Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Published in September 5697.

The Chamber of Representatives has been busy lately, first dealing with the fallout of the attempted assassination on the Prince of Orange, then the passing of the Felonies and Penalties Act, which increased some felonies’ minimal sentences, the ratification of the recenly-signed Randworth Agreement through the Statute of Darlington Bill and now, they got to deal with the infamous Treason and Sedition Bill, promised by the Prime Minister in the fallout of the attempted murder of the imperial heir. With usual business rescheduled to discuss the different means to deal with the ongoing crisis as the attempted assassination of His Imperial Highness was the first major attempt at a political assassination since the assassination of the late Emperor Charles IX in 5317, the government’s response was the creation of a renewed Treason Bill, which would regulate the different forms of actions which would be considered as “treasonous” by His Majesty’s government if faced in court, these different ways will then be the subject of different penalties which will be set by this Bill. Luthori, in its existence, already has been the subject of different Treason Acts, while each different by its severity, it nevertheless became connoted with democratic backsliding, party banishments/prohibitions (especially on the left) and an increase in imperial prerogatives beyond the current accepted established consensus.

The main concern was that the Treason Act would be “too broad” and as such, far too easy for the government to use at its discretion for its own political goals in broader disrespect for the Luthorian constitutional order and the consensus around the unalienable rights for political discourse. Others fear that the Treason Bill would be used as a political tool like the infamous Democratic Process Stabilisation Act, which prohibited the legal activities of the Communist Party of Luthori (CPL) and other extremist organisations, forcing them into clandestinity and domestic terrorism. These fear-mongering thoughts mostly originated from the Luthorian left such as in the National Labour Party, the Communist Party or the Green Party, each party expressed through different means their worries about the bill and their rejection of it. The Labour Party expressed its rebuff of the Justice Secretary’s Treason Bill even before it was properly and officially introduced in the Chamber of Representatives, with the Leader of the Opposition, Pat Holland expressing his “reservations” about the law on an interview to Humperdinck-owned Channel 7, there he said: “It’s unusual for a government to call for such extreme measures when dealing with an attempted assassination, I do fear, that in this debate where the values of security clashes with those of liberty that we lose some privileges due to the future Treason Bill. For which reason? I do fear that the incoming bill will merely empower and embolden future Prime Ministers and their governments into cementing their political dominance through the exclusion and harassment of various opposition leaders that could be indicted under the Act.”

For the Communists, it’s much simple: “I very much doubt that, yet another restrictive law will help our nation nor help the millions in poverty, nor help the desperate that can, potentially do like Mr. Lawrence [Thomas] and attempt to assassinate state officials.”, proclaimed Communist party leader Joseph Cunnibach during a small rally in Orange. The Communists were joined in their opposition by the Radical Democrats, who in a statement lamented that Luthori was becoming a “Tory-dominated dictatorship”, due to all the security-related acts of Parliament that passed during this term, most importantly being the Crime Prevention and Protection Act and the Felonies and Penalties Act, both pushed by either the Home or Justice Secretary, who solidified their respective position as de facto heads of government, as the Prime Minister’s moderate conservatism begin to be overlooked in the media in favour of hard right-wing conservative values.

Although, it should be known that the content of the Treason and Sedition Bill isn’t as risky for our democratic institutions that what the left wants us to believe, the Treason Bill doesn’t have any provisions regarding the ban of political parties, nor relating to the imprisonment of opposition leaders, in fact, the Treason Acts do not focus on politics, it focuses on the actions that are considered as “treasonous” and their minimal sentences. Actions such as attempting to assassinate a member of the Luthorian imperial family, conspiring to overthrow the Luthorian government or fermenting a terrorist attack on Luthorian soil, assisting an enemy of the Luthorian state during times of crisis, scheming the secession of one Luthorian territory and its entry into open rebellion against Parliament and so on. These are the actions which are considered as “treasonous” by the Treason and Sedition Bill, it is punishing traitors, and not political opponents. The Bill doesn’t state that it’s now forbidden to insult or criticise the Monarchy as an institution or the persons of the Emperor, the Empress or the Prince and Princess of Orange, nor any member of the imperial family for that matter. It doesn’t state that opinion on the government’s action, be it in opposition would now consider as treason against the Empire. No, the left wants us to be feared, while in fact, this Bill is necessary going forward, we’ve seen that radicals, both on the left and the right feel emboldened by the recent incidents, now encouraged to pursue more extremist acts to destabilise the State. This Bill aims at protecting the Luthorian people and its democratic institutions from rogue actors that might wish for its destruction.

As Justice Secretary Plundell stated during her speech in the Chamber of Representatives: “the preservation of our democratic institutions is paramount to the creation and writing of this Bill, if not passed, then our enemies within will receive the message that Parliament is unwilling to protect itself and invite them to conduct other terrorist acts aimed at destabilising our democracy, our traditions and our way of life.”