got to play after our rules. For me, the only risk is that this Queen Chrysalis could get off too easily.
306. bridgekeeper3
16TH NOVEMBER 2015 - 17:36
This whole thing is really polarizing. Then again, most news that come from Equestria are (really!) mixed bags. I understand that Queen Chrysalis’ actions are morally questionable, she is a warmonger and maybe a racist (or speciesist, dunno). But really, who are we humans to judge this? She is not a human, and I think she would be much better served at an Equestrian court-by her species’ (racial?) equals. It’s a thing just like with magic or flying. Keep this sort of things to their own likes, it keeps the world easier. No offense equines!
279. TomTov
16TH NOVEMBER 2015 - 15:48
what is there to say but “good start”? this queen of changelings is is going to made an example of what we humans deem justice. equestria is, from what i’ve gathered, really unstable. there are many opposing factions, rabid ideologies and powerful magic giving that all much more gravity than it should have. it’s great that some strong organisation like the un steps in and cleans things up. i was always a bit skeptic of the equines and their pseudo-monarchies. rly, the answer is to teach them a modern world view. start by arresting the tyrants!
I'm not seeing it
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Ocean_dumping_of_radioactive_waste_in_Pacific_Ocean.png
5277341 I agree, but would it be different if Equestria was in the UN? Idk law.
This story makes absolutely no sense from any kind of international legal standpoint. Her crimes were against Equestria and only against Equestria, and yet she's standing trial in the human international criminal court? Any first year law student would have this case thrown out and kicked back to Equestria within the first day based on the simple legal fact that the international criminal court has no jurisdiction to try the case.
Seriously, do at least a token amount of research on international criminal law before you start writing something like this.
5277369
Sorry, I accidentally deleted my comment and had to re-post it.
But to answer your question, no, it wouldn't make a difference. The international criminal court primarily exists to deal with cases that cross multiple national borders. Basically, cases where it isn't clear which country has jurisdiction to bring the case to trial. From what's been said in the story so far, this doesn't apply.
Other than the fact that the international criminal court has no jurisdiction to try the case, there's no logical reason why Equestria would have turned it over to them to begin with. Her crimes were against Equestria, and it's natural and logical (and legally correct) that Equestria is where she would stand trial for those crimes.
5277341
Actually, it is a legal limbo (and an important plot point later on). The Rome Statute applies to every country that has signed and ratified it, and does not explicitly bar states that are either non-human or non-earthly from becoming state parties. And seeing how Equestria voluntarily became such a state party, and (in this story at least) Chrysalis did what she did on Equestrian soil (on which she lays claim, effectively making her changelings a civil war party), that would make her accountable for every such crime she committed since 2002.
Long story short, it's a purely theoretical case.
Were something like Equestria to happen in real life, I am sure it would entail all sorts of radical changes to international law, up and including the structure and jurisdiction of the ICC.
Also, artistic license. Because it's a story.
5277416 Oh okay.
5277421
Sorry, I accidentally deleted my original comment. (I had some weird problems getting it to post at all.)
It's not a gray area. Not at all. The international criminal court has no jurisdiction to try a case like this because it does not cross international lines. The ICC primarily exists to deal with cases where it's unclear which country has jurisdiction to try the case because the crime crosses too many national borders. An example would be sex crimes against children in the Roman Catholic Church, which the ICC does have jurisdiction to prosecute (although probably will not actually do so), because the Vatican cover-up of those crimes harmed children in multiple countries all over the world, leaving an enormous mess as to which countries could potentially file criminal charges against Vatican officials. But again, Chrysalis' crimes don't cross international lines. So basically, it's highly unlikely the ICC would have even agreed to take the case. And again even if they did agree to take it, a first year law student would have it thrown out the first day and kicked back to Equestrian court.
Effectively, the changelings in this story can be most closely compared to domestic terrorists, or a paramilitary militia or something along those lines, which means it's clearly within the jurisdiction of the Equestrian legal system to try the case, and the ICC has no jurisdiction over it, and would refuse to accept the case even if asked due to lack of jurisdiction.
