[JURIST] Bolivians voted Sunday to elect 255 delegates to a special assembly that will rewrite the country’s constitution [text, in Spanish] and decide whether to entrench greater power in the states or in the national government. The Movement Toward Socialism Party [party website, in Spanish; Wikipedia backgrounder] of President Evo Morales [official website; BBC profile] is expected to emerge as the victor and start implementing policies favorable to the majority indigenous population [JURIST report], including giving many executive and financial powers to the states. The assembly, which begins work on August 6, must approve all changes by a two-thirds vote and then submit the draft to a nationwide referendum.

Former president Carlos Mesa [Wikipedia profile] first agreed to rewrite the constitution [JURIST report] in response to protests in June 2005. Podemos, the main opposition party consisting primarily of wealthy landowners, supports greater autonomy for the states and has accused Morales of using the constitutional process to amass power in the presidential office and of allowing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to direct the constitutional reform. AP has more. From Bolivia, La Patria has local coverage. Bolivian news agency ABI has the latest developments in the vote.

[JURIST] Iraqi officials disclosed Sunday that Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter Raghad [Wikipedia backgrounder] and first wife Sajida [Wikipedia backgrounder] are named on its most-wanted list along with top Baathists and al Qaeda leaders. Iraqi authorities accuse the two of using secretly-looted money to fund Baathist insurgents. Raghad, now in Jordan, has led efforts to organize her father's legal defense [JURIST report]. The list also includes former Saddam deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri [BBC backgrounder], who remains at large. Reuters has more.

Responding to the report, Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit said Raghad and her family were under royal protection in Jordan as guests for "pure humanitarian reasons" [PETRA news agency report] and that Iraq had made no request for her return.

[JURIST] The Pentagon released a declassified version of a 2005 review of US prisoner interrogation practices on Friday. The review, conducted by Vice Adm. Albert T. Church [Wikipedia backgrounder], found that while "interrogation policy could have benefited from additional expertise and oversight," no uniformed or civilian leader had encouraged prisoner abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan, or at Guantanamo Bay.

The Pentagon released [JURIST report] an executive summary [text] and other details [DOD briefing transcript] of the review in March 2005, in association with Church's testimony [PBS Newshour report] before the US Senate Armed Services Committee. The full report was released after the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] filed a Freedom of Information Act request. The investigation began after several photos and reports of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq circulated in the spring of 2004. AP has more.

[JURIST] Foreign judges who will preside over the trial of former Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] leaders arrived in Cambodia on Sunday in preparation for the genocide tribunal [task force official website; timeline] that is slated to begin proceedings [JURIST report] in mid-2007. The judges, who hail from Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Japan, Poland, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, and the US, will be on hand during the three to six month investigation period of the tribunal, except for three reserve judges who will arrive later. The judges, formally appointed [JURIST report] in May as part of a team of 30 Cambodian and international jurists, some of whom are acting as prosecutors, will be sworn in Monday after they visit the military compound in Kambol where the trials will be held.

Ta Mok [Trial Watch profile], an indicted former Khmer Rouge military chief, was hospitalized [JURIST report] on Thursday and Friday demanded a swift trial [JURIST report] Friday so he can "explain" who is responsible for the massacre of 1.7 million people during the Khmer Rouge 1975-78 rule over Cambodia. The deteriorating health of several former Khmer Rouge leaders prompted the United Nations to urge the tribunal to begin proceedings as soon as possible [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A new so-called “shoot first” (alternatively, "stand your ground") law took effect in Georgia on Saturday allowing state residents to use deadly force to respond to threats in public places with no duty to retreat. The law, which easily passed through the Republican-controlled state legislature beginning with the state Senate [JURIST report] in March, also frees shooters who act in self-defense from all civil liability. Zach Ragbourn, speaking for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence [advocacy website] said the law is “phenomenally dangerous” because it encourages people to use guns without hesitation, but the National Rifle Association [advocacy website] maintains it is necessary to protect innocent citizens from becoming victims on the streets and in the courtroom. Florida passed a similar law [JURIST report; Brady Campaign anti-legislation advocacy website] last year. Aside from Georgia, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Dakota all have adopted similar laws, and like bills are pending in 16 other states [Stateline.org report].

Several other laws also took effect in Georgia Saturday, including a controversial law preventing registered sex offenders from working, living, or loitering within 1,000 feet of where children congregate. The full enforcement of that law was blocked [JURIST report] late last week by a federal judge as regards eight plaintiffs challenging the legislation who say it violates several constitutional provisions and at least one federal statute, and that it would require all but a few of the state's offenders to move. A law allowing displays of the Ten Commandments at courthouses also took effect. AP has more.

[JURIST] Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Stankovic [profile, in Serbian] said Saturday that US and British intelligence agents are helping with the search for indicted UN war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic [ICTY backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The Serbian government holds that it has done everything in its power to locate Mladic, and recently announced that Mladic had been hiding in Serbia [JURIST report] until last year, but has thus far been unable to find him. Details about the exact role of the US and British agents were not revealed.

Mladic is wanted by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] for allegedly organizing the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive], Bosnia. The US has cut off financial aid to Serbia [JURIST report] due to its failure to arrest Mladic. The European Union also suspended membership talks [JURIST report] with Serbia last month for the same reason. AP has more.

[JURIST] Thousands of Parisians marched through the city Saturday in a protest [advocacy website, in French] against a contentious [JURIST report] new immigration law [text, in French] passed [AFP report] by the French Parliament [official website] Friday. The new law makes it more difficult for immigrants to obtain residency permits and ends the practice of automatically granting long-term residency papers to illegal immigrants who are able to prove that they have lived in the country for 10 years. It was passed despite continuing controversy over provisions that could lead to the deportation of school-age children of illegals [JURIST report]; thousands of French citizens have signed petitions supporting sheltering of the children, but while mediation efforts continue the government says no children will be deported immediately.

Sponsoring French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile, in French; BBC profile] says the law allows the government to implement "immigration of choice," with an aim to attract skilled workers and exclude unqualified immigrants. He has also said he plans to send home at least 25,000 illegal immigrants this year. Sarkozy proposed the law [JURIST report] in February. Critics of the legislation [JURIST report], including the Catholic and Protestant churches in France, human rights groups and labor leaders, insist the legislation would hurt French immigrants, potentially split up families, and damage France's reputation of accepting foreigners, especially those persecuted in their home countries. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage.