Of recent occurances in the Galaxy, many of you have read the stories about the arrest of a Black Sun Trading Company diplomat, Acria Larkin. There is one important line in the original news release that you may or may not have noticed. Angobba the Hutt stated, about the arrest and seizure of assets, that: \"I would like to remind you that all the actions being taken are, of course, legal under Imperial law.\"

This is a prime example of what is contained in the so-called \"Imperial Legal Code\". This document is an affront to all free beings of the Galaxy, and it details several crimes against Sentients as actually being legal in the Empire. It illustrates just how little the Empire cares for its citizens, whom it views as all just one step above being criminals. Let us take an objective look at this charter.

First, let us begin at the chapter on judicial proceedings, (ILC 7.2), and its implications. The first thing that you see is: \"The Empire may arrest and hold any Imperial citizen or non-citizen within Imperial borders, for as long as it may wish.\" This is followed by \"Those who resist by whatever means will not only be arrested but shall be executed promptly for resisting arrest.\" So what does this mean? It is not hard to see the widereaching powers this gives to all Imperial personnel. If you insult one, or if you buy something they wanted to buy, or if they just plain don\'t like your species, they can, without reason, arrest you indefinately. If you object, BANG, you are shot. Oh, and regardless of whether or not you resist arrest or not, all your belongings become Imperial Property, according to (ILC 7.2-7). And not just that, but if a crime is comitted at a tavern, the Empire can confiscate the tavern from it\'s owner as well!

But then, say you are a good sport, and you think its all a mistake and that these ridiculous charges will go away in court. But wait, read (ILC 7.2-2) and (ILC 7.2-3) and you will see that in a trial you are assumed Guilty, and you have no rights whatsoever. And if the decision goes against you, (but what are the chances of that in such a fair court!) then of course, there is no appeal.

Now, no doubt many groups are saying, \"But we are neutral. We don\'t want to get involved.\" or even \"We have a treaty with the Imperials, surely that aids us with this.\" Unfortunately, with laws like these, there is no true Neutral. For example, look at the extradition and deportation sections, (ILC 7.2-4) and (ILC 7.2-5). The Empire \"reserves the right\" to extradite anyone they want from any other government or group. And if you don\'t comply, well they can just arrest you and confiscate all your goods. To emphasize this, here, in it\'s entirety, is (ILC 7.2-7):

The Imperial government reserves the authority and right to seize assets of any one individual, group/organization, or company/corporation.

(1) Any of the aforementioned (but not limited to) suspected of aiding in any way Imperial enemies of the State or conducting any otherwise illegal activity shall be raided and searched.

(2) Property used in the conduction of criminal acts shall be confiscated and henceforth become the property of the Empire.

As you can see, no one is safe from this process that is misnamed as \"Justice\". And finally once it is over, and you are imprisoned, according to (ILC 7.2-6), \"The Empire makes no guarantees for a prisoner’s safety, health, or other basic qualities of life during their sentence.\"

So if you have a house on Kuat that the Imperials want, they can just take it. If your CEO unknowingly insults a sector Moff, well then, all your assets can be seized. An Imperial can charge you with loitering, then kill you for \"resisting arrest\" and take all your stuff, all completely legal under this farce of a legal code.

People of the Galaxy, this is what awaits you under further leadership by the Empire. You can see for yourself that in the end, there is no neutral group. The Empire either considers you nationalized and part of them, or as \"non-citizens\" with absolutely no rights, and whose things are to be taken at their whim.

Do not let your work, your children\'s work, or their lives, be taken from you. Do not stand for this mockery of sentient rights. There are choices availible to you. Do not let what happened to Acria Larkin happen to someone you care about.