[JURIST] The president of Burundi [JURIST news archive] admitted Thursday that instances of torture and brutality by police and members of the military do sometimes occur in the country, but told reporters in Paris that the perpetrators of those ‘isolated’ incidents are arrested approximately 85% of the time. President Pierre Nkurunziza [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was responding to new allegations [press release] by Amnesty International [advocacy website] that 11 men suspected of being involved with the National Liberation Forces [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] are being held without charge in harsh conditions, with little access to food, water, or toilet facilities. Last month Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] issued a report [text; JURIST report] accusing Burundi’s National Intelligence Service of widespread abuses, including extrajudicial executions.

Nkurunziza also answered questions on freedom of the press, specifically about Aloys Kabura, a journalist who was jailed for 5 months after making comments in a bar critical of the government. Nkurunziza said that without his influence, Kabura would have spent years in prison. Nkurunziza, a former rebel, became his country’s elected leader in August 2005, the first of his kind since civil war broke out in 1993. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Army announced Thursday that it will push forward with a court martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada [advocacy website; JURIST news archive], an Army officer who refused [JURIST report] deployment to Iraq and openly protested the war as ‘unlawful’. Fort Lewis [official website] commander Lt. Gen. James Dubik followed an investigating officer’s recommendation [JURIST report] to go to court-martial, forwarding charges of missing troop movement and conduct unbecoming an officer. Watada was initially charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] with missing troop movement, contempt toward officials, and multiple specifications [JURIST report] of conduct unbecoming.

Watada, a 28 year old from Honolulu, joined the Army in 2003 and has served in Korea. He refuses to be classified as a conscientious objector because he does not object to war in general, just to the ‘illegal’ war in Iraq. He had offered to instead serve in Afghanistan, however the Army refused. Watada is the first commissioned officer in the US military to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq. His vocal protests and participation in rallies by Veterans for Peace [advocacy website] and Courage to Resist [advocacy website] led to the charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and the original charge of contempt toward officials. AP has more.

[JURIST] Environmental extremists in Oregon pleaded guilty [US Attorney press release] to conspiracy and arson on Thursday for their roles in a streak of environmentally motivated arsons by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) [advocacy website] and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) [advocacy website] over the course of five years. US federal prosecutors said they would ask for a five year sentence for one of the ecoterrorists and eight years each for the remaining three for their roles in the Pacific Northwest firebombings, which caused around $30 million in damage. From 1996 to 2001, the ALF and the ELF claimed responsibility for firebomb attacks on US Forest Service ranger stations, Bureau of Land Management wild horse facilities, meat processing companies, lumber companies, a high-tension power line, and SUV dealerships in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington State, and Wyoming. The group also targeted ski resort expansion into an endangered species habitat in Vail, Colorado.

The extremists who pleaded guilty on Thursday included some of the ALF and ELF operatives who were indicted [JURIST report] for those crimes in January. Three other ALF and ELF members were also indicted [JURIST report] in January for targeting a dam and fish hatchery in northern California. The two cells are not known to have been directly connected. AP has more. In May 2005 a top FBI official testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that violent environmental and animal rights groups are the nation's top domestic terror threat [testimony transcript; JURIST report].

[JURIST] The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website] announced [press release] Thursday that a coalition of US and international human rights groups plan to file a war crimes lawsuit against outgoing US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] after his resignation Wednesday. Rumsfeld enjoys statutory immunity in the United States and so CCR, the National Lawyers Guild, the International Federation of Human Rights [advocacy websites] and others will file the complaint in Germany under that country's universal jurisdiction [AI backgrounder] law. CCR hailed Rumsfeld's resignation [JURIST report] as "a first step toward accountability," saying that "under Donald Rumsfeld's direction - often under his direct orders - the Department of Defense adopted the practices of torture and indefinite detention that CCR is currently challenging in many court cases." The advocacy group, which represents many detainees at Guantanamo, called on Rumsfeld's successor to close down Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and "put an end to the unlawful torture and detention of thousands in the so-called war on terror."

