Opening Statement: Defense

Your honors, my name is Sara. I am here along with Parker and Julianna in
defense of the falsely accused Arthur Mabo. The prosecution is here in hope of
leading you to believe that Arthur Mabo is guilty of committing war crimes. But
today, we will be proving otherwise. The prosecution will be standing before you
today with an incomplete story. They will be reusing claims due to their inability
to provide full information on what happened. Their strongest witness that will be
taking the stand today will be Anna Kabolo. They also have Alia Rutu as a
witness, but she has only second hand information on what may have possibly
happened to her son. All she saw was her son being taken. Nothing more.
Today we are here, your honors, to settle the misunderstanding of Arthur
Mabo. I would first like to begin by informing you of the events that have lead up
to all the events. There was fighting for many years between the Kani and Lago
because of the competition over the region's resources. During this fighting
Arthur Mabo was chased from him home when his father was discriminated
against and killed by a Kani police officer. Arthur left his home with his mother
and two siblings in hope of escaping the conflict. They went to a refugee camp
where Arthur Mabo met other boys who wanted to return to their home. Him and
the other refugees founded the Union of Shansau Patriots. Shansau was the home
of Arthur Mabo.
Arthur is not guilty of having conscripting children under the age of 15
years into armed groups. He is not responsible for the young children that were
working with his army. He was away often and had no clue about them being
used. The prosecution will argue today that he should've been aware of what was
going on but that's not their place to say anything. If anyone will know about the
whereabouts of Arthur Mabo very well it would be himself. He will be testifying
before us today.
Arthur Mabo is not guilty of having enlisted children into armed groups. He
did not have any knowledge about child soldiers being used in his camp. To his
knowledge there were only children in his camp seeking protection and shelter
from the conflicts. Anna Kabolo will argue today that she was being used as a
slave, but she was doing the manual labor and contributing to the camp. They
had everyone in the camp help out around so that they can maintain it and keep
it secure from any possible threats.
Arthur Mabo is not guilty of having used children to participate in armed
conflict. As was mentioned before, Arthur Mabo was not in the camp often, due to
the fact that he was attending meetings. He left his second in command. And with
this the Victim's Lawyers or prosecution will argue that in the law it says that the
leaders are responsible for all the actions of their group. But to what extent? They

will stand before you today and point all the blame for this on Arthur Mabo, but
he is not responsible for this.
Arthur Mabo is not responsible for the death and suffering of Alia Rutu's
son. Arthur Mabo is not responsible for any of the things he is being accused with
today. Alia Rutu has all her information second hand. She will stand in front of
you today and tell you of the things that her young son told her. She will be
testifying against a man she doesn't even know. She will not be very helpful in
their case or in ours.
Your honors, we are here to tell you the whole story. We are also here to
convince you of Arthur Mabo's innocence. Please keep an open mind as this case
is discussed for your verdict.