Also, artistic license isn't an excuse for not doing any research first.
Also there's no such thing as retroactive effect of the law. If crime is committed before it's legally announced as a crime it doesn't apply. If I stole something before stealing was legally announced as a crime you can't punish me for it. Stuff not forbidden is allowed by default.
Since Chrysalis committed said actions before Equestria joined UN she cannot be held responsible before UN. None of the UN laws also apply to her because Changeling Kingdom is not part of it thus never agreed to follow UN rules, nor it was a recognized country during the events of the wedding and before that and neither was Equestria. It's no grey area, it's clearly out of UN/human competence.
5277456 So what about, say, the trials of William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang for their roles in the 2007 Kenyan Crisis?
One of many examples of crimes that did not cross national borders...
Also, the Catholic church is not a state (the Holy See is, but that's irrelevant), and paedophilia is not a crime covered in the Rome Statute.
I believe you're thinking more along the lines of Crossing Lines.
5277476
The difference is that these are high-level government officials charged with crimes against humanity who cannot be prosecuted effectively under the laws of their own country because they basically ARE the law in the country they are from. In that case, the ICC can get involved because it is impossible for justice to be served locally when the perpetrators of the crimes are the ruling officials themselves.
The problem is you haven't established any compelling reason here why this case should be tried in the ICC instead of in Equestrian court. William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang doesn't apply here because unlike Kenya, Equestria is fully capable of trying Chrysalis on their own.
Also, you haven't established any compelling reason why Equestria would even WANT to turn over the prosecution of Chrysalis to humans, given that the crimes she committed were against ponies, not humans.
5277476
Oh yeah, Pedophilia is not specifically mentioned in the Rome statute, no. But the ICC can prosecute international organized sex crimes. In fact, there have been calls for the ICC to prosecute Vatican officials. although once again, it is unlikely that they actually will.
5277473
That's a very good point too. The ICC cannot retroactively prosecute a crime like they are doing in this story, once again, making it clearly a crime within Equestria's jurisdiction. There's no gray area here at all.
5277561
I really do not want to discuss such a subject now, but it's ludicrous to suggest that the Catholic church organised it.
5277473 But I kindly ask you not to condemn this story merely on the basis of inaccuracies. I am not a lawyer, and if I had intended to write a non-fiction story, I probably wouldn't have included ponies.
5278159
I'm not suggesting the catholic church organized it. I don't think they did. But they most certainly DID cover it up. That much is abundantly clear. They knew it was going on and quietly reassigned guilty priests instead of turning them in. That, by itself, is a serious crime. It is a crime to knowingly cover up the sexual abuse of children. it is a crime to know that a child is being sexually abused, and not report it. That's the crime that Vatican officials engaged in. They knew the abuse was going on, and they covered it up and didn't report it to authorities.
As far as bashing the story on the basis of inaccuracies, the problem is that your entire story premise is based around an inaccuracy. it's based around a legal impossibility. So it's not like it's a minor inaccuracy here that has no relevant bearing on the overall story. It's an inaccuracy that renders your entire story implausible.
You don't have to be a lawyer, but you ARE expected to do a little bit of research on topics that are going to be a central part of your story to make sure you can at least talk about them without gross inaccuracies that undermine your entire story. And that's the problem here, this inaccuracy is so fundamental to the concept of your story, that it undermines your entire story to the point where it simply doesn't work.
5278159
You've got another serious problem too. Other than the fact that the human ICC has no jurisdiction to try the case, the timeline here doesn't work. Ponies and changelings have only had contact with humans for a very short time. Less than two years if my math is correct. That raises several problems for you:
#1: Celestia isn't going to trust humans well enough to join the UN yet.
#2: Celestia certainly isn't going to trust humans well enough yet to let them try one of Equestria's most wanted criminals.
#3: The UN isn't even going to know what to do about the first non-human species yet as far as admission to the UN.
#4: Any first year law student is going to successfully argue that there's absolutely no way that Chrysalis can get a fair trial in a human court, given that humans have only had contact with changelings for less than two years.
