[JURIST] An Italian judge Friday rejected government arguments [JURIST report] that Italian prosecutors had overstepped their authority in bringing charges against 26 US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents and two former Italian intelligence officials for the 2003 abduction and rendition [JURIST news archive] of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr [JURIST news archive; Wikipedia profile]. The case is scheduled to go to trial June 8. The CIA agents will be tried in absentia since the US has refused extradition. Marco Mancini [Wikipedia profile] and former Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) commander Niccolo Pollari [Cooperative Research profile] also face charges. UPI has more.

Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized on the streets of Milan, supposedly by CIA agents with the help of SISMI. Nasr was then allegedly transferred to Egypt and turned over to Egypt's State Security Intelligence (SSI) [Wikipedia backgrounder], where he was allegedly tortured before being released [JURIST reports] in February 2007. The same month, an Italian judge issued indictments [JURIST report] for 26 CIA agents and five SISMI officials, including Pollari, for their alleged role in the abduction. The Italian government sought to cancel the indictments [JURIST report] last month.

[JURIST] Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko [official website] Friday appointed a new judge to the nation's Constitutional Court [official website], the second such appointment in two days. Stepan Havrysh [official profile] and Vasyl Kostytsky [Council of Europe profile] will replace two judges Yuschenko dismissed [JURIST report] earlier this week for procedural and ethics violations. Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych criticized the appointments, saying that the the president could not install judges without first consulting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych [BBC profile] and the Justice Ministry. The court is currently considering the constitutionality of Yushchenko's decree [text; JURIST report] dissolving parliament and calling for new elections. Yanukovych and a majority of legislators objected to the decree, filing an appeal with the 18-judge Constitutional Court. After weeks of fighting, Yushchenko and Yanukovych agreed [BBC report] Friday to hold early parliamentary elections. Radio Free Europe has more. AP has additional coverage.

Yushchenko and Yanukovych were fierce rivals in the 2004 presidential election [JURIST report], the results of which were invalidated by the country's Supreme Court [JURIST report] following fraud allegations. Yushchenko was sworn in as Ukraine's president [JURIST report] in January 2005 on the wings of the populist Orange Revolution [BBC timeline] after winning a re-vote. Yushchenko reluctantly accepted Yanukovych as prime minister last June and the two have since clashed over parliamentary attempts to expand the cabinet's power [JURIST reports] at the expense of the presidency.

[JURIST] Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Gouled Hassan Dourad [BBC profile] has denied accusations of involvement with al-Qaeda, according to a transcript [PDF text] of his April 28 hearing before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) [DOD materials] released by the Pentagon Friday. Dourad, a Somali, submitted a statement to be read at the hearing in lieu of making an appearance in which he denied membership in the al Qaeda-supported terrorist group al-Ittihad al-Islami [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], although he did admit to fighting alongside the group in a jihad against Ethiopians. Dourad maintained that his training and fighting were conducted within Somalia, that it was his legal right to defend Somalia, and that it is against his religious beliefs to fight against civilians. Dourad is accused of being an al-Qaeda Djibouti cell leader and senior facilitator.

Dourad was arrested in 2004 and last September was transferred to Guantanamo [JURIST report] as one of 14 "high value" terror suspects [DNI profiles, PDF] potentially eligible for trial by military commission [JURIST news archive]. Last week the US Department of Defense announced that a new high-value detainee, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi [DOD profile, PDF], had been transferred to Guantanamo to await hearing. The CSRT hearings have been closed to the press [JURIST report], but the Department of Defense has released transcripts of 13 of the 14 hearings held to date. Dourad did not offer details of his detention. AP has more.

[JURIST] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] Thursday signed [official press release] a $7.7 billion bipartisan bill to construct facilities to provide 53,000 new prison and jail beds over the next five years to alleviate California's overcrowded prisons [JURIST news archive]. Last week state legislators approved [JURIST report] the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007 [AB 900 text], hoping to expand the state's prison infrastructure. Currently, 173,000 inmates are housed in facilities designed for 100,000. In a Thursday speech [text], Schwarzenegger emphasized the importance of rehabilitation programs in reducing California's 70 percent recidivism rate. Critics argue that the bill's $50 million increase on rehabilitation program spending is insufficient, and many had hoped the bill would mandate a review of the current penal code [text] and address sentencing reform.

In February, Schwarzenegger announced a plan to release prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes [JURIST report] in response to various federal actions that could establish federal oversight of California's prison system [JURIST report] if the overcrowding problem is not resolved. Last week a three-judge panel said it could order California to release prisoners before their sentences are completed if the state does not address the issue on its own. Earlier in February a state court struck down an out-of-state inmate transfer plan [JURIST report] because California law prohibits the governor from contracting with private companies to perform jobs usually held by state employees. AB 900 gives the legislature "clear statutory authority to voluntarily and involuntarily transfer prisoners out-of-state for the next four years." AP has more.

