So what happened in the hearing?
Basically, the Administration blindly and wilfully maintained its vicious prosecutorial position — it said it was relying on the “contemporous” testimony of the complainant, an employee of an NGO in Geneva with a fragile personality and a desire for revenge, who told me that she “wanted to teach the UN a lesson”.
Of course, everytime we hear that phrase, we should cringe, knowing that something awful and completely unjust is about to happen.
The Administration also said that it was relying on the photographic evidence — which showed nothing at all, except for two persons peacefully and voluntarily together in various public places at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Oh, the Administration lawyer said, it is very unfortunate that the photos that show a crime and an act of harassment just happen to be missing, due to technical failures. This was said with a perfectly straight (if nonetheless twitching) face. No concession that the photos don’t exist because the alleged crime and harassment didn’t exist….
This Administration lawyer said that the case was being prosecuted in the context of abuse by peacekeepers in MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo!!!
*So, you are persecuting this man in Geneva because of what UN peacekeepers did in the DR Congo”, I exclaimed!
The Administration lawyer took issue with my use of the word persecute …
Filed under: UN Administration
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