CCR and four Iraqi citizens initially filed [JURIST report] a war crimes complaint [English translation, PDF] in Germany against Rumsfeld and seven other high-ranking US officials in October 2004, seeking to hold them accountable for acts of torture allegedly carried out at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The complaint was rejected [JURIST report] by a German prosecutor in February 2005, but in the interim Rumsfeld cancelled a planned trip [JURIST report] to Germany to attend a security conference. A German court later upheld [JURIST report] the prosecutor's dismissal of the complaint.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Donald Rumsfeld: The War Crimes Case

[JURIST] Argentina federal judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral on Thursday authorized the arrest of former Iran President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [BBC profile; official website, in Persian] and eight other Iranian officials for their alleged roles the AMIA Jewish cultural center bombing [Wikipedia backgrounder, BBC report] that killed 85 people and wounded over 200 more in Buenos Aries in 1994. Prosecutors claim [JURIST report] that Iranian officials authorized the bombing while members of Hezbollah [BBC backgrounder] actually carried out the attack. Iran [JURIST news archive] has repeatedly denied having a role [BBC report] in the bombing's planning and execution and the Iranian foreign ministry described the decision as "a Zionist plot." The other Iranian officials sought for detention include former intelligence chief Ali Fallahijan, former Foreign Minister Ali Ar Velayati, two former commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, two former Iranian diplomats and a former Hezbollah security chief for external affairs.

Argentina [JURIST news archive], which is home to more Jewish people than any other Latin American nation, has yet to convict anyone in connection to the 1994 attack or an attack two years prior that destroyed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and killed 29 people. Rafsanjani was president of Iran from 1989 to 1997, and is now the head of the Expediency Council, which serves as a mediator between Iran's parliament and clerics, who can block legislation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The president of the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal [official website] told tribunal judges Thursday they should allow Muslim lawyers to wear veils in their courtrooms unless it interferes with the "interests of justice", as long as their clients approve and all parties to the proceedings can hear the representatives speak. Judge George Glossop adjourned an immigration hearing Wednesday after lawyer Shabnam Mughal refused to remove [JURIST report] her niqab [Wikipedia backgrounder] even though Glossop said he could not hear her. The ruling is a stopgap, however, and the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, says that an judicial equal rights committee has been asked to issue permanent rules on the matter.

The wearing of Muslim veils in court and in other social settings has been a focus of dispute in several cases recently, reflecting a more general international debate on the place of religious dress [JURIST news archive]. Last month, a Muslim teaching assistant was suspended by a British school [JURIST report] for refusing to remove her niqab after being told that her pupils were less likely to understand her when she spoke from behind her veil. A judge in Pakistan also forbade female lawyers [JURIST report] from wearing veils in courtrooms, telling a veiled lawyer, "You are professionals and should be dressed as required of lawyers..." The UK Press Association has more.

[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev [BBC profile] signed the country's new constitution [constitutional materials, in Kyrgyz] Thursday, which limits his power to dissolve the parliament, gives the legislature the right to form the government and enlarges the parliament from 75 to 90 deputies. The People's Assembly [official website] adopted the new constitution [JURIST report] Wednesday after opposition party members and pro-government supporters reached a compromise [JURIST report] Monday. Bakiyev initially rejected a draft of the new constitution last week, a move that drove thousands of protestors to the main square in the country's capital.

Bakiyev came to power [JURIST report] during the so-called Tulip Revolution [Wikipedia backgrounder] of 2005 in Kyrgyzstan [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] during which former president Askar Akayev resigned [JURIST report] amid charges of corruption and abuse of office. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) [member list] on Thursday approved the lifting of a ban on public gatherings of more than five people, according to Assembly President Meechai Ruchapan [JURIST report]. The Council for National Security [official website, in Thai], formerly the Council for Democratic Reform, announced the ban on public gatherings one day after the Thai military led a bloodless coup [JURIST report], taking government control from former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [JURIST news archive]. NLA members were hand-selected by the military regime and approved by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej [profile]. Generals and other officers from Thailand's army, navy and air force have assumed 35 seats, while the remaining members are comprised of religious leaders, bankers, media representatives and anti-Thaksin leaders. The assembly is responsible for writing the country's new permanent constitution, which will be subject to a referendum and then voted on in the general election next year.

