Discussion»Questions»Legal» You find out that someone whom you adore commited severely awful criminal acts. If you say nothing aren't you a co-conspirator? If not what?
There is a lot of phrases you can use to make it sound better: "Seeing the big picture", "being realistic/patriotic/loyal/...", "just helping out", "minding my own business", "just following orders"(though that one went out of fashion after WW2), ...
Then again there are also phrases you can (and do) use to make people and acts you do not like sound worse: "Aiding and abetting", "Coverup", "Despicable criminal", "co-conspirator", ...
In all I see both as less than laudable attempts to misrepresent reality. I would much prefer to stay with the initial postulate "criminal acts"(superfluous adjectives omitted) and determine if the actual actions performed really were 'criminal'.
IMO yes, guilty if you stand by and say nothing, unless for some reason you cannot say anything, perhaps for fear of your life - but even then you should try.
Of course if the life of a loved one were at risk that would hamper you. But there ought to be a way to get the info to the right people. "Leak" it! That's the MO folks use these days to blow the whistle. Just leak it! Thank you for your reply Addb and Happy Sunday! : )