[JURIST] The Maryland Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [PDF text] Wednesday that the state's lethal injection procedures are subject to the state's Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and therefore must be developed under the guidance of the Maryland attorney general, a legislative committee and with review and comment by the public unless the legislature acts to explicitly exempt lethal injection protocol from the APA. The majority of the court wrote:

we hold that those aspects of the [Executions Operations Manual] that direct the manner of executing the death sentence - the Lethal Injection Checklist - constitute regulations under SG 10-101(g) and, because they were not adopted in conformance with the requirements of the APA, are ineffective and may not be used until such time as they are properly adopted.

[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website; BBC profile] outlined plans Tuesday to reform the country's pacifist constitution [text] during his time in office. A national referendum would be required before the constitution could be amended and Abe promised Tuesday to pass a "National Referendum Bill" and accompanying procedures during the 2007 parliamentary session.

Abe took office in September after running on a campaign platform promoting changes to the constitution, which forbids "the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes" - a restriction imposed by the victorious US after 1945. Japan [JURIST news archive] fears the provision could hinder its ability to respond to a crisis [JURIST report] involving, for example, North Korea [JURIST news archive]. Last week the upper house of the Japanese parliament passed a bill [JURIST report] elevating the Defense Agency [official website] to its pre-World War II status as a full ministry. AFP has more. Kyodo has local coverage.

[JURIST] A defense lawyer for former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that Libby will call Vice President Dick Cheney [official website] to testify in Libby's upcoming trial on perjury and obstruction of justice charges [indictment, PDF; JURIST report]. Libby is charged in connection to the Justice Department's investigation of the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity [JURIST news archive] and he is expected to argue that he innocently mis-remembered facts and did not intentionally misrepresent his knowledge of the leak due to the heavy volume of his work as Cheney's chief of staff. If Cheney does testify, he will be the first sitting vice president to testify in a criminal case.

Last week Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald [official website] said that he was "not aware" that any government witnesses intended to invoke executive privilege [JURIST report] to avoid testifying in the trial. He also indicated that the prosecution "does not otherwise anticipate any of its witnesses moving to quash or limit trial subpoenas." AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland [diocesan website; diocesan website on clergy abuse] has filed a new bankruptcy plan with the US Bankruptcy Court anticipating a payment of $75 million to settle [JURIST report] outstanding sex abuse claims against some of its clergy. Under the plan submitted Monday, $40.7 million will go to 143 people, another $13.75 million will be allocated to cover claims by another 26 individuals who may yet sue or settle, and $20 million will be set aside as a contingency fund to cover any future claims. Insurance will cover over $50 million, with the remainder coming from liquidation of certain diocesan holdings not including parish or school property. Reuters has more

The Portland archdiocese, which filed for Chapter 11 [JURIST report; text, PDF] in 2004, was the first one to file for bankruptcy in the face of civil litigation over sex abuse claims. Since then, the dioceses of Tuscon, Spokane, and Davenport have also filed for Chapter 11 protection in the wake of hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits [JURIST news archive] filed against the clergy. In June, a federal judge allowed [JURIST report] a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Portland archdiocese to continue, rejecting the Vatican's bid to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction. The lawsuit, filed in 2002 [AP report], alleged that the Vatican, the Archdiocese of Portland and the archbishop of Chicago conspired to protect a priest by transferring him from city to city, even though the church knew he had a history of committing sexual abuse. Earlier this month, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles settled [JURIST report] 45 sexual abuse lawsuits for $60 million.

[JURIST] Peruvian President Alan Garcia [official website] has called on lawmakers to authorize the death penalty for terrorism offenses [press release, in Spanish]. In a speech to the Peruvian Congress [official website] Monday, Garcia urged lawmakers to "give the necessary tools to the judges and to the executive branch to definitely eliminate" the Shining Path [BBC backgrounder] rebel group. Shining Path rebels are believed to be responsible for a weekend attack in Peru's Ayacucho region [BBC report], where five police officers and three civilians - including a child - were killed.

The death penalty is currently only authorized in cases of wartime treason and there have been no executions since the 1970s. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Serge Brammertz [official profile], the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who is heading the UN's independent investigation [UN materials] into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] told the UN Security Council Monday that he has made progress in "developing crime scene evidence and investigating potential perpetrators." While briefing the Council [summary] on his sixth progress report, Brammertz noted that some 20 countries were not cooperating with the investigation, either by not responding to requests for assistance or by telling his investigators that national legislation prevented their cooperation with the probe. Brammertz also said that Syria's cooperation has been "generally satisfactory." Prior commission reports have implicated Syrian officials in the assassination [JURIST report] and Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who headed the probe until resigning at the end of 2005, has also said that he is "convinced" that Syrian authorities are responsible for Hariri's death [JURIST report].