The NLA did not consider ending martial law, which has been in effect since the September 19 coup. Thai Defense Minister Boonrawd Somtas, however, said earlier Thursday that Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont [official website; BBC profile] will probably lift martial law next week [JURIST report]. AP has more. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court [official website] in China, has encouraged Chinese courts to refrain from passing death sentences [JURIST news archive], telling judges to always lean toward life when possible [press release, in Chinese]. Xiao's comments, reported in the state media Thursday, follow recent legislation [JURIST report] passed by the National People's Congress [official website] to amend the Organic Law on the People's Courts [text] so that only the Supreme People's Court has the authority to approve the death penalty. Xiao's remarks on limiting death sentences came partly in an effort to cut the number of cases that will come before China's top court for review.

Under the revision approved last month, which will take effect January 1, 2007, all cases where the death penalty has been handed down must be approved by the country's top court, except judgments issued directly by the Supreme People's Court. Appeals of guilty verdicts will still be considered through the standard appellate process. Chinese academics have estimated that China executes up to 10,000 people a year. Xiao, however, rejected abolishing the death penalty, saying that China still needs the death penalty to ensure safety." AFP has more. Xinhua has local coverage.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] held a hearing [press release] Thursday to determine whether there was enough evidence to proceed to trial in the case [ICC materials] against a Congolese militia leader. Thomas Lubanga [Trial Watch backgrounder; JURIST news archive], founder of the militant Union of Patriotic Congolese [Global Security backgrounder], was formally charged [ICC press release; indictment, PDF] with enlisting child soldiers [BBC report] in the violence-plagued Ituri district [HRW backgrounder]. Lubanga is the first war crimes suspect to be charged at the ICC since it opened in 2002. Prosecutors hope to draw attention [press release] to the widespread practice in Africa and other parts of the world of recruiting child soldiers; the UN reports that approximately 300,000 children are soldiers in conflicts around the world. The pre-trial hearing is expected to last three weeks after which judges have 60 days to decide whether to proceed with a full trial.

Pressure to arrest warlords in the mineral-rich Ituri district increased with the February 2005 murder of nine UN peacekeepers [PBS report]; a month later authorities arrested Lubanga for human rights violations [JURIST report]. Congolese officials sent Lubanga to The Hague [JURIST report] in March, making him the first prisoner of the tribunal. Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] has criticized the court [press release] for not charging Lubanga with murder, torture and rape although it acknowledged that "the hearing to confirm these important charges marks a milestone for the victims in Ituri." If convicted, Lubanga would face a maximum life sentence. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Russian Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday reversed the acquittal [JURIST report] of two Chechens accused of murdering Forbes magazine editor Paul Klebnikov [Economist obituary] in 2004 and ordered a new trial in the case. Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev, who did not appear in court Thursday, were acquitted by eight jurors in the Moscow City Court in May after pleading not guilty [JURIST report] at the trial's commencement in January. Prosecutors had alleged that Dukozuv and Vakhayev were working under the order [JURIST report] of Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev [AFP profile], a Chechen separatist figure who was the subject of scrutiny in one of Klebnikov's books.

Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition, was in the process of investigating corruption in Russian business before his death in 2004 in Moscow. Prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin said in May that he would appeal [JURIST report] to the Russian Supreme Court as the lower court's trial was plagued by procedural violations. Reuters has more. ITAR-TASS has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Ethiopian government is responsible for the deaths of thousands of student protestors and demonstrators over the past 15 years, Judge Teshale Aberra told the Guardian in an interview Wednesday. Aberra, who was president of the Oromia Supreme Court and a judge in Ethiopia [JURIST news archive] for 12 years, defected to the UK in October and is seeking asylum. He reported that approximately 15,000 to 20,000 people have been killed in the Oromia region, under the regime of current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi [BBC profile], who Abetta said was as bad as former Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam [Wikipedia profile]. Abetta reported that tens of thousands of people were arrested after protesting the May 2005 elections and that the government detains "people without court orders. They detain people even after the decision is rendered that they should be released. They persecute people and, in some areas, they kill people. There is massive killing all over. There is a systematic massacre."

Zenawi's government has confirmed a report [JURIST report] made in October that its security forces killed 193 people [JURIST report] during election protests in May and in November [JURIST reports] of last year. The report acknowledged that some human rights violations occurred and that 30,000 people were arrested during the unrest. Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha, who was Vice-chairman of the Ethiopian inquiry team charged with investigating the violent mass demonstrations, also fled the country after receiving death threats upon the conclusion of the report. Over 100 journalists, lawmakers and human rights activists were initially charged with treason [JURIST report] following the mass protests in 2005, though some may have been granted amnesty [JURIST report] by Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis [official profile]. The Guardian has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US District Judge Susan Illston [official profile] of the Northern District of California [official website] on Wednesday blocked the enforcement of provisions of Proposition 83 [text, PDF], a measure approved Tuesday by 70 percent of state voters [results, CA Secretary of State; Yes on 83 advocacy website] that prohibits registered sex offenders from residing "within 2,000 feet of any public or private school or park where children regularly gather." Illston said "Jessica's Law" likely violates the Constitution and issued a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of the law's residency requirements.

