Also, fighters who take the pledge vowed not to issue "any executive orders, particularly with regard to death or corporal punishment" and promised to heed the legal system to determine guilt or innocence of people.

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Although there was never much argument about his guilt, the legal proceedings that led to his imprisonment have caused a long debate.

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Kate Clark, at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, reports that in the south-east, the insurgents' quasi-legal structures for establishing the guilt of alleged spies have largely been abandoned in favour of summary executions.

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But an admission of guilt would raise legal issues as well as further backlash from the cycling world and cancer community, in which Armstrong is a prominent figure as a cancer survivor.

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Wherever guilt actually lies, the legal process involved in the David Ji case (p. 30) is glaringly suspect.

FORBES

But, faced with legal accusation rather than moral indignation, both men contort themselves rather than admit guilt.

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