The trial of British national Simon Mann , charged with participating in an alleged coup attempt against Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in 2004, concluded on Friday with his defense lawyer seeking leniency. Mann, who has claimed that Sir Mark Thatcher was involved in the plot , testified that he was “only a [...]
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled 6-1 Friday that juvenile defendants in the state have a constitutional right to a jury trial. The Court found that recent changes to the Kansas Juvenile Justice Code made juvenile proceedings "more akin to an adult prosecution" in which jury trials are constitutionally provided under Section 10 of the Kansas [...]
In the Matter of L.M., Supreme Court of the State of Kansas, June 20, 2008 . Read the full text of the opinion. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
The Bush administration on Friday invoked executive privilege in refusing to turn over documents to the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee now investigating what it claims to be a politically-motivated decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny California permission to implement its own vehicle emission standards. Administration officials have refused to [...]
European Union government leaders meeting in Brussels Friday directed member states to draft tougher border security legislation to curb the growing problem of illegal immigration in Europe. The security overhaul is aimed at setting common security standards at airports, harbors and border checkpoints in an effort to filter out illegal immigrants and to catch criminals [...]
Anne Weismann "In CREW v. Office of Administration, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an opinion on June 16, 2008, dismissing CREW's complaint on the ground that the Office of Administration (OA), a component of the Executive Office of the President (EOP), is not an agency and therefore not subject to the Freedom of [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Friday refused to move the trial of suspected war criminal Ildephonse Hategekimana to the Rwandan domestic courts. The request had been made by the prosecutor's office and the Rwandan government, but was objected to by Hategekimana's defense and human rights groups filing amicus briefs on his behalf. According to [...]
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Friday dismissed a petition brought by US terrorism detainee Omar Khadr , who sought review of his unlawful enemy combatant classification. The court agreed with the arguments of US Department of Justice lawyers and held that it did not have jurisdiction to [...]
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan testified Friday that he was unaware of any criminal wrongdoing by administration officials who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame . Appearing before the US House Judiciary Committee , McClellan said that he was unaware of any attempts by administration officials to cover up the leak, [...]
China has released more than 1,000 protesters detained by authorities during March demonstrations in Tibet Friday, according to comments attributed to a Chinese official by state press agency Xinhua. Speaking at a press conference on the Olympic Flame's visit to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, Chinese official Palma Trily said that 1,157 people detained in March [...]