An unidentified registered sex offender filed the lawsuit [JURIST report] Wednesday, alleging that the bill "effectively banishes John Doe from his home and community for a crime he committed, and paid his debt for, long ago." The lawsuit came as no surprise amidst widespread debate over whether Proposition 83 could apply retroactively to the 90,000 registered sex offenders living in California. Critics had argued that the bill would create enforcement problems [CACJ statement, PDF] and encourage registered sex offenders not to report their addresses. Illston ordered a November 27 hearing. AP has more. The Los Angeles Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] Wednesday applauded the resignation [JURIST report] of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] as a "step in the right direction" and urged Congress to launch an investigation [press release] into his alleged abuses of power. ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a statement:

Rumsfeld is responsible for the torture and abuse of detainees in U. S. military custody and must be held accountable for the failures that occurred on his watch. He has placed the blame on junior military members and has been nothing but derelict in his duty. Congress must initiate an immediate and exhaustive investigation into his six-year-long record of unlawful activity, violations of the rule of law and complicity in the executive branch abuse of power.

[JURIST] Martha Stewart [JURIST news archive], her company and its insurers are expecting to pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit regarding Stewart's 2001 sale of ImClone Systems [corporate website] stocks one day before an FDA announcement resulted in a significant drop in the stock's value, according to the company's quarterly report filed with US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] Wednesday. Settlement negotiations began last month and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia [corporate website], the company's insurers, and Stewart herself are currently planning to pay $15 million, $10 million, and $5 million, respectively. Settlement talks, however, are continuing and any final number will need to be approved by a court.

The SEC report also indicates that the company has provided Stewart with $1.3 million to cover legal costs in the class action lawsuit and has given similar advances to other defendants, most of which has been reimbursed by insurers. Earlier this year, Stewart also agreed to pay $195,000 [JURIST report] to the SEC to settle insider trading civil charges [JURIST report] and promised to refrain from serving as a director of any public company for five years. Dow Jones News has more.

[JURIST] Thai Defense Minister Boonrawd Somtas said Thursday that newly installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont [official website; BBC profile] will likely lift martial law [JURIST report] before he leaves for an international summit in Vietnam on November 18. Thailand [JURIST news archive] has been under martial law [JURIST report] since the Thai military seized power from former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [JURIST news archive] in a bloodless coup [JURIST report] in September. Somtas said Chulanont was considering lifting the law since Thailand's allies who also plan to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation [official website] summit, including the US and Japan, will be "more comfortable" if martial law is lifted. The US urged Thailand to lift martial law [JURIST report] last month, pulling almost $24 million in funding from the Thai government.

Somtas, however, also said that the prime minister will take into account the risk still posed by Thaksin's supporters, who have been making efforts to destabilize the political structure [JURIST report] of the country since the takeover. Chulanont is expected to make his final decision on lifting martial law before next Tuesday. AFP has more.

[JURIST] China [JURIST news archive] has convicted almost all criminal defendants who have come before the courts over the last nine years, the People's Court Daily [media website, in Chinese] reported Thursday. From January 1998 through September 2006, 6.2 million criminal defendants were tried with only 41,038 of them acquitted, representing just 0.66 percent. Chinese judges came together this week for its first meeting to discuss criminal trials in nearly 10 years with Xiao Yang [profile], president of the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China [official website], urging reform by cautioning the judges against presuming guilt of the defendants before trial and asking them to be cautious about forced confessions.

The Chinese court system has come under intense scrutiny in recent years as reports surfaced detailing wrongful convictions, the absence of the presumption of innocence, police torture [JURIST report] to solicit confessions, and the lack of due process for criminal defendants. Beginning on January 1 2007, the Supreme Court will be the sole reviewer of death sentence cases [JURIST report], taking this responsibility back from the provincial high courts. Reuters has more.