Just two years after the horrific Boston Marathon bombing of April 15, 2013, a US federal court convicted 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on 30 criminal counts. Though Tsarnaev has yet to be sentenced, many victims and their families were grateful that a verdict had been reached. “We are thankful that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be held accountable for the evil that he brought to so many families,” stated the family of police officer Sean Collier, gunned down when the suspects were on the run.
Compare that to the plight of the victims of another major attack on US soil – at New York’s World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Five men accused in that case are being tried before the fundamentally flawed military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. But more than 13 years after the crime, the case has languished for almost three years in pretrial hearings. A trial date is likely years away. Proceedings were delayed yet again recently over novel issues – the result of excessive government secrecy and of trying the case in an entirely new system where even basic issues, like whether the US Constitution applies, need to be litigated. Victims and relatives expressed deep frustration with the delay.
Some concerns have been raised about the fairness of the proceedings in the Tsarnaev case, and about the US Justice Department’s decision to pursue the death penalty (which Human Rights Watch opposes in all circumstances). Yet the pace of the Tsarnaev trial underscores key differences between the federal courts – which have well-established procedures and rules, and are experienced at dealing with complex terrorism cases – and the ad hoc system at Guantanamo.
While not all speedy trials are fair trials, the problems at Guantanamo have surpassed Kafkaesque levels. Continuing to use a second-class system of justice denies victims and their families their day in court, and does a disservice to all Americans who want real justice for that awful day. The Obama administration and Congress should throw in the towel and recognize the military commissions for the failure that they are – and take steps necessary to move the few cases that remain there to federal court.
