After an eight-day trial, the former Emperor Xochiuhue of Xiomera has been found guilty of a huge slate of charges, and sentenced to death by the nation’s highest judge.
Panxī, the cihuacoatl or chief justice of the Xiomeran Empire, declared that Xochiuhue had been proven to be “solely responsible and undeniably guilty” of a massive slate of over 350 charges brought against him by the Xiomeran Ministry of Justice. Among the charges were genocide, murder, manslaughter, and treason. The Xiomeran Minister of Justice, Cuicanan, served as prosecutor in a rare exercise of that power by the nation’s highest justice official. “Xochiuhue was responsible for wrongdoing on a massive scale. On behalf of the Xiomeran people and the world, justice will be served when he pays for his crimes.”
Xochiuhue’s defense attorney, Ilochihuan, had argued that the former Emperor was not culpable of the charges against him due to insanity. This defense, however, was rejected by Panxī, who declared that the former Emperor “acted with malice and with full knowledge and awareness of his actions” during his brief reign.
For his own part, the former Emperor offered surprisingly little resistance to the charges against him, refusing to answer most questions posed to him and repeatedly stating that he had acted “for the good of the Empire and the Xiomeran people” and did not recognize the authority of the court. When asked if others in the Xiomeran government, such as the current ruler Calhualyana, bore any responsibility for the actions of the Xiomeran Empire during the civil war in Huenya, he repeatedly refused to answer, stating that “I was and am the Emperor and I made all decisions, and regret none of them.”
Xiomerans in what remains of the Xiomeran Empire are openly celebrating the downfall of Xochiuhue, who the current government has labeled “the cruelest and most incompetent leader in Imperial history.” However, in the areas that have separated from the Xiomeran Empire in the aftermath of the civil war, the reaction is mixed. The provisional governments of Manauia Island and the Netlcoātl Islands, along with the government of Milintica, issued a joint statement under the banner of the Alliance of Non-Aligned Nations (ANAN) calling the trial a sham. “Xochiuhue was indeed guilty of the crimes he was labeled with, but the idea that he is the only one that bears responsibility is absurd,” the statement read. The statement also declared that the nations in question “will not accept a scapegoat taking all the blame” and that the upcoming talks in Jinyu to end the fighting in Huenya “must ensure justice is done to punish all the Xiomeran militarists and imperialists responsible for this tragedy.”
The government of the rival Huenyan Federation issued its own statement, calling the trial “a show trial in the fashion typical of totalitarian regimes” and stating that while their government was glad Xochiuhue would face punishment, that it would not change their claim that all Xiomeran governments are illegitimate regardless of who leads them and that they must cede their authority to the Huenyan Federation.
