{"id":4819,"date":"2019-12-12T23:21:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T23:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/?p=4819"},"modified":"2019-12-12T23:21:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T23:21:12","slug":"attorneys-for-mauna-kea-protectors-argue-state-of-hawaii-is-engaging-in-war-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/attorneys-for-mauna-kea-protectors-argue-state-of-hawaii-is-engaging-in-war-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorneys for Mauna Kea Protectors Argue State of Hawai\u2018i is Engaging in \u201cWar Crimes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This past Monday\ndefense lawyers Dexter Kaiama and Stephen Laudig filed their response to the\nState of Hawai\u2018i Attorney General\u2019s opposition to their clients\u2019 motion to\ndismiss. They argued that the Attorney General \u201ccannot be allowed to knowingly\nand with intent benefit from the \u2018war crime\u2019 of usurpation of sovereignty that\nconsists in the \u2018imposition of legislation or administrative measures by the\noccupying power,\u2019 which, in effect, leads to the violation of international law\nby denying a Protected Person of the right to a fair and regular trial by a\nproperly constituted court. The prohibition of \u2018war crimes\u2019 is a jus cogens<\/em>\nnorm under customary international law and neither the [Attorney General] nor\nthis Court can derogate from these peremptory norms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaiama and Laudig represent Deena Oana-Hurwitz, Loretta and Walter Ritte, Pualani Kanakaole-Kanahele, Kaliko Kanaele, Gene P.K. Burke, Alika Desha and Desmon Haumea. Both attorneys are also members of the National Lawyers Guild<\/a><\/em> that \u201cprovides legal support to the movement\u00a0demanding that the U.S., as the occupier, comply with international humanitarian and human rights law within Hawaiian Kingdom territory, the occupied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After state law enforcement officers\narrested 39 Kia\u2018i Mauna<\/em> (protectors of the mountain) who were opposing\nthe building of the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea on July 17, 2019,\nthe Attorney General filed charges of obstruction in the Hilo District Court.\nOn behalf of the 8 defendants, Kaiama and Laudig filed their motions to dismiss\non November 13, 2019, which provided clear and unequivocal evidence that\nbecause the Hawaiian Kingdom continues to exist under international law the\nDistrict Court \u201cis not a regularly constituted court\u201d and therefore does not\nhave lawful jurisdiction to preside over the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An opposition to the motion to\ndismiss was filed by the Attorney General on December 6, 2019. In its\nopposition, the Attorney General provided no counter evidence of the Hawaiian\nKingdom\u2019s existence and that the Hawaiian Islands have never been lawfully a\npart of the United States. Instead, the Attorney General argues three points as\nto why Judge Kanani Lauback should deny defendants\u2019 motion to dismiss. The\nfirst argument is that the political question doctrine prevents courts from\nadjudicating the legality of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the\nvalidity of the State of Hawai\u2018i. Second, the legal status of the State of\nHawai\u2018i has been adjudicated. And, third, international law does not override\nacts of Congress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 9, Kaiama and Laudig\nfiled a reply that starts off by stating that the Attorney General\u2019s \u201cstatement\nof relevant facts violates the principle of jus cogens and is not relevant to\nthe Court\u2019s consideration of the instant motion.\u201d Jus cogens<\/em> is a legal\nterm that federal courts say \u201cenjoy[s] the highest status within international\nlaw,\u201d and as such cannot be denigrated. International crimes, which includes\nwar crimes, are jus cogens<\/em> norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its reply, the defense pointed out that the unlawful imposition of United States laws and administrative policies constitute a war crime under customary international law. For their evidence, the defense cited a legal opinion written by Professor William Schabas, a leading expert in international criminal law and war crimes, titled Legal opinion on war crimes related to the United States occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom since 17 January 1893<\/a><\/em>. The defense argues that all \u201cthree fit squarely within the provisions of United States internal law\u2014being legislation and administrative rules, which customary international law precludes a State from invoking as justification for its failure to comply with Article 43 of the Hague Regulations.\u201d Article 43 of the Hague Regulation is a ratified treaty by the United States that obligates an Occupying State to administer the laws of the Occupied State. In this case the Occupying State is the United States and the Occupied States is the Hawaiian Kingdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for 8:30am on Friday, December 13, 2019, at the Hilo District Court. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Monday defense lawyers Dexter Kaiama and Stephen Laudig filed their response to the State of Hawai\u2018i Attorney General\u2019s opposition to their clients\u2019 motion to dismiss. They argued that the Attorney General \u201ccannot be allowed to knowingly and with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-law","category-treaties","category-war-crimes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31YBQ-1fJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4821,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819\/revisions\/4821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiankingdom.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}