The UN Development Programme ordered an audit Wednesday of the human resources practices of the Extraordinary Chamber of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) , the international tribunal established to try former Khmer Rouge officials, in response to reports of corruption. The Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) , which helped train ECCC judges, publicized the corruption [...]
US District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker issued an order Tuesday imposing a limited stay on discovery in a class action lawsuit challenging the legality of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program , despite the government's request to stay discovery pending the outcome of an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth [...]
The US Supreme Court handed down decisions in two cases Wednesday, including Wallace v. Kato , where the Court held that the two-year statute of limitations for a false arrest action under under 42 USC 1983 begins accruing at the time of arrest. Andre Wallace was arrested without probable cause in 1994, convicted, and released [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Geoffrey S. Corn, Lt. Col. US Army (Ret.) and former Special Assistant to the Judge Advocate General for Law of War Matters, now a professor at South Texas College of Law, and JURIST Guest Columnist Victor Hansen, also a former lieutenant colonel in the United States Army JAG Corps and now a [...]
The number of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines is critically high, according to UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston , who on Wednesday reported on his 10-day investigation into the surge of political murders in the Philippines . Alston said that many of the killings were committed by the Philippine [...]
Seven Saudis formerly detained at Guantanamo Bay arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after US authorities granted their release earlier this week. The Saudi Press Agency reported their return, and noted that Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz "expressed his appreciation at the level of co-operation with the US authorities, hoping that this step will [...]
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Iraq's leadership to postpone a decision on future control of the city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, citing concerns for the growth of a Kurdish insurgency in Turkey. The Iraqi constitution , however, mandates that a referendum on the future of the city must take place by the end [...]
US Army Sgt. Paul E. Cortez pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in the Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") area last March. Cortez reached a plea agreement with prosecutors last month, removing the death penalty as a possible sentence. As a part of [...]
The French Cour de Cassation appeals court ruled Tuesday that French law precluded a woman from legally adopting her lesbian partner's biological child, who was conceived through artificial insemination. The court held that such adoption was impermissible because when a child is adopted, its biological parent must give up their legal entitlement to the child. [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Claiborne v. United States , a case that could impact sentencing guidelines across the country. Mario Claiborne was sentenced to 15 months in jail and three years probation for possessing and distributing cocaine. The federal sentencing guidelines suggest a 37 to 46-month jail sentence for the [...]