[JURIST] Chinese Human Rights Defenders [advocacy website] Friday criticized the Chinese government for continuing to persecute and intimidate human rights defenders such as lawyers, academics and journalists in a report [Part 1; Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] issued on the anniversary of the 1919 May Fourth Movement [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The report, the group's second annual, lists several activists who have been imprisoned or otherwise prosecuted for their efforts defending human rights [JURIST news archive], while also maintaining that there are a growing number of human rights defenders in China. AFP has more.

In related news, Amnesty International [advocacy website] released a report [text] earlier this week claiming China is not doing enough to remedy human rights abuses [JURIST report; press release] in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics [official website] in Beijing.

[JURIST] Freedom of the press suffered serious setbacks around the world in 2006, according to a new report [documents, press release] from Freedom House [advocacy website]. The study, Freedom of the Press 2007: A Global Survey of Media Independence, noted particular causes for concern in the Middle East and North Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Russia. Overall, the report examined 195 countries and territories and found 38 percent were rated Free, 30 percent were rated Partly Free, and 32 percent were rated Not Free. Freedom House released its report in conjunction with Thursday's World Press Freedom Day [official website]. AP has more.

In related news this week, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom [official website] released [JURIST report; press release] its annual report on worldwide religious freedom [PDF text], finding for the first time since the ouster of Saddam Hussein that freedom of religious worship in Iraq is under severe threat.

[JURIST] Former US Deputy Attorney General James Comey [official profile] testified Thursday that seven of eight prosecutors at the center of the US Attorney firing scandal [JURIST news archive] were performing their jobs well before being dismissed, and that the eighth was "a fine guy" but "had management problems in [his] office." During a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing [subcommittee materials; recorded video], Comey also said that he was not aware that former DOJ Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson and others were considering firing underperforming US Attorneys. Comey left the Justice Department in August 2005, and said that he only had one brief discussion with Sampson about which prosecutors had management problems, but that he had no knowledge that the conversation was part of a larger strategy to fire poor performers. Justice Department officials have said that the eight US Attorneys were fired for poor performance [JURIST report], though others have alleged that they were inappropriately fired for political reasons. AP has more.

Meanwhile, lawyers for former DOJ aide Monica Goodling [JURIST news archive] criticized the Justice Department's public announcement of an internal investigation [JURIST report] into whether Goodling considered the political affiliations of candidates for career prosecutor positions in the DOJ, contrary to federal law [OSC backgrounder] and longstanding departmental practice. The House Judiciary Committee authorized immunity from prosecution [JURIST report] for Goodling last week in exchange for her testimony on the US Attorney firings, and Goodling's lawyers said the timing of the DOJ announcement "smacks of retribution and intimidation." Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] The convicted assassin and terrorist known popularly as "Carlos the Jackal" [BBC profile; Wikipedia profile] - Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez - may soon be forced to stand trial in France [JURIST news archive] for his alleged participation in four deadly terror bombings in 1982 and 1983, according to a French judicial official speaking on condition of anonymity Friday. Jean-Louis Bruguiere [BBC profile], France's top anti-terror judge, reportedly plans to bring the charges against Sanchez, whom he has tracked for decades. Sanchez has been implicated for his role in deadly bombings, hostage takings, and assassinations in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s, and he is currently serving a life sentence for the murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer in 1975. AP has more.

In July 2006, the appeals chamber of the European Court of Human Rights [official website] in Strasbourg rejected an appeal [JURIST report] from Sanchez claiming that the eight years he spent in solitary confinement in a French prison was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. The appeals chamber ruled [JURIST report] that Sanchez' solitary confinement was not inhumane or otherwise violative of his rights.

[JURIST] The Romanian Constitutional Court [official website] Thursday upheld an opposition-sponsored bill making it easier to remove the country's president by reducing the number of popular votes required for impeachment. Existing legislation requires more than half of Romania's citizens to support removal, making impeachment almost impossible. President Traian Basescu [official website, English version; BBC profile] was suspended [JURIST report] by the opposition-dominated parliament last month for allegedly abusing his powers. Parliament has 30 days to organize a referendum on whether to impeach the president. Given the popularity of Basescu, who was elected in December 2004 and has targeted corruption, the referendum is expected to fail.

Last week the court upheld the suspension [JURIST report] of Basescu and designated Senate President Nicolae Vacaroiu [official website, in Romanian] as the country's interim leader. AP has more.