A Spanish judge requested permission from Mexico Wednesday to extradite former Argentine naval officer Ricardo Miguel Cavallo back to Argentina. Cavallo was extradited from Mexico to Spain and has been in Spanish custody since 2003. In January 2006, he was charged with genocide , organized terrorism and crimes against humanity for crimes committed during Argentina's [...]
The UK High Court on Wednesday denied an application for judicial review stemming from a 12-year old Muslim girl's challenge to a public school policy that prevented her from wearing her full-face veil (niqab) at school. Mr. Justice Silber found the policy appropriate, on the grounds that the veil would dampen teacher interaction with students [...]
A French judge on Wednesday signed a 191-page indictment against 17 former associates of former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet , charging them with abduction and torture in connection with the disappearance of four French nationals in Chile during Pinochet's rule from 1973 to 1990. The 17 are thought to be living in Chile and [...]
A Romanian parliamentary commission announced Wednesday that it had found no evidence that Romania cooperated with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in operating illegal secret prisons and extraordinary rendition flights in Europe, or that secret facilities ever existed in Romania. Norica Nicolai , head of Romania's senate commission, said the conclusion came after a [...]
The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday levied a record-breaking antitrust fine against the four biggest elevator and escalator manufacturers in Europe after finding them guilty of restrictive business practices in violation of Article 81 of the EC Treaty . Otis, KONE, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp were fined €992 million for fixing prices related to installing and [...]
Police imposed a three-month ban on political rallies and protests Wednesday in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare after a political rally held Sunday by opposition group Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) . Despite a court order instructing police not to interfere with the rally, police used tear-gas and water cannons to break up the crowd [...]
The Russian Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to overturn the 24-year sentence given to former Yukos security chief Alexei Pichugin for organizing a series of contract killings, including the 1998 murder of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of Nefteyugansk . Prosecutors appealed the sentence, arguing that Pichugin's crimes warranted a lifetime sentence. The charges were filed [...]
Lawmakers in the French Senate have buried a draft bill that would have criminalized any denial that the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during World War I constituted genocide. The bill has been taken off the Senate agenda, and as presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for April through June, the new National Assembly [...]
Two human rights groups have called on Canada's Federal Court to review the legality of terrorism detainee transfer procedures under the Canada-Afghanistan Detainee Agreement . Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association filed an application for judicial review Wednesday, alleging that the transfer of terrorist suspects from the custody of the Canadian [...]
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales unveiled the First Freedom Project (FFP) Tuesday afternoon, a new Department of Justice initiative aimed at stricter enforcement of laws against religious discrimination and educating the public about their rights in this area. The DOJ will hold training seminars across the US in conjunction with the program, and the FFP [...]
