A Polish appellate court Tuesday overturned the conviction of one riot police officer found guilty for the shooting deaths of nine coal miners during a 1981 protest, but affirmed the convictions of 14 other officers convicted in relation to the same incident. The coal miners were protesting the imposition of martial law and the jailing [...]
The US Supreme Court handed down four decisions Wednesday, including Exxon v. Baker , in which the Court ruled 5-3 to reduce a punitive damages award to be paid by Exxon Mobil for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill from $2.5 billion to $500 million. Exxon Mobil and its shipping subsidiary had been ordered to [...]
The Italian Senate , the upper house of the country's parliament, approved public safety legislation Wednesday containing provisions to suspend older trials for nonviolent crimes, including corruption proceedings against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi . Berlusconi told the Senate in a letter last week that the measures would allow the judiciary to consider more important [...]
Russian police have committed serious rights abuses against suspected rebel militants from Ingushetia , including abductions, torture, and killings, according to a Wednesday report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW alleged that Russia has failed to hold government agents accountable for abuses and compared Russian tactics against suspected rebels to those used during both [...]
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Tuesday announced plans to complete operations a year early and to significantly reduced its budget. Earlier this year the court announced plans to operate until 2011, but has been unable to raise the funds necessary to support the plan. The court said that it would still be able to [...]
UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw Tuesday held emergency meetings with members of Parliament to discuss possible legislation that would expressly allow anonymous witnesses to testify at some trials. The recently adopted judicial practice was challenged last week by a Law Lords ruling that it may deny defendants' right to meaningfully challenge the witnesses against them. The judges [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday agreed to delay a by-election scheduled for Thursday in the district of the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and ex-Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif until the court rules on an appeal of a lower court ruling that barred Sharif from standing in the by-election. A three-judge [...]
US Ambassador to Albania John L. Withers colluded with Albanian officials to hide evidence of an illegal ammunition selling plan from New York Times reporters, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Henry Waxman (D-CA) alleged in a letter Monday. Government arms contractor AEY allegedly sold ammunition produced in China to the US Department of Defense [...]
Rights group Equipo Nizkor has petitioned Spain's National Court to extradite and try four former Nazi officers for alleged war crimes committed during WWII, a group lawyer said Tuesday. The suit was brought on behalf of a concentration camp survivor and families of three who died at the camp. Under Spanish law, the country's courts [...]
The Pakistan government will challenge Monday's Lahore High Court ruling blocking Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from running in upcoming parliamentary elections, current Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Tuesday. The ruling, which bars Sharif from a June 26 by-election, was criticized by both the PML-N and the [...]
