Kalvatăsz trials

The Kalvatăsz trials (: Kalvatošas tiesa) were a series of held by the Supreme Court of Galvia against 13 captured members of the Vojanak Armed Forces, on account of numerous  and, in accordance with the Galvian Criminal Code , committed within territory under de facto Galvian control during the Kalvatăsz Crisis on 2 October 2011. The trials have been heavily criticized by the international community and the World Forum, maintaining that the soldiers should've been judged and tried by the World Court or their native jurisdictions' highest tribunals.

The trials were held at the Supreme Court Building in Antonija, and they ran from 8 August 2018, through 22 July 2019. They were the first war crime trials held in the country against foreign nationals.

Background
The de facto Galvian commune of Kalvatăsz, now Kalvatoš, (: Калватош; Vojanak: Kalvatăsz), in the kingdom of Rozežjosla, was subject to and eventual war between the Kingdom of Galvia and the Free Vojanak Republic. During the time of conflict, thirteen members of the Vojanak Armed Forces were taken hostage as by the Galvian Armed Forces, and later transported to and imprisoned in Galvia’s Military Federal Penitentiary in the kingdom of Lietus. Based on reports made by Galvian and other Alutran NGOs to the World Forum Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment, the thirteen prisoners were held in isolation and tortured by the penitentiary’s security personnel, with some of them being purposefully not fed or bathed for days in a row. These allegations have been contradictory to the reports sent by the Galvian government, and denied on more than one occasion by the Ministry of Justice.

From 2012 to 2019, the Vojanak military and governmental authorities, as well as Alutran WF members such as Ordrey and Ecoralia, have insisted repeatedly for the handover of the POWs to be judged at the World Court, in exchange for the nine Galvian soldiers captured by the Vojanak Armed Forces also during the conflict in 2011. Both the Supreme Court and the Defence Council of Galvia have turned down every request, with the latter contemplating a "no exchange" policy and principle, founded in Article 8 of the Galvian Military Code, prohibiting request for of Galvian military personnel found in captivity abroad in exchange for any criminal within Galvia's jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of Galvia justified its denial of the request for exchange in the aforementioned Military Code, as well as Article 34 of the Galvian Criminal Code, which grants original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in instances of, , , and taking place within Galvia by national or foreign nationals.

On 8 January 2013, the thirteen soldiers were officially put on the list for trial, scheduled to take place 5 years and 7 months after the time of incorporation into the list, in the meantime they were to remain in confinement at the Military Federal Penitentiary awaiting trial. The Supreme Court assigned the Ministry of Justice and the Delegation of Internal Affairs of the Kingdom of Lietus interim responsibility for the POWs during their time at the Penitentiary. Minister of Justice at the time, Hermanis Celms, has been accused by multiple Galvian and Alutran NGOs and activist groups of illicit practices, such as arbitrary, physical , and unfounded , taking place under his administration from 2014 to 2017, these have been denied by former grand secretariat Katarīna Miltiņš, and Celms himself on more than one occasion.

Legal basis
Throughout the entire legal process, the Supreme Court of Galvia repeatedly argued in favor of its to try the convicted criminals and prisoners of war as substantiated in both the Criminal and Military Codes of Galvia, laws No. 3767 and 3768, and  from analogue instances (namely case 45-890 Priede , and 45-905 Skuja ) dating back to the Autumn Riots and the trials that followed in 1956 and 1957, involving two Ecoral nationals tried by the High Court of the Kingdom of Zināša. Despite this, the WF has reiterated on more than one occasion the illegitimacy of trying criminals of war in a jurisdiction foreign of their own, and that the World Court or Vojandzeka should've been given original jurisdiction over the Galvian government.

The aforementioned Criminal Code of Galvia, in its articles 34 and 35, acknowledges any crimes of war committed in Galvian soil to be under original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court:

Translated version of Article 34 of the Federal Criminal Code of the Kingdom of Galvia: "Crimes of war, against humanity, of aggression, and genocide performed under any jurisdiction comprising the Kingdom of Galvia (namely; the Kingdom of Cietoķsni, the Kingdom of Izaiciņa, the Kingdom of Lietus, the Kingdom of Neziņas, the Kingdom of Rozežjosla, the Kingdom of Tirguš, the Kingdom of Vakars, the Kingdom of Zemakija, the Kingdom of Zināša, the Kingdom of Žvanijak, and the Crown Capital Territory) are punishable by or, depending on the individual(s)’s degree of involvement, at the discretion of the highest federal tribunal, that is to say, the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Galvia."

