History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E25Tribunal

!!Tropes

* ActorAllusion: Fritz Weaver plays Kovat, a Cardassian "lawyer", who never wins a case to prove that the State (in this case, Cardassia) is always right and dissenters should be eliminated from it; in the Twilight Zone episode [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E29TheObsoleteMan "The Obsolete Man"]], he plays the Chancellor of a Country who also eliminates all dissents.

* StereotypeReactionGag: The Cardassians use O'Brien's FantasticRacism as evidence against him, particularly his attitude that "the bloody [[FantasticSlur Cardies]] can't be trusted". And then it's revealed that he's the victim of a Cardassian-engineered FrameUp, which kinda proves him right.

* ActorAllusion: Fritz Weaver plays Kovat, a Cardassian "lawyer", who never wins a case to prove that the State (in this case, Cardassia) is always right and dissenters should be eliminated from it; in the Twilight Zone episode [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan "The Obsolete Man"]], he plays the Chancellor of a Country who also eliminates all dissents.

* {{Blackmail}}: How Sisko gets O'Brien released. He captures the Cardassian agent that engineered the theft of photon torpedoes that led to O'Brien's arrest. Sisko merely shows up in the courtroom with the agent, and the judge suddenly decides to release O'Brien (though still declaring him guilty) "in the interest of Federation/Cardassian relations". Sisko doesn't even need to speak a word.

** Exhibit F: Even after the real perpetrator is revealed in court, Mokbar can't bring herself to actually acquit O'Brien, instead simply releasing him into the custody of Starfleet.

* YouHaveFailedMe: It's implied that because his client was declared innocent (even though it was by factors outside his countrol), that Kavot isn't going to last long...

* ActorAllusion: Fritz Weaver plays Kovat, a Cardassian "lawyer", who never wins a case to prove that the State (in this case, Cardassia) is always right and dissenters should be eliminated from it; in the Twilight Zone episode ''[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan "The Obsolete Man"]]'', he plays the Chancellor of a Country who also eliminates all dissents.

Back on ''Deep Space Nine'', Sisko informs Keiko that several Federation ships have been deployed to the demilitarized zone to pressure Cardassia over O'Brien's capture. They are contacted by Makbar, the Archon who will be overseeing O'Brien's trial. She explains that O'Brien's charges will be announced at the start of the trial, as is customary in Cardassian jurisprudence, and in the meantime there is no need to prepare -- his guilt has already been decided. The "trial" will occur solely to explain ''how'' his guilt was reached. As his spouse, Keiko has the right to attend the trial. Odo, who has been made an officer of the court during the Occupation, is also granted permission to attend the trial as O'Brien's advisor.

O'Brien meets his "attorney," Conservator Kovat, who explains that O'Brien's trial and sentence help reinforce order and peace on Cardassia. Seeing a guilty man get caught and punished and will make the people feel safe in knowing a criminal has faced justice. Kovat's role is to try and coax a confession from O'Brien, not to prove his innocence.

* SpringtimeForHitler: Kovat's job was never to win the case for O'Brien. He then gets quite distraught when Odo notes that Sisko's intervention means that Kovat might have actually one the case.

* KangarooCourt: The inane and insane Cardassian "legal" system in on full display here. Kovat all but admits that the entire justice system is a farce to make the people feel safe and secure by seeing criminals punished, regardless of their guilt. To go over some of the absurdities on display:

** Exhibit B: O'Brien is arrested, processed, and held for days before ever being told what his crime is. By the time he enters the courtroom and the trial formally begins, the verdict and sentence have already been decided.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: The ''Enterprise'' is this for once, as TNG had already ended. They're deployed near the DMZ after O'Brien is arrested, as a show of Federation resolve.
** This also, incidentally, gives ''Tribunal'' the distinction of being the very first episode of [=DS9=] to air following the conclusion of its parent show.

O'Brien meets his "attorney," Conservator Kovat, who explains that O'Brien's trial and sentence helps reinforce order and peace on Cardassia, the people will see a guilty man be caught and punished and they will feel safe in knowing a criminal has faced justice. Kovat's role is to try and coax a confession from O'Brien, not to prove his innocence.

* MarriedToTheJob: O'Brien can hardly be peeled away from his duties to go on vacation, and once he leaves, he insists on bringing an armful of technical documents to examine rather than have fun. Keiko has to guilt him out of it.

* SequelEpisode: "Tribunal" is a loose follow-up to "Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E20TheMaquis "The Maquis"]] and [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis "The Maquis, Part 2"]] as it's the Station's first clash with the Maquis after foiling Cal Hudson. However, it's also a more-or-less direct-follow-up to TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E23PreemptiveStrike "Preemptive Strike"]] with Evek's return and the current state of the DMZ. Basically, if "Preemptive Strike" showed how the Starfleet was going to try and handle the now-full blown Maquis crisis, then "Tribunal" does the same for the Cardassian Central Command.

[[RunningGag In this episode of "O'Brien Must Suffer"]], it's time for O'Brien to go on vacation for the first time in five years. As he and Keiko take a runabout to their vacation destination, they are intercepted by a Cardassian patrol, they board and O'Brien is arrested and taken captive. O'Brien wakes up on Cardassia Prime where, after the Cardassian version of a mugshot and being offered the chance to confess to his crime, he is told his trial will be in two days. Through all of this, none of the Cardassians have told him what he has been accused of.