The evidence that Brammertz collects will be turned over to a UN-supported international tribunal being established to try suspects in Hariri's murder. Tribunal plans are currently at a stand-still, however, as Lebanese President Emile Lahoud [official website] has formally refused to endorse the plan [JURIST report] because the proposal was approved by the Lebanese Cabinet in what Lahoud called an "unconstitutional" vote [JURIST report]. The Lebanese parliament must also approve the tribunal plans; the proposal was sent to parliament for approval [JURIST report] last week. Reuters has more. The UN News Service has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Prosecutors at the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] showed video footage of the aftermath of the so-called "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] as Saddam Hussein's genocide trial [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline] continued in Baghdad Tuesday. The footage included images of warplanes bombing ethnic Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq, families fleeing the attacks and the bodies of children killed by the chemical weapons. Hussein's defense has said that the military campaign was targeted at Kurdish insurgents who were suspected of aiding Iran during the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war.

Hussein and six co-defendants all face crimes against humanity charges for the Anfal attacks, and Hussein and co-defendant Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile], known as "Chemical Ali," also face additional genocide charges [JURIST report]. Meanwhile, Hussein faces the death penalty after being convicted [judgment; JURIST report] on separate crimes against humanity charges relating to a crackdown in the Iraqi town of Dujail. That verdict is currently on appeal, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that he hoped the appeal panel's ruling would be handed down in a few days and that Hussein would be executed next month [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jackie Arklov, a Swedish citizen who volunteered with a Croatian militia during the Bosnian war, was convicted of war crimes Monday in what the Stockholm District Court called [statement, in Swedish] the first occasion in modern times that a Swedish court has convicted someone of violating international law. Arklov was found guilty of torturing Bosnian Muslim prisoners of war and civilians in 1993 and was ordered to pay damages ranging from $10,100 to $62,000 to his victims. He was not sentenced because he is currently serving a life sentence in Sweden for committing armed robbery and killing two police officers in 1999.

The new conviction is expected to negatively affect Arklov's chances for parole. AP has more. DPA has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Robert M. McDowell, one of five commissioners that make up the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website], has said that he will not vote [statement, PDF] on the proposed $82.2 billion AT&T-BellSouth merger [AT&T materials] despite being cleared [JURIST report] to do so by FCC general counsel Samuel Feder. Feder issued a memorandum [PDF text] last week concluding that the government's in breaking the 2-2 deadlock [JURIST report] between the remaining commissioners outweighed McDowell's potential conflict of interest. McDowell, a former lobbyist for a trade group opposing the merger, recused himself from previous votes.

McDowell said Monday that Feder's decision did not address several key issues, including an agreement reached during his Senate confirmation preventing him from participating in matters in which his former company had played a role. The merger has already been approved [text] without reservation by the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division [official website] following an eight-month investigation that concluded that AT&T's proposed acquisition of BellSouth was not likely to "substantially reduce competition" in the US telecom market. In an October letter [PDF], the two Democratic FCC commissioners said that serious questions remained about whether the merger would serve the public interest, especially against the backdrop of other forms of consolidation and concentration in the telecommunications industry. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] A lawyer for a US Marine captain implicated in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [JURIST report] last November said Monday that his client has been informed that he will face criminal charges. Capt. Lucas McConnell has been told that he will face dereliction of duty charges, but his lawyer expressed surprise at the pending charges, saying his client was not present when the civilians were killed. A military spokesman said earlier this month that the military was close to charging at least five Marines [JURIST report] in the killings and those charges are now expected to come Thursday.

The 24 deaths prompted two separate military investigations: one conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) [official website], aimed at determining whether to prosecute the soldiers involved, and an investigation into decisions made by Marine leadership led by US Army Major General Eldon Bargewell [Wikipedia profile]. An anonymous US official familiar with the NCIS investigation, speaking in May, suggested the Marines murdered in cold blood [JURIST report], and the probe concluded in August that evidence exists [JURIST report] to support murder allegations. Bargewell's report [JURIST report] has not yet been released, but officials briefed on the investigation said that there was evidence that soldiers concealed and destroyed evidence [JURIST report] relating to the incident and were reluctant to hand over evidence. AP has more.

[JURIST] Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) [official website] have said that a program providing temporary housing to victims of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] could resume this week. US District Judge Richard Leon last month ordered [PDF text; opinion, PDF] FEMA to reinstate certain housing payments for Katrina victims [JURIST report] due to the agency's failure to clearly explain to evacuees why they were denied housing assistance under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act [text]. During a court hearing Monday, FEMA officials said that the papers necessary to restart the program would be drawn up by Tuesday afternoon and that letters informing evacuees why housing payments were cut off are being prepared. Leon has previously expressed frustration at the "legal disaster" [JURIST report] created by FEMA's delay in implementing his order, handed down three weeks ago.