Again, there are so many flaws with this story premise that it doesn't work on any level. The timeline doesn't work. There's no rationale or logic behind the decisions that either Celestia or the humans make. And there's no legal basis for the decisions that either Celestia or the humans make. Sorry to sound mean, but literally nothing about this story works.
5278159
I am not trying to be hostile mind you. Don't take it as such.
I am not a lawyer myself, I just happened to study some laws and ways of their application as part of my engineering degree (so I'll know what legal issues I might run into in case of stuff going terribly wrong).
5278212
We also have to assume that Chrysalis here is Equestria's criminal and NOT a leader of sovereign nation known as, say, Changeling Kingdom. And lack of disguise-less changelings in the pony cities (according to the show) heavily implies that they are not Equestria's citizens by any chance. Damn she's even called QUEEN Chrysalis for a reason. And in this case, the entire tribunal is downright illegal from the very beginning.
I am fairly sure Equestria had no peace treaty with changelings, and I am sure even more that Equestria and surroundings aren't advanced enough to have any sort of international laws which forbid acts of military aggression, regulate the way POWs are treated and that fancy stuff UN has. Even more so, this story by itself stands on the ground of Equestria+neighbors having no such laws else they wouldn't have needed UN help to resolve the issue.
So we'd have a funny situation where it's legal for Equestria to form up a counterattack against the changeling's %country_name% and openly assault them. Since formally there's no laws against it to begin with which works both ways. But instead Equestria calls out for UN help to... help it defeat its geopolitical opponent no less (since presenting Chrysalis as a criminal does exactly this realistically speaking). Then Equestria even tries to use retroactive effect of the law to convict its enemy which looks downright bad IMO.
Doesn't this go into the territory of misusing UN's functions? Wouldn't it make more sense for UN to investigate the issue and send out peacekeepers to prevent conflict from escalation instead of blindly following the statements only one of the sides made?
5278690
I'd actually disagree that Equestria and surroundings aren't advanced enough to have any sort of international laws or regulate the way POWs are treated. From a moral, ethical, and social standpoint, I consider Equestria to be far more advanced than humanity. And I consider them to be light-years ahead of an uncivilized nation like the United States. (Why I consider the United States to be an uncivilized nation is a topic for another time.) We've also seen international diplomacy at work in canon with Saddle Arabia, for example. Personally, I think Equestria would see humanity as a technologically advanced, but socially, morally, and ethically very primitive species that has a long way to go towards enlightenment.)
But also, this method of dealing with the "enemies" of Equestria is simply against Celestia's MO. More than likely, she'd deal with Chrysalis the same way she dealt with Discord. She'd probably give her a chance to reform instead of just turning her over the UN for criminal prosecution. We've seen from canon that Celestia is very big on offering second, third, and even fourth chances. Turning Chrysalis over to the UN is grossly out of character.
Regarding peacekeepers, I think I can safely say that given there have been less than two years of contact between humanity and Equestria, there is absolutely NO way that Celestia would allow UN peacekeepers into Equestria at this point in time. In fact, I don't think she'd allow it even if she did trust humanity more. After all, it's not like Equestria is some third-world country that is in need of peacekeepers. Equestria is more than capable of keeping its own peace. In fact, the human world would do well to learn from Equestria when it comes to keeping peace and learning how to solve problems without violence. UN peacekeepers in Equestria makes less sense than even UN peacekeepers in America would.
5278773
Yeah, I stand corrected there, you have a point in regards to politics and diplomacy. Even more so in regards to Equestria's apparent superior system of handling enemies and keeping the peace.
However, I think we both can agree that UN and human in general involvement goes against the logic. Granted we see different reasons for it but still there's like no point for Chrysalis to answer before ICC for what she had done. I mean what can human "justice" do? Throw her in a cell for a lifetime or do a special exception and execute her?
While Celestia and her spec ops team (aka Mane 6) indeed proved to be capable of turning most hopeless enemies into friends no less (albeit not without problems XD ).
