The US Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request to block same-sex marriage in Oregon pending an appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit , which is currently hearing several cases on the same issue. The application for stay was presented to Justice Anthony Kennedy and referred by him to the [...]
Officials from the UN Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia addressed the UN Security Council Thursday to discuss the work that has been achieved as the tribunals mark 20 years of existence in 2014 and begin the process of closing by the end of the year. The officials noted the criminal tribunals started [...]
The 16th Control Judge of Caracas, Adriana Lopez, on Thursday ordered Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez to remain in jail until trial on charges of instigating violence, damaging property and arson committed during a political rally on February 12. Lopez is the leader of the Popular Will party, which has garnered widespread supported from the [...]
The Mexican government has published new sentencing guidelines that will double prison sentences for kidnapping crimes. This increases the minimum sentence for such crimes from 20 to 40 years, and the maximum from 50 to 140 years for those who kill their victims. Other factors that affect sentence length include injuring the victim, abduction of [...]
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that former governor Jennifer Granholm overstepped her constitutional bounds when she withdrew her commutation of man’s life prison sentence. Matthew Makowski was convicted of first-degree felony murder in 1989 for the stabbing of a 19-year-old man and was sentenced to life in prison. After 20 years, the state parole [...]
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) filed a criminal complaint in Senegal Wednesday against former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) police officer Paul Mwilambwe for his alleged involvement in the slaying of DRC human rights activists Floribert Chebeya and Fidele Bazana. Mwilambwe fled from DRC to Senegal in order to avoid prosecution and later [...]
The Slovakia National Council amended the country’s constitution on Wednesday to specifically define marriage as the unique bond between one man and one woman. Of the 123 members of Slovakia’s parliament that voted on the measure, only 18 voted against adopting the amendment . The amendment specifically denies same-sex couples the legal protections associated with [...]
A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, continuing to block Arizona’s strict new abortion law from taking effect until the lawsuit challenging it is resolved. Federal judge William Fletcher, writing for the court, found that the State had failed to demonstrate that Planned [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday that the Department of Justice will revive a formerly defunct task force to combat domestic terrorism. The task force, called the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, was originally formed following the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995 but was shut down following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks . Holder [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on Chinese authorities Tuesday to release activists that have been detained for “creating a disturbance” by discussing the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Pillay urged China to relax the anniversary-related restrictions placed on the media, encouraging the country to instead “facilitate dialogue and [...]
