"Ardpresteir Verdict: Guilty," by Munditenens Tresplet

In a very public case testing the legal boundaries of Talossan defamatory law, defendant Béneditsch Ardpresteir was convicted of a misdemeanor for publicly stating that Magniloqueu Épiqeu da Lhiun, the plaintiff, was involved in "certain insubordinate activities" that led to his dismissal from serving as a TALOSSAssistant. An associated felony charge of abusing an official position, was dismissed with prejudice. What was this alleged insubordination? Counsel for the defendant, Alexandreu Davinescu, pointed to several of [da Lhiun]'s statements that include him asking for Ardpresteir's "immediate resignation" (from his post as Attorney General) and making it his "personal agenda" to bring Ardpresteir down, among others. After his objection to the relevance of his past statements was overruled, da Lhiun clarified his reasoning behind his prior statements, noting that they weren't intended to "insult my boss", rather, that they were statements made by "a frustrated citizen, complaining about a government official". Davinescu responded by saying that "a moment's perusal of these statements ... show that this is clearly not a limited policy argument, but that instead it was a heated disagreement that spanned the full range of the defendant's offices and even encompassed [Ardpresteir] personally."

Rejecting the defense's argument, Magistrate Owen Edwards found Ardpresteir's statement to be defamatory after noting that, immediately following the statement and dismissal, Ardpresteir appointed da Lhiun to the higher post of Junior Deputy Immigration Minister, leaving da Lhiun with all the duties of the Ministry during Ardpresteir's absence. This immediate promotion, Magistrate Edwards wrote, "seems to give the lie to the claim that the defendant had taken the remarks as truly insubordinate."

Defendant Ardpresteir was sentenced to a suspended sentence of four weeks of civil disability from national executive office and given a judicial reprimand from the bench. By the time judgement was rendered, as noted by the reprimand, a new government had taken office and Ardpresteir was no longer the Immigration Minister (acting or otherwise), nor was he the AG. And, in an interesting Talossan twist, da Lhiun became a deputy Immigration Minister and (later) the Attorney-General. Still, this judgement could have lasting impacts in many future lawsuits, as Magistrate Edwards noted before he rendered his judgement: "This case has been very useful in interpreting 'grey areas' of our legal system". Ardpresteir plans to proceed to appeal.