Quote:
Originally Posted by Leondros
You must not travel a lot... When you are in other people's countries you must follow their rules. You don't get to judge their validity. Its a risk everyone signs up for when they leave the safety of their own country.
If someone is caught drunk in some Middle Eastern countries their are significant punishments. You can judge all you want on the validity of the punishment or absurdity of the law, but they are a sovereign nation. I don't buy your argument.
Having said that, I do feel for her and know this was all political posturing. But it seem very hypocritical of the US government. Especially when we just saw what happened when the US pressured Canada to keep Meng Wanzhou at the expense of two Michaels who literally did not break any law. To me that is vastly worst than legal drug charges - which appear to have some facts to them.
|
I travel a fair bit and always follow the local laws. I did say what she did was dumb and that she deserved a punishment.
And if we are so concerned about Russian law here, it should be pointed out that she was treated unfairly according to Russian law. She was asked to sign documents she couldn't read immediately after being arrested, she was searched without cause, and she was entitled to have a defense lawyer present within 3 hours of being arrested and before being interrogated. The Russian police and judicial system broke their own laws just to get a pawn for their government.
Her defense lawyer also pointed out in her appeal that her sentence was twice as long as the typical sentence for similar crimes, even when those people actually had intent.
I am surprised at how much credit people are giving the Russian police and judicial system here.