Laws No. 3767 and 3768, enacted in 2003, set the precedent for trials and the conviction of foreign nationals in Galvian jurisdiction, at the federal and regional levels, respectively. In its 4th article, law No. 3768 describes the instances in which the Supreme Court can take original jurisdiction from any of the regional highest tribunals:

"It is the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Galvia’s irrevocable and inherent power to remove original jurisdiction over any given trial of criminal matter with involvement of foreign nationals from any regional high court [...], and adopt it as if it were an inherent part of its original jurisdiction."

The aforementioned jurisprudence of case 45-890 Priede, and case 45-905 Skuja refers to two instances, from December of 1956, where Ecoral nationals, with residency in the kingdom of Zināša were tried for their crimes committed during the events of the Autumn Riots taking place in October of that same year, by the kingdom’s highest tribunal, the High Court of the Kingdom of Zināša. In this instance, the Supreme Court of Galvia opted against removing jurisdiction from the kingdom’s highest tribunal, a decision attributed to the already existing massive influx of criminal trials under federal jurisdiction that took place between the months of November of 1956 and July of 1957, consequence of the aforementioned Autumn Riots, involving Galvian citizens as well as foreign nationals.

In case 45-890 Priede, the High Court resolved in favor of the death sentence requested by the prosecution against Arie Priede, for charges of abuse of residency permit by aggressive political instigation,, and aiding. In case case 45-905 Skuja, the defendant, Emiel Skuja, was sentenced to 55 years of imprisonment at the Criminal Penitentiary of the Kingdom of Zināša for charges of abuse of residency permit by aggressive political instigation,, and aiding illegal border crossing. For the Kalvatăsz trials, the Supreme Court resolved to base most of its decisions on jurisprudence set by case 45-890 Priede.

Judges and prosecutors
Since the 1986 constitutional amendment, the composition of the Supreme Court of Galvia has been of nine magistrates, none of which can be natives to the same kingdom. At the time of the Kalvatăsz trials, the tribunal’s composition included Maigonis Avotiņš (Lietian), Aija Eglītis (Vakarian), Eda Vilks (Neziņan), Gunārs Vanags (Žvanijaki), Bogdan Zhdanov (Rozian), Zina Zuyev (Zemaki), Mozus Dūmiņš (Karaļan), Yegor Ilyin (Cietoķsi), and Helēna Lūsis (Izaiciņan). Per constitutional law, the Supreme Court’s composition must always include representatives from the three ethnically-Zemaki provinces as a quantitative minority.

There were three distributed among the thirteen trials: Fēlikss Skujiņš, Aivis Cīrulis, and Lūcijs Ģīlis. The first two were the prosecutors for the trials involving the 12 Vojanak nationals, split in 6 trials each, while the latter was assigned to the case involving the only Watanese national. This last trial was considered to stand on a category of its own, and was the longest of the thirteen trials, as it involved three different jurisdictions (where the crime had been committed, the criminal's place of origin, and the jurisdiction of the agency where the defendant was employed), a precedent for which jurisprudence did not exist in Galvian up until that point. For much of the trial, Ģīlis was referred to as the "Third Prosecutor".

Indictment
The was drafted jointly by the Prosecutor's Office of the Kingdom of Rozežjosla and the Federal Prosecution Agency.

The thirteen foreign nationals were charged for war crimes and crimes of aggression, which included, in order of severity:, attacks against civilians, , settlement of occupied territory (, , and of Galvian territory), killing a surrendered combatant, and unlawful. Both prosecution agencies coincided in the request to declare the use of.

Defendants
The thirteen during the Trials included, as mentioned, twelve Vojanak nationals, and one Watanese national and holder of Vojanak citizenship, aged between 24 to 42 years old. The Federal College of Attorneys was the selected body in charge of assigning the defendants with defense attorneys attributed to the lack of material resources from the accused to hire the attorneys of their choosing. The twelve Vojanak nationals were Baulery Jameveks, Drip Çyvek, Dyçus Diz̧ěsago, Furo Lynenym, Jopoty Rapiszovek, Mide Çavadě, Pětyr Němyde, Sătam Zekymy, Sozyl Verrěçy, Symus Voxuka, Tiçoj Szalěvě, and Zeky Dinym and the Watanese national was Poli Ovalles.

