Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka told reporters on Wednesday that former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko may face additional criminal charges, including charges relating to the 1996 shooting of lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban and his family. Pshonka indicated that he believes Tymoshenko transferred money to the individuals who organized the murder. Serhiy Vlasenko, one of Tymoshenko’s lawyers, [...]
The Italian Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Germany does not have to compensate Italian victims of Nazi war crimes. The ICJ ruled in favor of Germany in February. Germany had argued that Italy failed to respect Germany’s jurisdictional immunity by (1) allowing civil claims against Germany to [...]
Judge Carl Barbier for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana signed a case management order on Wednesday outlining the structure for the upcoming trial of Gulf oil spill claims scheduled for January 14, 2013. Barbier divided the trial into two phases. In phase one, or the “incident” phase, the court will [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Thursday ruled that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) , which defines marriage as between one man and one woman, is unconstitutional because it interferes with a state’s right to define marriage. The decision is the first judgment by an appeals [...]
The Moldovan government should enact coherent anti-discrimination legislation to ensure equal treatment of men and women, the UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice said Wednesday. Kamala Chandrakirana, the chair of the working group, pointed out the inefficiency of allowing practices that subject women to discrimination. The group noted that [...]
Egypt’s state-of-emergency will come to an end on Thursday when a two-year extension on a law authorizing broad government powers of arrest and detention expires. Individuals who have already been sentenced or detained under the less-restrictive requirements of the emergency law will not be released, and trials in Egypt’s Emergency State Security Court (ESSC) are [...]
The European Commission on Thursday referred Germany to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for not complying with the EU Data Retention Directive . The Commission is asking the court to impose fines on Germany for breach of EU law in the amount of 315,036.54 euros (USD $390,771.32). In 2010, the German Constitutional Court annulled [...]
A judge for the Supreme Court of Nepal was shot and killed Thursday while traveling to work. Judge Rana Bahadur Bam, who was under investigation for allegedly taking bribes was shot in his vehicle by two masked men on motorcycles. Two other passengers in the car were also injured. Reports alleged that Bam accepted bribes [...]
A report released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded that two of the prosecutors involved in the 2008 trial of former senator Ted Stevens acted recklessly in their management of evidence, leading to a failure to disclose crucial evidence to Stevens’s defense team. The DOJ suspended Joseph Bottini and James Goeke without pay. [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona ruled Tuesday that several Arizona residents have legal standing to challenge the state’s controversial immigration law passed in 2010. The ruling came after several plaintiffs argued that they have legal standing to challenge the statute because its enforcement would have a detrimental effect [...]