FEMA has appealed the ruling [JURIST report] and has asked the appeals court to stay Leon's order while the appeal is being decided. A decision on whether to stay the lower court ruling has not yet been made, but Leon has said FEMA should begin work to comply with the decision immediately. AP has more.

[JURIST] Turkish writer Ipek Calislar was found not guilty Tuesday of "insulting the Turkish identity" in violation of Article 301 [Amnesty backgrounder] of the country's penal code. Calislar went on trial [JURIST report] in October for writing that the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, once left his palace disguised as a woman to evade an assassination attempt. He faced over four years in prison if convicted.

Calislar is one of several writers to be accused of Article 301 violations. Turkish novelists Elif Shafak [personal website], Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk [JURIST news archive] have all been charged under Article 301 for discussing the alleged Armenian genocide. Shafak was acquitted and Pamuk's charges were dismissed [JURIST reports], while Dink faces a retrial [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Romanian President Traian Basescu [official website, English version] has told the country's parliament that the "criminal and illegitimate" former Communist regime committed massive human rights violations and crimes against humanity [speech, in Romanian], killing and persecuting as many as two million people between 1945 and 1989 Presenting the 650-page report [PDF text in Romanian] of a special government commission [membership list] established to examine the Communist regime [Wikipedia backgrounder], Basescu listed multiple official crimes committed during the Communist era, including widespread assassinations and deportations, confiscation or demolition of property, starvation, censorship and other repression of dissidents. The commission recommended that a national memorial day and museum be established to remember the victims.

The report is expected to strengthen the cases of victims seeking compensation [Reuters report]. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] on Monday ordered [press release] his administration to "correct court-identified deficiencies in California's lethal injection protocol to ensure the death penalty procedure is constitutional." In a memorandum of intended decision [PDF text] issued last week, US District Judge Jeremy Fogel said that California's lethal injection [JURIST news archive] protocol creates "an undue and unnecessary risk" of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment [text] of the US Constitution. Fogel set a 30-day deadline for the state to determine whether the lethal injection protocol would be modified.

Schwarzenegger said Monday that the state's legal affairs secretary will work with officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [official website] to:

Establish a screening process for selection of execution team members and periodic review process for execution team members.

Establish a comprehensive training program for all members of the execution team so all are familiar with the drugs being used, their preparation and the risks associated with the drugs.

Develop standardized record-keeping to ensure there are complete and reliable records of each execution.

Recommend how to improve the death penalty facility at San Quentin Prison to ensure that there is adequate equipment, lighting and space for the execution team members to perform their functions.

Identify the best experts in other states to advise CDCR on the lethal injection protocol and its implementation.

Capital punishment in the United States of America is on its deathbed ... It may take another couple of years, but the United States of America is on its way to join the rest of the civilized world where this inhuman and barbaric punishment has already been rejected. I have no doubt that this trend is welcomed by a lot of Americans who, given a proper choice, prefer just security to cruel revenge.

[JURIST] Five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor were convicted and sentenced to death Tuesday for knowingly infecting over 400 Libyan patients, primarily children, with the HIV virus. This is the second time a Libyan court has convicted the medics; the initial guilty verdict was overturned by the Libyan Supreme Court in 2005 and a retrial ordered [JURIST reports]. Defense lawyers said they would appeal Tuesday's ruling in what could be the last appeal permitted under Libyan law.

The medics have argued that the patients were infected with the HIV virus before treatment and a new study was published earlier this month supporting the medics' claims [JURIST report]. The analysis, which showed that the strain of HIV with which the children had been infected was already present and spreading locally in the mid-1990s, long before the medics arrived in Libya in 1998, was not released until after the second trial concluded on November 4.

Bulgaria and its allies, including the US [JURIST report] and the European Union, contend that the nurses are innocent and have said they have been tortured into admitting guilt in the case [BBC trial timeline; BBC Q&A]. Nine Libyan police officers and one doctor were acquitted [JURIST report] of torturing the health workers [HRW report] last year. Bulgaria quickly condemned the verdict [MFA statement] Tuesday, saying:

To our deep regret the court in Tripoli didn't take into consideration the numerous evidences proving the innocence of the Bulgarian nurses. We cannot accept a decision ignoring the very clear facts, confirmed, among others, in the most recent research of worldÂ?s leading experts, rejecting any connection between the work of the Bulgarian medical staff and the HIV infection in the Benghazi hospital. This verdict is clearly setting back the efforts to solve this painful case....

But at the same time we firmly believe that any linkage of this tragedy to the work of the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor is absolutely unfounded and misleads the Libyan people and the concerned families.

The protraction of this judicial case for eight years now is a strong argument to require a clear commitment of the Libyan institutions and the leadership of the country. We strongly urge the Libyan authorities, including the judicial system not to delay any further the final conclusion of the trial and to allow for the return of the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor to their home countries. After eight years of detention in the Libyan prisons they deserve justice and a fair and speedy trial.