JURIST Guest Columnist Caio Abramo, LL.M. candidate at the Graduate School of Law, Economics and Governance at the University of Utrecht, is currently doing preliminary studies in international public law. He discusses Brazil’s obligation to prosecute political crimes committed during the rule of the military dictatorship… In 1964, a military coup d’état led by the [...]
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Thursday welcomed the new electoral law adopted by the National Transitional Council (NTC) . The draft of the electoral law was finalized on Wednesday after the earlier version was revised to address criticisms of the public. The new law sets out procedures for the upcoming election to [...]
Iraq has executed 65 people so far this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday. HRW said those executed were convicted of various crimes and counted a total of 51 in January and 14 in February. HRW also called for a moratorium on all future executions, and called for “an overhaul of flawed criminal justice [...]
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Ohio’s request to put a condemned killer to death, effectively putting the state’s executions on hold. Without comment, the court refused to allow Ohio to execute Charles Lorraine, a 45-year-old man who was convicted in 1986 of killing an elderly couple. Though Ohio Governor John Kasich rejected Lorraine’s [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder, along with Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and 49 state attorneys general announced Thursday that a $25 billion agreement was reached with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. This agreement is the largest joint federal-state settlement ever obtained [...]
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) , a consumer privacy group, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia asking that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) block Google’s proposed privacy policy changes . EPIC alleged that the changes to the privacy policy are in violation of a settlement reached [...]
The implementation of the rule of law in Haiti is making significant progress , UN Independent Expert Michel Forst said Wednesday. Forst focused on improvements such as the establishment of judicial offices, the adoption of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the recent conviction of eight police officers in a post-earthquake [...]
Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed said Thursday he would remain in the country and try to regain his office after reports indicated that a warrant has been issued for his arrest. The specific charges are unclear , but Nasheed maintains that the warrant is politically motivated. Nasheed, who resigned on Tuesday , has said that [...]
The Spanish Supreme Court on Thursday convicted Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon of ordering illegal wiretaps in jailhouses, after a trial lasting less than one month . The court announced in October that Garzon would stand trial on the charges after the he was indicted in April for ordering the placement of wiretaps in jailhouses to [...]
A rising crime rate in Caribbean nations is one of the main challenges threatening those nations’ economies, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) reported Wednesday. According to the Caribbean Human Development Report 2012, the “region is home to 8.5 percent of the world’s population, yet it concentrates some 27 percent of the world’s homicides. Violence and [...]
