by Anglo Saxon
Sgt Blackman’s life sentence was the first time a soldier had ever been convicted of murder for shooting an enemy on the battlefield.
Sgt Blackman, known as Marine A in his military trial, had his sentence for killing a Taliban fighter slashed by the Appeal Court last month, when five judges reduced his conviction from murder to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility as he had been suffering combat stress. They cut his sentence to seven years, paving the way for his release today – having served half that time.
The campaign for justice was led by his wife Clair and supported by MPs including ex-Army officer Richard Drax.
The Tory MP, who led the campaign in the Commons, said: ‘Al Blackman’s release is the result of a wonderful team effort by those who wanted justice for a Royal Marine caught up in extraordinary circumstances, while fighting in some of the toughest conditions imaginable against a ruthless and determined enemy. While Mr Blackman’s exemplary military record was brought into question on one occasion, there is no doubt in my mind that he is a good man who found himself at the end of his tether.
The Military Court was very quick to charge and convict ‘one of their own’ presumably to placate the liberal political brigade who were baying for his head. They do not appear to have taken the time to consider all the circumstances of the ‘battle field’ conditions which apparently stress out most soldiers leading to decisions being taken which do not appear rational to those who have never experienced such conditions. Additionally, they seem to have ignored the fact that the Taliban fighter was already mortally wounded before he was shot.
The British Democrats are pleased to see that Sgt Alexander Blackman is now free and wish him and his wife Clair all the very best for the future.
3
Sgt Blackman should never have gone to Prison in the first place a dead Taliban is a good Taliban if We as a Country repealed all the Human Rights Nonsense from The EU UN ECHR and leave the American Mouthpiece NATO
a real hero should never gone to Prison leave NATO UN ECHR now
This man deserves a medal the size of a dustbin lid. A true Patriot.
We are entering a moral minefield here. If the Brit Dem position is they have no issue with a British Army soldier killing a terrorist in cold blood, surely, to be consistent, the reverse must also be true. Should an IRA terrorist, for instance, put a bullet through the head of a “mortally wounded” British soldier would the Brit Dems take the same stance and welcome the return of the murderer concerned to the arms of his family and friends?
John Shaw ( Party Official ) Having read all your comments to us , I get the distinct impression that you are not a friend. Film clearly shows a battlefield victim , believed dead and no threat , suddenly moving. He could have been going for a gun and Sgt. Blackman had quarter of a second to make a decision. He then clearly felt nervous about his decision. It is very easy to criticize from the safety of your own home , in your laptop world.
Well the rules in a situation like this need reviewing, some would concede that the Taliban would not show any Brit a shred of mercy, but these same people would still make a case for prosecuting Sergeant Blackman. this is a battlefield, not a tea party !
John you would appear to have missed the argument within my post. I’ll restate it. Once you go down the slippery road of justifying murder (as it clearly was from the video/audio record – a point agreed upon by the judge in the original case and mitigated (for political reasons) to manslaughter in the appeal – then you undermine the law and make a mockery of it. We have laws for a reason. Now the Brit Dems either believe in the criminal justice system and justice and equality under the law or they do not. From your comments you appear to advocate selective justice i.e. it’s murder when it’s done to one of us, not murder when it’s “one of us” doing it to “them”. Selective dispensation of “justice” is what helped to fuel the IRA and could, in theory at least, justify an appeal by the killer of Lee Rigby. Finally, if it is your view that I am “not a friend” because I point out the obvious pitfalls of pursuing a certain line of “thought” then I can only wonder what you expect from readers. Perhaps you would prefer comments along the lines of “Too right John”, “100% correct”, “Totally agree”, “Spot on” etc – it so, I would suggest you do what the “editors” of other nationalist sites do and concoct your own tame comments.
Dear Mr Williams, You clearly do not agree with the verdict of the appeal court and that is your right. The British Democrats agree with the ‘appeal verdict’ of manslaughter, which is a verdict that should have been arrived at during the military trial. Your analogy with IRA and the Lee Rigby killers clearly clouds the issue and is not a realistic comparison to this case.