JURIST Guest Columnists Olga Martin-Ortega of the Centre on Human Rights in Conflict, University of East London (UK), and Jordi Palou-Loverdos, a lawyer who has represented Rwandan, Congolese and Spanish victims of crimes against humanity before the Spanish courts, say that preserving Spain's broad universal jurisdiction law from growing political pressure to narrow it is [...]
Self-exiled Russian business tycoon Boris Berezovsky was found guilty of fraud in absentia Thursday by a Moscow regional court. The court found that Berezovsky and his business associate Yuli Dubov embezzled $4.5 million from their LogoVAZ car dealership. The charges , filed last November under the Russian Criminal Code , stem from a deal arranged [...]
Billionaire financier Allen Stanford pleaded not guilty Thursday to 21 charges of fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas but remained in prison overnight. Prosecutors opposed Stanford's release by filing a memorandum in support of detention Thursday that argues Stanford would pose a flight risk if freed [...]
The Russian Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the retrial of three men acquitted of involvement in the 2006 shooting death of journalist Anna Politkovskaya . The court vacated the acquittals of Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, Dzhabrail Makhmudov, and Ibragim Makhmudov after prosecutors argued the trial judge made procedural errors. A lawyer observing the proceedings said the court's [...]
Safford Unified School District # 1, et al. v. Redding, US Supreme Court, June 25, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on Fourth Amendment issues.
Atlantic Sounding v. Townsend, US Supreme Court, June 25, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the Jones Act.
Horne v. Flores, et al., US Supreme Court, June 25, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on issues surrounding state-funded education.
Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, US Supreme Court, June 25, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on Sixth Amendment issues.
The Spanish Congress of Deputies voted 341-2 Thursday to limit use of the country's universal jurisdiction statute to those offenses committed by or against Spaniards, or where the perpetrators are in Spain. The nearly unanimous vote enjoyed support from the opposition Popular Party (PP) as well as the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) , echoing a [...]
Iranian authorities arrested 70 members of the Islamic Association of University Teachers after they met with opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi on Wednesday, according to a statement on Mousavi's website . The professors met to discuss the recent unrest in the country and were reportedly arrested immediately after the meeting. According to the posting, there [...]