5278819
I agree. That's pretty much the main problem with this story. There's simply no logical basis for the decisions made either by Celestia or by the humans, nor is there any legal basis for them.
As far as what the ICC could do, nothing that Equestria couldn't do themselves. Also, the ICC does not have a death penalty, in accordance with international human rights standards. As far as we can tell, Equestria has no death penalty either. (The fact that the United States does, is one of the reasons I don't consider the United States to be a civilized nation, especially given that even by human standards, the death penalty is against modern international human rights standards.)
Yeah, Celestia and her "spec ops" team have proven to be capable, even though they've had some problems. Although I'd argue they've been a lot more successful than the United States has been. After all, look at Iraq. We managed to take a secular nation that wasn't a threat to us, and turn it into hotbed of extremist terrorism.
holy luna it looks like you put some serious effort into this , i'll save this one for later then....
funny i should come to find a serious law/court fic after something that happened that i may need legal help with , don't suppose you're a good database for lawyer referrals by chance?.....
Umm, it's cool and all that you made a nifty mock up of a news article, but I almost can't read it. If it is important to the story, could you perhaps actually put in the text? Not to mention that the link could go down at any time, and basically break the chapter, if one could call this that.
5280479 Sorry for the inconvenience.
Fimfiction may not display the image at full size (for whatever reason), but you can select 'view image' to see it in full size yourself. Also, the link is fairly stable. It has held for a rather long time already.
Edit: Alright, I saw what you meant. I changed the link to something more inviting than Photobucket.
I like the idea.
Okay, I fixed the image. The large version now is in the link of the header.
5281161 aw man, it's already down. The site you're using probably doesn't allow hot links.
My original suggestion of posting the main article text still stands....
5281161 Also another Question:The invasion of Canterlot wasn't the first one? Huh... I don't know about that but it seemed like the first one to me. Except of course if she went back again.
Woah, i thought your spelling went bad at the end, but then i realized it was the comments section on a website.
and here i am checking this out now for gaining perspectives on equestria x earth crossovering as im thinking of making my own fic with that as the premise , but danm actually reading that news report page you made , it's like holy cow it's like it's the real deal , if only we could see more comments for more random commenter personalities , like that 1 equestrian who apparently has internet in equestria now lol.....
also your aj in a box link is dead.....
5278891 5278819 awww man but then you 2 had to go and point out the conceptual flaws in the story for how this wouldn't happen in our reality , and since that's what it's based off of it makes the whole thing not work , and the author doesn't have a rebuttal for how it could be possible so the only option im left with is to think of how it could work is to say that people in our reality are shit and will do things like this that don't make any sense just because , which is entirely true but poor justification for any given plot of a story to take place? idk.......
I love how the peanut gallery thinks that the laws that are currently in existence somehow couldn’t be copiously amended, that the political coup of managing to get Equestria to agree to subject itself to international law wouldn’t have certain countries bending over backwards in order to ensure it happens, or that the diarchy wouldn’t be interested in making the minor concession of having someone else take the risk of keeping her locked up necessary to make this scenario plausible.
’sides, it’s not like Celestia isn’t going to have the “understanding” with the when, not if, Chrysalis is found guilty she’ll spend a minimum of X years without parole in exchange for certain considerations…
Nice use of the picture to add some realism to this story, as if this was actually happening to the humans. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this kind of work.
-The Character.
I'm REALLY liking the insane immersion this BBC news article gives the story, even though I don't even read BBC news to know what it looks like. So huge props for including that, I'm really looking forward to seeing more!
Somehow, the hasty, cut-and-paste photoshop just makes the story more entertaining.
Whoa, I hadn't expected this much detail.
Kudo's to you, sir. I tip my imaginary fedora to you.
This was insanely creative, I hope there are more chapters like this to come.
Wow! First time i see something like this. At first i was not sure I would like the idea of the UN running a case against Chrysalis. But my fears are getting at ease
Holy crap this madlad wrote and entire article with a webpage just for this fic! Respect
I forgot this was part of a story and tried to click on the other links!
I soooo want to read those side articles at the bottom of the main article.