[JURIST] Bulgarian prosecutor Nikolay Kokinov said Tuesday that he plans to file charges against eleven Libyan police officers who are accused of torturing five Bulgarian nurses [JURIST news archive] and one Palestinian doctor, who have been convicted and sentenced to death [JURIST report] by a Libyan court for knowingly infecting over 400 Libyan patients, primarily children, with the HIV virus while working at a hospital in the Libyan town of Benghazi. Kokinov said authorities gathered enough evidence from a preliminary inquiry in December to begin an official judicial investigation that may lead to a trial in Bulgaria. Bulgaria and its allies, including the US and the European Union, contend that the nurses' convictions are based on confessions obtained through torture [HRW report]. A civil lawsuit filed by the nurses against nine Libyan police officers was dismissed [JURIST report] in December 2005, and there have been suggestions that the nurses will now be charged with slander against the police.

According to international health experts [JURIST report], poor sanitary conditions in the hospital caused the virus to spread before the nurses even arrived. Although the six have been sentenced to death, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muhamar Gaddafi [BBC profile] has recently indicated that they might be released in exchange for compensation [JURIST report] for the hospital victims and that they will be spared the death penalty. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] reinstated a conspiracy charge [PDF opinion] against alleged terrorist Jose Padilla [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] Tuesday, reversing a lower court decision [JURIST report] that the charge duplicated the other two counts against Padilla and his two co-defendants. The reinstated charge, conspiracy to "murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country," carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, unlike the other two charges [JURIST report]. The court rejected the argument that the charges were multiplicitous and in violation of the US Constitution's double jeopardy clause [LII backgrounder], holding that different proof was required to establish each count. Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat said in his opinion: "While these three charges are interrelated, they are not interdependent," as Padilla could theoretically be found to have violated the statutes of one count without having violated statutes of the others. AP has more.

US authorities initially suspected Padilla, a US citizen, of planning to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States and classified him in 2002 as an enemy combatant [JURIST news archive] subject to indefinite detention. Padilla was later indicted [JURIST report] in 2005 on unrelated terrorism charges. He was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January 2006 and subsequently pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges. His trial is scheduled to begin April 16.

[JURIST] Carla Del Ponte [official profile] said Tuesday that she will step down as chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] at the end of her current term in September. Del Ponte, who has served for 8 years as chief prosecutor, expressed disappointment about the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive], who died from heart failure [JURIST report] in March 2006 while his genocide and war crimes trial at the ICTY was in its fifth year. She also added that she has yet to see actual remorse from those who were tried and has witnessed only a few signs of reconciliation in the former Yugoslav republics.

Del Ponte has also repeatedly criticized Serbia's lack of progress[JURIST report] in capturing former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile] and his military commander, Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive], who are wanted by the ICTY for alleged crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, including organizing the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive]. As a result, Del Ponte has discouraged [JURIST report] the European Union [official website] from resuming membership talks with Serbia. The ICTY is scheduled to finish all trials by 2008 and all appeals by 2010. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock [official profile] said Tuesday that he has requested an assessment of the condition of Australian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] after Hicks' lawyer described Hicks in an interview [transcript; recorded audio] on ABC Australia as being chained to the floor of an interview room and removed from access to sunlight. Ruddock said that he's received previous reports that Hicks is allowed outdoors for exercise and compare conditions to that of a US maximum security jail.

Ruddock said last week that Hicks could face reduced charges when he goes to trial [JURIST report] and in early January noted that his US counterpart, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, assured him that Hicks would be charged [JURIST report] soon after the new military commission rules were published. US President Bush promised that a trial will be held [JURIST report], but offered no timetable. The Australian government has been under increasing pressure [JURIST report] to call for Hicks' release. Hicks was detained in Afghanistan while allegedly fighting for the Taliban and US prosecutors claim that he trained at up to four terrorist camps. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] The Tokyo District Court denied financial compensation on Tuesday to 40 displaced Japanese nationals in China who were left there as children after the Japanese defeat in World War II. The plaintiffs sued the government of Japan [JURIST news archive] for 1.32 billion yen in damages for failing to quickly assist in their return and assimilation to Japan. In denying the claims, Judge Kenichi Kato stated that the damages were caused by the war, which is not an instance of Japan's government violating the law.

In 1994, the Japanese government passed legislation providing financial assistance to Japanese nationals who returned to Japan. In December, a different Japanese court ordered the government to pay 468 million yen to 61 Japanese [JURIST report] who were displaced as children in China after WWII. In 2005, an Osaka court rejected similar claims [JURIST report] from a different group of plaintiffs, declaring that the government had no obligation to provide compensation. AP has more. Xinhua has additional coverage.

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak [official profile, DOC; JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that torture is systematic and widespread in Jordan, especially when used to elicit confessions from suspected terrorists. Nowak found the practice of torture [JURIST news archive] to be routine at the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) [official website], the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Public Security Directorate, as well as Al-Jafr Correction and Rehabilitation Centre. According to Nowak, practices such as beatings with truncheons, batons, electrical cables and broom handles, burning detainees with cigarettes and forcing them to hold painful positions are accepted torture methods in detention centers. Nowak called on the Jordanian government to investigate and prosecute all claims of torture and to amend domestic laws and the constitution in order to ban torture. The UN Human Rights Council [official website] also plans to review Nowak's report. Reuters has more.

