Another conviction and yet another grossly disproportionate sentence handed out for vandalism during the G20 in Toronto. First offender Ashan Ravindhraraj has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for his role in the torching of the police bait cars. While I have to shake my head at his stupidity and that of others for even approaching these obvious traps he is not a danger to society and has already been punished enough losing his job at the TTC shortly after being charged where he was an award winning urban planner and spending considerable time under restrictive bail conditions including house arrest.
Now compare that to the handful of cops charged with serious assaults on civilians, not only are they free to go about their daily lives but remain on the job even though they unlike Ashan Ravindhraraj committed their alleged offenses while on the clock. I would like to think that these officers realising that they must be held to a higher standard than the general public are quaking in their boots looking at the severity of the sentences handed out to date but ,alas, I suspect they have very little to fear.
Not only is it notoriously difficult to get a conviction against a police officer in this country but in the unlikelihood that any of them are convicted they have little fear of garnering a sentence even approaching the ones meted out to civilians, for these sentences are nothing but vengeance against those who had the temerity to oppose the Man and a message for those who are contemplating doing so in the future.
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