[JURIST] A Chilean appeals court on Monday allowed ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive; BBC profile] to post bail for six of the nine human rights charges he faces relating to Operation Colombo [Wikipedia backgrounder; BBC World recorded audio]. Pinochet remains under house arrest, however, because the court did not rule on the remaining three rights charges Pinochet faces, but is requiring the defense team to submit an independent bail request before it will decide whether Pinochet can be freed from house arrest. Pinochet was indicted [JURIST report] in November for the disappearance of nine of the 119 members of a leftist revolutionary group kidnapped and believed to be murdered during the 1975 military operation. The former dictator also faces charges for corruption and tax evasion [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Pinochet immunity lifted in corruption case
• Pinochet fingerprints, mug shot taken by Chile police as rights case proceeds
• Chile Supreme Court upholds Pinochet fitness to stand trial for rights abuses
• Appeals court upholds Pinochet indictment on rights charges
• Chile court strips Pinochet of immunity in additional rights cases

[JURIST] US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] has promised to push for major changes in the United Nations in an interview published Monday in the Washington Post, including reforms to the international body's human rights panel. Bolton said he will work to abolish the current 53-member Commission on Human Rights [UN backgrounder] and replace it with a new Human Rights Council before the existing commission's next scheduled meeting in March. According to Bolton, the five permanent Security Council [official website] members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, will have guaranteed positions in the new body while current members with questionable human rights records, such as Libya, Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe, will not. Negotiations over the final terms [NYT report] of the proposed council, including its size, citation procedures, meeting schedule and possible membership limits, will resume January 11. Supporters of the reform argue that it will prevent the worst human rights violators from deflecting or preventing criticism of their records. In addition to working to replace the commission, Bolton has vowed to gather support for anti-terrorism initiatives and to decrease the spread of the world's most dangerous weapons in 2006. AFP has more.

[JURIST] French President Jacques Chirac [BBC profile] on Monday said that he plans to officially end [press release, in French] France's state of emergency [JURIST document] on Wednesday. The status of heightened security and increased police powers, implemented in November in response to rioting [JURIST report] in Paris, was originally scheduled to end in late February but will be lifted ahead of schedule as a result of calm New Years Eve festivities. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage [in French].

[JURIST] Iran announced Monday, without further explanation, that it has ordered the closure a daily newspaper, Asia, and banned the publication of a forthcoming, bi-weekly women's periodical, Nour-e Banovan. The Culture Ministry said the Supervisory Board on the Press has agreed to the bans, and the cases will now be sent to court. The announcement signaled the first media crackdown since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [BBC profile; JURIST news archive; official website, in Farsi] took office in August. The Iranian government has shut down over 100 publications since 2000, but many have re-opened under other names and still exist. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Syrian government announced Monday that it will put former Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam [Wikipedia profile] on trial for high treason and investigate his alleged acts of corruption in response to demands by Syrian parliament members [JURIST report] that Khaddam be investigated and following his expulsion from the country's ruling Baath party. Khaddam claimed in an interview last week that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile] had threatened the life of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri [JURIST news archive] at a meeting in Damascus two months prior to Hariri's assassination on February 14. A UN committee, led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, has been looking into the Hariri assassination [UN materials] and released a new report [JURIST report] last month which further implicated Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services in Hariri's death. In response to the government's announcement Monday, parliamentary speaker Mahmud al-Abrash said in a letter that he hopes Khaddam will be brought to trial promptly. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Bulgaria's Justice Minister Georgi Petkanov said Monday that the Libyan trial of five Bulgarian nurses, accused of intentionally infecting over 400 patients with HIV in an attempt to discover a cure for the virus, should be finished by June 2006. The case was sent back to a lower court for retrial [JURIST report] by the Libyan Supreme Court last week amidst allegations by the defendants that their confessions had been coerced through torture. The health workers, detained since 1999, had previously maintained that the children were already infected with the disease prior to being treated, and have been vigorously supported by the Bulgarian government. AKI has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Libya high court vacates death sentences in Bulgarian AIDS case, orders retrial
• Libya court postpones verdict in Bulgarian AIDS case
• Libyan court clears police officers in Bulgarian AIDS case
• Bulgarian, Palestinian medics appeal death sentence in Libya
• Libya takes legal action against two more Bulgarian medics
• Libyan court sentences Bulgarians to death for infecting children with HIV