In June 2006, Nowak recommended [JURIST report] that Jordan criminalize torture and end the use of special courts that protect accused police and intelligence officials, following the conclusion of his two-day visit to Jordan [JURIST news archive]. At that time, he also found evidence that torture is systematically practiced at the two detention centers in Amman run by the GID and the CID as well as Al-Jafr prison, but he claimed that officials at both centers obstructed his investigation through denying access to areas of the prison and hiding evidence.

[JURIST] US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website; JURIST news archive] re-introduced a bill [S.344 summary] Monday which would allow US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] proceedings to be televised, "unless the Court decides, by a vote of the majority of justices, that allowing such coverage in a particular case would constitute a violation of the due process rights of one or more of the parties before the Court."

Specter said [press release]:

The Supreme Court makes pronouncements on Constitutional and federal law that have direct impacts on the rights of Americans. Those rights would be substantially enhanced by televising the oral arguments of the Court so that the public can see and hear the issues presented. With this information, the public would have insight into key issues and be better equipped to understand the impact of and reasons for the Court’s decisions.

[JURIST] The Bangladesh High Court [government backgrounder] said Monday that it has banned the government from conducting any elections, including this month's upcoming national election, because of political instability in the country. The Chief Election Commissioner of the Bangladesh Election Commission [official website] resigned [JURIST report] just last week as further evidence of the current political instability in Bangladesh [JURIST news archive].

Earlier this month, Bangladesh president Iajuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile] deferred the January 22 election indefinitely and declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the face of violent political protests and political parties threatening to blockade voting places. Bangladeshi authorities arrested over 2500 people [JURIST report] and raided the homes of several political leaders in a crackdown following the swearing-in of the new interim government [New Age report]. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] US President Bush has signed an executive order [text] that places a White House-appointed policy administrator in all federal agencies responsible for developing and enforcing public health and safety, environmental, and civil rights policy. Under the order, which will affect groups such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [official websites], a regulatory policy office will be placed in each agency to supervise and report to the White House the development of regulations. Jeffrey Rosen, General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) [official website], told the New York Times that the measures are a "classic good-government measure" designed to increase transparency and accountability. Critics of the order accuse the President of overreaching, and say that the measure will only slow the implementation of rules that protect the public.

Bush issued the order in light of his nomination of Susan Dudley [George Mason University profile], whose initiatives are written into the directive, to the position of administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the OMB. The Senate failed to confirm Dudley earlier this month, but Bush may push the nomination through while the Senate is in recess. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The European Union's Court of First Instance [official website] on Tuesday upheld [judgment text; press release, PDF] a 10.35 million euro fine imposed on telecommunications operator France Telecom [official website] by the European Commission for violating EU antitrust rules [EU materials] by charging consumers low prices for high-speed network access in an effort to stamp out rivals.

The company began charging consumers artificially low prices in March 2001 and continued until October 2002. According to the European Commission's 2003 decision, the company planned to make up for the loss by charging competitors high prices for access to the network. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Argentinean Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide said Monday that extraditing former Argentine President Isabel Peron [Wikipedia profile] from Spain could take more than a year, if it ever happens at all. Argentinean authorities are seeking Peron's return to Argentina [JURIST news archive] for questioning about the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A) [MIPT backgrounder], a government-supported death squad. Oyarbide said if Spain refuses to extradite Peron, he will push for a trial in Spain as authorized by a treaty signed by the two countries. In 1997, Person testified that she remembered approving a law authorizing the "annihilation" of leftist guerrillas, but could not recall specific details.

Isabel Peron assumed the presidency of Argentina in 1974 after the death of her husband, President Juan Domingo Peron, and was ousted by a military junta in 1976. Earlier this month, Peron was arrested [JURIST report] in Spain [JURIST news archive] under an arrest warrant issued by an Argentinean judge, but was later given a provisional release because the Spanish authorities do not believe the 75-year-old Peron will be able to flee due to her poor health. The renewed attempts to extradite Peron began after amnesty laws were overturned [JURIST report] in the country in 2005 and the government began its subsequent campaign to prosecute the human rights violations of the country's infamous "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. These investigations have been expanded to include the tenure of Peron [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Marine Corps [official website] said Monday that it will launch an investigation into the leak of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) [official website] report on the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive] after the Washington Post earlier this month printed photos of the slain Iraqis [WP report]. Lt. Gen. James Mattis [official profile], the top general at Camp Pendleton [official website], ordered the investigation on January 23 after attorneys for charged Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich [Wikipedia profile] asked for a probe into the leak [JURIST report].

A total of eight Marines have been charged [list of charges and specifications; JURIST report] in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [JURIST report], including women and children, last November. The Haditha investigation marks the largest US criminal case for civilian deaths during the war in Iraq. Wuterich said last year that his unit followed the rules of engagement [JURIST report] and did not purposefully attack civilians. AP has more.

[JURIST] A former US contractor working for the US Department of Defense [official website] in Iraq received a nine-year prison sentence [DOJ press release] Monday and was told he must forfeit the $3.6 million he received for awarding contracts to construction companies owned by an American businessman and through money laundering. Robert Stein, Jr. [Wikipedia profile], who worked as the comptroller and funding officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority [official website] during 2003 and 2004, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to charges of conspiracy, money laundering and bribery last year. He admitted to conspiring with US Army officers [JURIST report] to steal over $2 million in rebuilding funds and awarding contracts to construction companies owned by Philip Bloom [Wikipedia profile; JURIST report] in exchange for more than $1 million in cash and goods.

Stein will also serve three years of probation after his prison sentence ends. Officials from the US Department of Justice [official website] said Stein cooperated with the government's investigation, partially mitigating his sentence, which could have reached up to 30 years. Reuters has more.