Tuesday 17 February 2009

Not a word about Brendan Sokaluk

Another stirling story from Henry at Fosnez Blog as he notes the Government and Victorian Police want to ban online discussion on Facebook and Blogs about Brendan Sokaluk, the first to be nabbed and shamed after the massive bushfires.

He cites today's Age story where the Court has banned publication of Sokaluk's street address and his photo, but it's too late for the Internet. He's up on charges for starting the Churchill fire that burnt 30,000 hectares, killed 10 people and destroyed 200 homes. I say name this wanker.

"The police want to block the blogs, the police's lawyers wanting to block the blogs, and the police's lawyers actually being able to block the blogs are three separate things," says Henry who claims to be the tallest IT manager in Cairns.

"While I understand that the guy at the center of this whole thing is just accused, not convicted, is this really something we, as bloggers, are ready to loose our non-constitutionally-guaranteed concept of free speech over?," Henry asks.

The suppression order on Sokaluk's name was lifted, but his photo and address are still suppressed.

His story is well worth a read.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess the issue is about "innocent until proven guilty". This person is alleged to have started a fire, and while he seems to be "2 sandwiches short of a picnic", he is entitled to a fair trial. We cannot have trial by media and "lynchmob mentality" while so understandable, just doesn't have a place in Society.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jude ... more like we don't want this lunatic bastard to get off because the jury were prejudiced by what they read on face-book and blog sites like this one ... eh!
Nukem I say.