Back on ''Deep Space Nine'', Sisko informs Keiko that several Federation ships have been deployed to the demilitarized zone to pressure Cardassia over O'Brien's capture. They are contacted by Makbar, the Archon who will be overseeing O'Brien's trial. She explains that O'Brien's charges will be announced at the start of the trial, as is customary in Cardassian jurisprudence, and in the meantime there is no need to prepare -- his guilt has already been decided, the trial is to explain how and decide how severe his guilt is. As his spouse, Keiko has the right to attend the trial, and she will be accompanied by Odo, who, having been made an officer of the court during the Occupation, has requested to be O'Brien's advisor in the trial.

O'Brien meets his "defense attorney", Conservator Kovat. He explains that O'Brien's trial and sentence helps reinforce order and peace on Cardassia, the people will see a guilty man be caught and punished and they will feel safe in knowing a criminal has faced justice. Kovat's role is to try and coax a confession from O'Brien, not to prove his innocence.

On ''[=DS9=]'', Sisko and Kira find two dozen photon torpedoes missing from weapons storage -- the voice print to access it is O'Brien's, and it is possible a transporter could have swapped the crates without the security scanners noticing. Weeks ago a Maquis ship stole a supply of photon launchers, leading them to wonder if O'Brien's vacation was a cover to sell the torpedoes to the Maquis. Sisko begins an investigation into if the Maquis were behind the theft, while also raising the question of how the Cardassians could have suspected O'Brien was smuggling weapons. Dax analyzes O'Brien's voice print and realizes it was reconstructed by someone who had recorded O'Brien's voice.

Odo meets with O'Brien and explains the situation to him, but O'Brien maintains his innocence. The trial begins and Odo tries to present the evidence that O'Brien was framed, but Makbar shuts him effort down -- the verdict has already been reached and no new evidence can be submitted now, and Makbar has no interest in whatever "evidence" the Federation may produce to prove O'Brien's "innocence".

The crew question Raymond Boone, a suspected member of the Maquis and former friend of O'Brien, who was seen talking to him as he left the station. He claims to know nothing. In medical, the lights go off and Bashir is confronted by an unknown member of the Maquis, who claims Boone is not one of them. Sisko and Bashir confront Boone and bring up many ways in which he began to act strangely eight years ago when he was released from a Cardassian detention center. They restrain him and Bashir conducts a medical examination. As O'Brien's trial winds down and Makbar prepares to sentence him, Sisko enters with Boone. Seeing them, Makbar decides there is room for compassion in Cardassia's courts, and O'Brien's verdict is set aside and he is released.

Back on ''[=DS9=]'', the crew explain that Boone was a Cardassian, identified as such by the fact all Cardassians have a tooth extracted for purposes of identification at age ten. The real Boone apparently died in captivity, and a Cardassian was surgically altered to look like Boone to infiltrate the Federation. They believe this plot was to try and make it seem as though the Maquis were secretly being supplied by the Federation, so the Cardassians would have cause to pressure the Federation to leave the demilitarized zone and disband their colonies. With the plot exposed, O'Brien and Keiko can go on their vacation properly this time, Sisko having pulled strings to get them an extension.

* AffectionatePickpocket: A variant - "Boone" bumps into O'Brien and then pretends not to recognize him so that Miles will identify himself, so the fake Boone can get a voice sample to open the weapons locker.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Kovat and O'Brien clash continually because of the major differences between the Federation and Cardassian justice systems, and the corresponding mindsets that come with each--in Cardassia, even an innocent wrongly put on trial would know what to expect (and would eventually capitulate), but O'Brien, raised in a society where "innocent until proven guilty" is the norm, cannot accept the fate that he seems to be heading toward, and is intent on fighting even if he can't win.

* ChekhovsGun: All Cardassians have their first molar extracted at the age of 10 for identification purposes.

** Exhibit D: Odo points out no crime was committed against Cardassia, the crime O'Brien is accused of was commited aboard a Bajoran space station and within the demilitarized zone. Rightfully, any trial O'Brien is subject to should be under Federation jurisdiction. Makbar flat ignores this point.
** Exhibit E: Gul Evek claims that "reliable sources" told him O'Brien had the warheads and he was delivering them to the Maquis. When Odo questions who these "reliable sources" are, Evek says revealing his sources would compromise national security -- the archon says this is acceptable and his testimony is permitted.

* SequelEpisode: "Tribunal" is a loose follow-up to [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E20TheMaquis "The]] [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis Maquis"]] as it's the Station's first clash with the Maquis after foiling Cal Hudson. However, it's also a more-or-less direct-follow-up to TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E23PreemptiveStrike Preemptive Strike'']] with Evek's return and the current state of the DMZ. Basically, if "Preemptive Strike" showed how the Starfleet was going to try and handle the now-full blown Maquis crisis, then "Tribunal" does the same for the Cardassian Central Command.

* SequelEpisode: "Tribunal" is a loose follow-up to [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E20TheMaquis "The]] [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis Maquis"]] as it's the Station's first clash with the Maquis after foiling Cal Hudson. However, it's also a semi-direct-follow-up to TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E23PreemptiveStrike Preemptive Strike'']] with Evek's return and the current state of the DMZ. Basically, if "Preemptive Strike" showed how the Starfleet was going to try and handle the now-full blown Maquis crisis, then "Tribunal" does the same for the Cardassian Central Command.

* SequelEpisode: "Tribunal" is a very loose follow-up to [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E20TheMaquis "The]] [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis Maquis"]] as it's the Station's first post-Cal Hudson clash with the Maquis. However, it's also a more direct-follow-up to TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E23PreemptiveStrike Preemptive Strike'']]. Basically, if "Preemptive Strike" showed how the Starfleet was going to try and handle the now-full blown Maquis crisis, then "Tribunal" does the same for the Cardassian Central Command.