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Oregon [official website] has ruled that juries may retroactively resentence as many as 300-400 criminal defendants based on aggravating circumstances, such as the use of a gun, breach of trust, or racial motivation. In three decisions released Friday - State v. Upton [text], State v. Sawatzky [text], and State v. Heilman [text] - the Court held that juries may issue longer sentences than the mandatory minimums based on aggravating factors proven either during the trial stage where guilt is determined or afterwards, and also held that resentencing does not violate the principle of "double jeopardy," but rather is a continuation of the initial trial. These decision clarify the sentencing process in the wake of the 2004 Supreme Court decision in Blakely v. Washington [syllabus] where the Court ruled 5-4 that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial prohibits judges from lengthening criminal sentences based on facts other than those decided by a jury. From Salem, Monday's Statesman Journal has more.

[JURIST] A spokesperson for the UN commission [UN materials] investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] announced Monday that the commission will request interrogations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile] and Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa [Wikipedia profile]. The commission is also seeking to question former Vice President Abdel al-Halim Khaddam [Wikipedia profile], whose televised statements last week implicating Bashar in the plot to murder Hariri have caused the Syrian parliament to demand [JURIST report] he be tried for treason. The Syrian government has denied that Bashar was responsible in any way for the 2004 Beirut bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others, though outgoing UN commission head Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor, said [JURIST report] last month that he was "convinced" that the government was responsible for the killings. A Syrian spokesman responded Monday, saying that the request for interviews should not be transmitted through the media but should be delivered directly to the Syrian government in order to preserve the integrity of the inquiry. He said Syria is willing to consider the request after it is approved by legal scholars at the Syrian Foreign Ministry. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] Five Muslim militants went on trial Monday in Indonesia for allegedly having protected members of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah [BBC profile], the group responsible for several recent terrorist incidents, including the 2002 and October 1, 2005 Bali bombings and a 2004 bombing of the US embassy in Jakarta. All five militants face the death penalty if convicted. One person has been arrested [JURIST report] so far in connection with the most recent attack. The Indonesian government vowed last March to expel [JURIST report] Jemaah Islamiyah from the country, though the vice president recently said that Indonesia cannot formally expel the group [JURIST report] because the group was never officially recognized in the first place. Indonesia has been working with Australia to strengthen its anti-terrorism laws [JURIST report] since the October bombing, despite fears [JURIST report] from human rights activists that the new laws could facilitate a return to the days when former dictator Suharto [Wikipedia profile] used security forces to stifle dissent. AP has more.

[JURIST] Ugandan opposition leader and presidential challenger Dr. Kizza Besigye [BBC profile], who has been imprisoned [JURIST report] since November on charges of treason and rape was released on bail Monday by the Ugandan High Court. Uganda's military court, which previously declared itself unbound by High Court decisions, had extended Besigye's warrant to keep him in jail on additional terrorism charges, a tactic the presiding High Court judge called illegal in his decision to release Besigye. Supporters of Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change [party website] party say the charges are false and were alleged to prevent Besigye from challenging President Yoweri Museveni [BBC profile] in the upcoming presidential elections, where Besigye currently enjoys a slight lead in the polls despite having been unable to campaign. Besigye pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to all charges during a hearing last week. BBC News has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Uganda opposition leader pleads not guilty to treason, rape charges
• Trial of Ugandan opposition leader set for Dec. 19
• Uganda court orders halt in military trial of opposition leader
• Uganda government rejects call to release jailed opposition leader
• Uganda lawyers strike over military involvement in opposition leader trial
• Uganda opposition leader brought before military court on terror charges
• Ugandan rebels appear in military court; US urges fair trial
• Uganda opposition leader charged with treason, rape

[JURIST] In his New Year message [text], Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian [official website] promised Sunday to support a new Taiwanese constitution in his last two years of presidency. A new constitution would have to be approved by the legislature before sent to the public for a referendum. Chen's comments come in the face of warnings from China and a split Taiwanese people. Chen's Democratic Progressive Party [Wikipedia backgrounder] was defeated in the December election [BBC report] and Chen was afterward expected to act to appease China, including removal of trade and investment barriers. China has forbidden the creation of a new Taiwanese constitution, which it views as a step toward Taiwan's formal independence. Chen argues that the constitution would create a political system appropriate for Taiwan, and that its aim is not independence. China has claimed sovereignty over the island since civil war in 1949. Taiwan's people are divided [JURIST news archive] on whether it should be independent from China. The Nationalist Party, which defeated Chen's Party in December's elections, favors reunification with China. AP has more.