Former Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Abel-Jalil on Wednesday alleged that Muammar Gaddafi ordered the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen . During the 40-minute interview, Abel-Jalil, who resigned earlier this week in opposition of the country’s violent response to protesters , claimed to have evidence that Gaddafi gave direct orders to Abdelbaset Ali [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday convicted former senior Serbian police official Vlastimir Djordjevic on five counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, sentencing him to 27 years . Djordjevic was convicted of committing racial persecution through deportation and forcible transfer through his participation in a joint criminal enterprise [...]
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled unanimously in Walker v. Martin that a state law barring a prisoner from collaterally attacking his conviction is adequate to support a procedural bar to filing a habeas corpus petition. The decision upholds a California state law preventing prisoners from collaterally attacking their judgment when the prisoner “substantially [...]
Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Wednesday that the ICC cannot investigate possible crimes in Libya because the country is not a party to the Rome Statute . Moreno-Ocampo noted that the ICC lacks the authority to intervene until Libya accepts the court’s jurisdiction or the UN refers the situation [...]
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously reversed a California appeals court ruling in Williamson v. Mazda Motors of America , finding that a federal minimum safety standard does not preempt state tort actions. The court held that compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 , which requires automobile manufacturers to install lap [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) , which defines marriage for federal purposes as a legal union between one man and one woman, in court cases challenging the provision. Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged that [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases: one determining whether a court may modify a sentence when the US Sentencing Commission has subsequently lowered the sentence range and the other examining the state of mind necessary for finding inducement of patent infringement. In Freeman v. United States , the court will determine [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Tuesday that Congress acted within its constitutional powers in passing the health care reform law and that the law does not violate the religious freedom of plaintiffs who challenged the law. Judge Gladys Kessler dismissed the suit filed by the American Center [...]
The Algerian Council of Ministers on Tuesday approved a draft ordinance repealing the country’s 19-year state of emergency, delivering on a promise made the week before . The draft ordinance will have the force of law upon publication in the Official Journal of Algeria , which the Council of Ministers said would be “imminent.” The [...]
Ekaterina Sivolobova, a student in the Faculty of Law at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, writes about the failure of the Uruguayan Reparations Law to address Uruguay’s responsibilities under international law… One of the legal consequences of failing to protect victims of human rights abuses is the state’s obligation to provide full reparations for [...]