Defense lawyers
The twelve defense lawyers during the trials went on to be known as the "12 Saints" by the general Galvian public. The name, used both as compliment and as mockery from different sides of the population, alluded to the generosity and selflessness of the twelve lawyers, all of which were working and openly admitted to condemning the government's actions against the Vojanak soldiers and the Free Vojanak Republic in general. All twelve lawyers have expressed to hold blue political ideologies, which earned them large backlash from a large portion of the Galvian population.

Evidence
After gaining de facto control over the commune of Kalvatoš, the Supreme Court of Galvia and the Prosecutor's Office of the Kingdom of Rozežjosla began the process of recollection of evidence at the site of the conflict, on 4 December 2011. The evidence gathered at Kalvatoš mainly consisted of Vojanak such as bullets, weapons, and the corpses resulting from the casualties at the scene that had been moved to the morgue at the Central Hospital of Varasitija months prior. The prosecution also collected the testimonies of several residents of Kalvatoš, particularly those who had lost family and loved ones, these testimonies, however, were heavily accused as biased by the defense during the trials, as they were given by the citizens of Kalvatoš who agreed with the de facto control by the Galvian government. Testimonies were also gathered from several soldiers from the Galvian Armed Forces, primarily those that had been injured by Vojanak officials.

Course of the trials
The Kalvatăsz trials began on 8 August 2018, starting with the trial of Dyçus Diz̧ěsago, and ran through 22 July 2019, ending with the trial of Poli Ovalles. Six of the defendants "not guilty", while the other six. At the start of the trials, prosecutor Skujiņš insisted on more than one occasion that the purpose of the trials was to convict to defendants and establish individual responsibility for the disruption of peace within Galvian soil. Defense lawyers and many activist groups who wished to see the released, on the other hand, argued that the trials were "an unjustified display of power against the Vojanak people and government, for which there is no place in the 21st century", alluding to Galvia’s failure to adopt and contribute to the international standards, and specifically east Alutran standards, of intergovernmental democracy, cooperation and stability.

Prosecution
On 8 August 2018, Fēlikss Skujiņš gave the opening speech for the prosecution during the first trial against Diz̧ěsago. He described the relationship between the Galvian and Vojanak states and the history of the region, and condemned the six Vojanak nationals, whose cases had been assigned to him, for "disrupting the peace and contributing to the continuous unrest present in the region for nearly a century". Skujiņš, whose opposition had all been charged for and, focused particularly on the violent aspect of the crimes committed, and the defenselessness of the people of Kalvatoš at the time of the conflict. He promoted the idea that the Vojanak ethnic identity and ideologies are "inherently violent", and "a threat in [the] continent that must not be left unchecked", further looking to justify the Galvian’s government reasoning behind convicting the soldiers itself.

On 23 December 2018, Aivis Cīrulis gave the opening statement for the prosecution during his first trial against Zekymy. Unlike in the trials that had already taken place, the defendants assigned to Cīrulis were not being charged for homicide or manslaughter, and instead the prosecution focused on the invasion and annexation attempts of which the soldiers had been a part of, from Galvian perspective. Cīrulis remarked how the World Forum had been, allegedly, "preying on" Galvia ever since the independence of Vojandzeka, and founded this claim on the decision made by the international organization to issue maps that placed Kalvatoš within Vojandzeka, despite maps issued by Galvian including the commune as standing within Galvian territory. Toward the end of his speech, Cīrulis claimed that "Vojandzeka [had] been a constant obstacle standing between Galvia and international and regional integration and cooperation."

Lastly, on 12 March 2019, Lūcijs Ģīlis gave the opening statement for the prosecution during his only case in the series of trials against Ovalles, the only non-Vojanak national being tried. Similarly to Cīrulis' assigned cases, Ovalles was not being charged with homicide, but what made his trial the longest of the thirteen total was the complexity of the Republic of Watan’s involvement, being the country of origin of Ovalles. The trial process had to be stopped twice as the Watanese in Galvia continued to make attempts at negotiating the extradition of Ovalles out of Galvia and back to Watan. However, these attempts backfired, as the prosecution claimed the negotiations to have been "an obstruction of justice" and "an attempt from the Vojanak government to use its alliances against Galvia".

