My appeal was denied after 5 months. The army was approached and their only comment was that the injuries caused to the Regimental Policeman were reason enough to imprison me. Apparently, he was forced to leave the army due to his injuries but this was not stated in his departing interview.
The army also claim that I hit someone unprovoked and this is completely untrue. I have enough commonsense to know that such actions are irrational. In the army they teach you to be mentally strong and after almost seven years in the army I would not do something like this.
This person lied and claimed that he could no longer play the flute anymore in the band when he was, in fact, a drummer. He also once sold a fake story to Nuts magazine for £1000 by telling them that the injury which he had on his lips was caused by a fishing hook while fishing with friends. He gave a false statement and the army judge believed him. Do we call this justice?
Loyalty and trust are both central to the values of the army; in war situations you have to be able to rely on your fellow soldiers. During my trial I did not observe any such loyalty from my colleagues, which has left me somewhat relieved that I will probably never have to rely on these people in a war situation.
My appeal was denied by a single judge and another appeal will be handed in at a higher court and the European Human Right Court as I no longer believe in justice in the English system.
My appeal will be finally heard on the 22nd of August 2007 before three judges. They can give me a chance of a retrial, shorten my conviction or squash the conviction at all. All I want is to tell my side of the story and clear my name.
The hearing took place on the 22nd of August and I was not allowed to be there. My girlfriend went for me to hear what the judges had to say. My lawyer did not show up at court without informing me and the only one in that hearing who was there for me was my girlfriend Birgit. She is not a lawyer and could not represent me. Again I was not properly represented in court. The judges decided to go ahead with the hearing without my lawyer.
The opposite site was there with their lawyer and even a member of the MOD and was fully prepared. Birgit managed to hand in the petition you signed for me. I would like to thank you for all your support. The judges considered the petition but it seems that the decision was already taken. The judges read out the points of the appeal and said that they have considered all other documents handed in.
Strangely they kept repeating the lies which have been told in the first Court Martial, like the one that I just punched a guy in the face without any reason. Also the lie that the guy I punched was affected to play the flute in the army orchestra. In fact he was the drummer. And to make some money, he sold his picture to the nuts magazine to make 1000 GBP telling it was a fishing accident.
This showed me that my side again has not been heard at all. The judges denied all three reasons of my appeal and also denied to shorten my jail sentence. The truth has not been heard again, and it clearly shows me that nobody is interested in the truth. I am very disappointed and my last hope to clear my name is the European Courts of Human Rights.
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