Richard Dieter : A federal judge in Florida this week ruled that the state’s death penalty statute was unconstitutional and in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury. This ruling has been a long time coming and may have a significant impact on Florida capital cases. The problem is with the [...]
The UN on Friday announced its approval of the arrest of a former top Guatemalan military figure accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. General Hector Mario Lopez Fuentes, former chief of staff of Guatemalan armed forces from 1982-1983, is accused of directing military attacks against citizens, namely indigenous Mayans. Villages were destroyed [...]
Apple filed suit Friday in the Seoul Central District Court claiming that the Samsung “Galaxy” line of products copies its iPhone and iPad technology. This follows similar suits by Apple in the US and suits by Samsung filed in South Korea, Japan and Germany. It is rumored that these disputes will ultimately be settled through [...]
The US House of Representatives in two votes Friday sent contradictory messages over authorization of US military operations in Libya. First, the House overwhelmingly voted down 123-295 a resolution that would have authorized further operations in Libya. Then hours later, it voted down 180-238 a measure that would have defunded the operations, save for rescue [...]
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday announced that it plans to send a panel to investigate the human rights situation in Yemen . Three OHCHR experts will travel to Yemen next week for a 10-day stint to interview government officials, human rights defenders, victims of rights violations, members [...]
The US House of Representatives voted 304-117 Friday in favor of the America Invents Act , the largest potential reform to the US patent system since 1952. If the bill passes it would replace the current “first inventor to use” system with a “first inventor to file” system, making US patents more like the European [...]
The US Department of Defense (DOD) Thursday announced the appointment of Army Brig. General Mark Martins as the new chief war crimes prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay as head of the Office of Military Commissions . Martins, who is currently serving in Afghanistan as the commander of the Rule of Law Field Force, is a graduate [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday convicted and sentenced six individuals, including the first female to be charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, in relation to the 1994 Rwandan genocide . The six were charged with conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity including extermination, murder, persecution [...]
Ukrainian opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko went on trial Friday in the Pechersky District Court on abuse of power charges. Thousands of protesters surrounded the building, supporting Tymoshenko and screaming that the judge was a “puppet.” Tymoshenko criticized the judiciary herself several times: “This is a real gang of criminals. Some people [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday ruled against the release of a former high-ranking Taliban official at Guantanamo Bay despite a request from Afghanistan’s Peace Council to release the prisoner. Judge Ricardo Urbina denied a petition for writ of habeas corpus initiated by Khairullah Khairkhwa, a Taliban [...]
