It took fifteen large forty-seat transporters to take the internees to court, all five court rooms had been appointed to try the offenders, the normal hearings and trials had been postponed or suspended for the day. There were nearly six-hundred people appearing today, all from the Longcross Centre. Kenneth Woods sat in the third transporter waiting for his group to be called, the court were dealing with detainees in groups of six and none of the people from this transport had yet been called. It was a chilly damp day outside but the transporter had been left with its heat pumps running, so its occupants were comfortable. Several passengers had split into groups to pray, whilst others had opted to quietly read their Bibles. Then someone at the back started to sing a Christian song and within seconds the whole forty occupants were singing. The transporters on each side also burst into song on hearing the melodic strains, and this quickly spread to all fifteen transports.
One hour later Kenneth and five others were called out and escorted to the court room. It was immediately obvious that this was no trial; there were no jury members or defence lawyers, just three crown court judges, a stenographer, and two ushers present. The six people were asked to stand in a line before the bench and then asked to confirm their names and addresses.
The judge in the centre then stated, “You people are accused of attempting to incite military personnel to mutiny, in contravention of article forty-two of the Security of the Nation Act, two-thousand and twenty- five, Section four. How do you plead?”
Each of the accused answered 'not guilty' in turn, and the Justice continued.
“Does anyone have anything to say in mitigation of their behaviour,” he asked.
“Yes,” stated the Reverend Woods, “I would like to make a statement and a plea, Sirs.”
“Very well,” said the centre Judge, “you are allowed four minutes, continue.”
“Thank you your worships,” started Kenneth, ”I would first like to point out that no one here actively incited anyone to mutiny, the protest was against the Ministry of Defence and the current government for it's action in forcing citizens to accept sub-dermal implants. This was for two reasons, firstly I, and the majority of those arrested consider this action to be a crime against human rights, and secondly, because this violation has been prophesied in our Bible and our faith instructs us to resist evil where ever it may be found. In other words, your worships, we were following our conscience and the articles of our faith, and also exorcising our right to free speech and opinion, in line with the bill of human rights.”
As the Reverend paused in his statement the judge on the left, thinking him to have finished, said, “Thank you Mr Wood, is there . . .”
“With respect Sir, I have not finished yet,” interrupted Kenneth, the judge lifted both arms to shoulder height in a frustrated manner and signalled the Reverend to continue. “As to the charge of incitement, I believe this to be a false charge, as you will see from the video taken at the time, we were 'supporting' the solders who had refused the implants, not inciting them to refuse a legal order. There is also an issue about the order; I would suggest that the order made by the Ministry of defence was in actuality an illegal order under the human rights convention of two-thousand and twenty- one, section seven, subsection twenty-five, and paragraph eleven. Thank you your worships.”
The Judges looked at each other is some dismay, before the senior judge then said, “Thank you for illuminating us on the law Mr. Woods, however a national emergency overrides those rights you so eloquently quoted. We have concurred that the case against you has been proved,” the other two justices looked very uncomfortable with this decision and the senior justice’s words. “You have been found guilty as charged; the sentence is as follows,” the justice continued, “we are handing down a sentence of twelve months, suspended for that duration, providing that during that period you accept a sub-dermal tag for the full twelve months. You are dismissed from this court.