Defense
The Federal College of Attorneys of Galvia assigned each of the defendants a, with the exception of Mide Çavadě, who chose to represent himself. For the first leg of the trials, the defense had little counterarguments to present, as the evidence proving the involvement of the six soldiers in the willful killing of members of the Galvian armed forces and accidental killing of Kalvatoš residents could not be disproven. Instead, it focused on lowering the sentence of those that had been involved in from the death penalty to imprisonment. As one of its main points, Staņislavs Liepa, defense lawyer to Baulery Jameveks, brought up the inconsistency in sentencing Vojanak officials involved in involuntary manslaughter to death, when the same standards were not being held to Galvian officials, who had instead received up to 10 years of imprisonment. This, however, was quickly dismissed by the judges during the verdict, citing Article 40 of the Criminal Code.

The defense for the second leg of the trials presented the most counterarguments to the prosecution. Viesturs Ābele, defense layer to Symus Voxuka, commented on the remarks made by Cīrulis during his opening speech, stating that "Galvia's eagerness to charge helpless Vojanak nationals on Galvian jurisdiction [was] a prime example of the country's own inability to cooperate with the international community", and claiming the trial served as "an act of unjustified revenge, and not a proper exercise of justice".

Closing
Closing arguments for all three legs of the trials were presented on 1 May 2019. Over the course of the trials, the focus had shifted from the war crimes committed to the volatile relationship between the Kingdom of Galvia and the Free Vojanak Republic, and the sort of message the trials sent out to both Vojandzeka and the rest of the continent. Nearly all closing arguments from the defense highlighted the Kalvatăsz Crisis, as well as the Vojanak War of Independence, of which Galvia had been a part of. Several defense lawyers had publicly shared after the trials were over that "[they] knew what the sentence was going to be before the day of the verdict" and that "[they] decided to use the instance of the closing arguments as a way to shed light on the situation between both nations". On May 3rd, the court recessed; and the judges retreated into seclusion to decide the verdict and sentences.

Verdict
The Supreme Court presented their verdict on 22 July 2018, in front of all thirteen defendants, twelve defense lawyers, and three prosecutors. The decision was presented by Judge Eda Vilks, in concurrence with five of her fellow court members (Maigonis Avotiņš, Aija Eglītis, Gunārs Vanags, Yegor Ilyin, and Helēna Lūsis), and with the dissent of the remaining three judges (Bogdan Zhdanov, Zina Zuyev, and Mozus Dūmiņš). The lack of a unanimous verdict regarding the sentence of the defendants resulted in much speculation from the general public regarding the stability of the Supreme Court and the possible growing influence of blue-wing ideologies in government. Many news outlets criticized the Supreme Court's composition, as well as the three permanent Zemaki seats.

Public reception
During the course of the trials, numerous protests were held across the country, and outside of the Supreme Court, particularly during the second leg of the trials where none of the defendants were being charged with or. Although Galvic people made up the largest percentage of the protests' participants, many of the ethnic minority groups living in Galvia (particularly Renesian, Zemaki, Aquizigs, and Tretuish) mobilized to protest for the release of the convicted, and demand a. Several news outlets in both Galvia and neighbouring nations criticized the Supreme Court's decision to go forward with the trial, resulting in the restriction of national news channels by the government, with the exception of Kanāls 7 (a news outlet), to discuss and broadcast the trial's progress. This gave way to major strife nationwide, with citizens and journalists alike protesting for the, , and the.

A poll of public opinion was released to the general public by newspaper company, Kurjers, two weeks after the verdict's announcement, gather a total of over one million responses nationwide. When asked about the fairness of the trial and the eventual verdict, 54% of the respondents felt a "strong or somewhat strong sense of agreement", 41% claimed to be "in strong or somewhat strong disagreement", while the remaining 5% confessed to "not feeling any way in particular or neutral". Subsequently, out of the 54% in favor, when asked about the fairness of the verdict, only 23% admitted to be in favor of the unanimous use of, while the other 77% agreed to feel "strong or somewhat strong" sense of discomfort at those found not guilty of homicide and manslaughter to be sentenced to death. Additionally, according to the poll results, the trial of Watanese national, Poli Ovalles, the only non-Vojanak citizen part of the trial, was almost unitedly agreed on to be "unfair", with 94% of the total participants believing he should've been tried in his home country.