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Jailed, starved, no trial...

In a previous post I linked to a story from the Scotsman about David Brown who had been arrested on suspicion of child abuse while running an orphanage in Tirana. Yesterdays' Scotsman carried a follow up story to this piece with glimpses of life in an Albanian prison.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I was wondering what happened with this incident now i see. meanwhile why don't they take him to a Scottish prison?
This comment has been removed by the author.
I have known David Brown personally and have always respected him for his love and commitment to the children that he ministered to.
I have also gotten to know the kids and have seen personally how they loved him so dearly. I personally know that this is a huge mistake on the part of the Albanian judiciary system as they needed to blame someone for what whatever might have happened.
Meanwhile, my hope is that that man will not parish in prison as I know that there is no one who knows how to be kind since everybody is considered guilty!
olli said…
Thanks for that perspective Elvis. It's a hard one to call without knowing the guy. On the one hand it is very easy these days to criticise Christians who get involved in this way; on the other, there have been some awful cases of abuse. Whether guilty or innocent, though, no-one should be treated like this in prison.

Anon, I'm not sure that he could be transferred before a verdict is reached. Maybe if he was found guilty they could do something like that.

On the other hand, if the trial and any verdict lacked credibility it would be difficult to justify keeping him in prison in the UK and he would probably have much greater rights of appeal.
I don't know anything more about this story than what I've read in the news. However I want to point out that the article linked is definitely biased. Everything in that article could very well be true, but the way it is written comes off as very biased. The author only shows one side of the story and it is hard to form an opinion just based on that.

Another issue that I see here is that Brown says that he knew of the abuses but he didn't tell the authorities because he was afraid they would shut the place down. I'm sorry but that sounds very phishy to me. While the police in Albania can be a disgrace, I find it appalling (sp?) that he wouldn't turn the guilty person in and let a child molester roam free. It's strange that someone used to the rule of law would completely disregard it while in Albania. There is more to the story here that we are missing.

Why isn't the UK making a fuzz about his arrest? If it were so obvious that he was innocent, I'm sure that there would be enough diplomatic pressure on Albania to release him. The Albanian govt would oblige immediately. We are not talking about Iran here, which will try to make a political statement out of everything. The Albanian govt, or judiciary for that matter, has nothing to gain from jailing Brown if he were innocent. It's not like they will win a trophy for going after foreign child molesters.

As for the difficult prison conditions, that's unfortunate but that's the same for all other prisoners. His situtation is not any worse than that of the other people there. You can't complain that your roommates don't speak English. There is nothing to do to correct that other than arresting someone who knows English and putting him in the same cell as you. After all, prison conditions for someone who's accused of child molestation are hard anywhere in the world. Other prisoners never look lightly on a pedophile and you know the rest.

With that said, I'm not going to claim that Brown is guilty. I just wanted to play devil's advocate and present a different point of view. In the end, whether he's guilty or not, he should go to trial ASAP. No matter what the crime is or how guilty you are, you should be able to go to trial in a timely manner and it's there where you can be found guilty. After all it's "innocent until proven guilty" not "guilty until proven innocent."
Anonymous said…
i agree with the albanian in nova's point of view.I know all about what happened in that house. It was a mistake of David to not tell the Albanian authorities about the previous abuse.
However to the best of my knowledge I dont believe David is himself a paedophile though. He has done a lot of good for those children and that should not go un-recognised.
Naci is in an even more unfortunate position, although is often forgotten about when this case is brought to mind. Naci has been caught in the middle of it and I hope he will be released soon.
Anonymous said…
I have read all other points of view on this page and am deeply saddened. I have known david brown for my whole life, from child to man. I would stand before god, never mind any court in this land or any other, and give witness to the kindness and charity that can be found in the heart of John David Brown. I need not argue the point with people who dont know this man, for in the abscence of god it will not matter. This man is not guilty. now please dont believe the hype, it's born of malice a thing you will not find in the heart of the most caring, loving, charitable and kind hearted man that god ever graced this hate laden world with.
Unknown said…
I have only become aware of Davids situation and as like the person before me i know david from my childhood and can honestly say "no way is David a pedophile" i have been trying to get an up-date of his situation if anyone know anyrhing?

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