The Swiss Green Party has collected enough signatures to force a referendum on whether the country's service members should be required to keep their government-issued firearms at military compounds. The Green Party has denounced the current practice of permitting the storage of weapons at home: An impressive number of military weapons lie unused in Swiss [...]
Former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky was transferred to Moscow on Tuesday to face new charges of embezzlement and theft, according to court officials. Platon Lebedev , Khodorkovsky's former partner at OAO Yukos Oil Co. , was also transferred to Moscow from the Siberian region of Chita, where both men have been serving prison sentences [...]
US District Judge Samuel Kent pleaded guilty on Monday to obstruction of justice charges in connection with the alleged sexual harassment of his secretary and former case manager. The plea agreement included an admission that the sexual conduct was not consensual, in exchange for dropping five other counts of inappropriate sexual conduct with employees. The [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced Monday that a long-awaited decision on a controversial arrest warrant sought for Sudanese head of state Omar al-Bashir would be rendered on March 4. The court said that "onsidering that there have been numerous rumors over the past weeks on the possible date and outcome of this decision … [...]
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday dissented from the Court's denial of certiorari to a Chicago federal corruption case. Three former aides to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley appealed their convictions on charges of mail fraud related to granting city jobs to political supporters. Appellants Robert Sorich, Timothy McCarthy, and Patrick Slattery asserted that [...]
Spanish Minister of Justice Mariano Fernandez Bermejo resigned on Monday due to mounting pressure following allegations that he interfered with a judicial investigation during a hunting trip with Judge Baltasar Garzon . The hunting expedition occurred just days before the launch of Garzon's investigation into corruption charges against the conservative Popular Party (PP) , but [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in two cases. In United States v. Navajo Nation , the Court heard arguments on whether the Court's earlier decision in the case foreclosed a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the US federal government breached its fiduciary duties in connection [...]
Myanmar's military government has granted amnesty to 23 political detainees and more than 6,300 other prisoners, Thailand-based human rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said Sunday. Among those freed were members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, including Zaw Myint Maung , who had been imprisoned for more than 18 years. Myanmar's [...]
UN assistant secretary general for legal affairs Peter Taksoe-Jensen stated Monday that significant progress was made during discussions of corruption alleged to exist in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) . Taksoe-Jensen commented that he and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An had gone over a possible anti-corruption mechanism for the court. [...]
Belgium filed suit against Senegal in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday, asserting that the ICJ must intervene because the nations are in disagreement over the prosecution of former Chadian President Hissene Habre for alleged crimes against humanity. The complaint also contained "a request for the indication of provisional measures in order to [...]
