Spain’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday formally nullified Catalonia’s October 27th declaration of independence. Citing earlier decisions related to the Catalan referendum on independence, the Constitutional Court reiterated their right to trump last week’s declaration of independence under Article 161 of the Spanish Constitution , which provides that The Government may appeal to the Constitutional Court [...]
The war crimes trial of Eshetu Alemu, an aide to Ethiopia’s former communist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam , began on Monday at a Dutch national court in the Hague. Alemu is alleged to have ordered the execution of 75 individuals during the Red Terror campaigns in the 1970s, following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie [...]
The US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday granted a preliminary injunction against portions of President Donald Trump‘s transgender military ban. The Court also granted portions of the government’s motion to dismiss, effectively leaving in place the retention and accession policies as they were before the issuance of Trump’s presidential memorandum in [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Sedef Asli Topal of The University of Szeged, Hungary discusses the affairs of the European Union … The European Union surely cannot be simply identified as an international organization. It holds both particular confederative and federal characteristics within its institutional structure. Generally, it is described as an ‘unprecedented supranational organization’ which is [...]
Spanish Attorney General José Manuel Maza on Monday charged the former president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont , and other top Catalan officials with rebellion, sedition, embezzlement and malfeasance related to the region’s declaration of independence last week. Maza filed two separate complaints against the main Catalan political leaders, who declared independence on October 27. The [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in two criminal procedure cases. In Ayestas v. Davis the petitioner, Carlos Manuel Ayestas, a Texas death-row inmate, filed a habeas petition for ineffective assistance of counsel. The case challenges 18 USC § 3599(f), which provides that “federal courts in capital cases involving indigent defendants (including [...]
Argentina’s top prosecutor Alejandra Gils Carbo resigned on Monday amid accusations that she hindered investigations into the corruption scandal surrounding officials from former-president Cristina Fernandez’s administration. Current President Mauricio Macri accused Carbo of misusing her power by failing to bring corruption charges against officials from Fernandez’s administration. Macri began campaigning for reforms that would permit [...]
French President Emmanuel Macron formally signed a law Monday to replace a two-year-old state of emergency established in the wake of violent Paris attacks that killed 130 people in November 2015. The new law gives police and other law enforcement officials authority to conduct searches, and more. It will take effect Tuesday, just as the [...]
Saudi Princess Reema Bandar bint Al-Saud, vice president for women’s affairs of the General Sports Authority , tweeted Sunday that the country will begin to allow women to attend sporting events in 2018. Sport stadiums in Saudi Arabia to open their doors to welcome women in 2018 #history @gsaksa https://t.co/zGtHnf8ztW — Reema Bandar Al-Saud (@rbalsaud) [...]
Oman’s Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs , Yousuf Bin Alawi, on Monday signed Ministerial Decision No. 330/2017 into law, establishing the Omani Committee for International Humanitarian Law. The committee was established to spearhead Oman’s initiatives in humanitarian and international law. The committee, which has an initial term of three years, will be headed by the [...]
