[JURIST] Investigators searched the offices of former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [official profile, in French; JURIST news archive] on Friday as part of a probe into an alleged smear campaign conducted against Villepin political rival and now French President Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile; BBC profile]. In 2004, a magistrate received anonymous letters accusing Sarkozy of holding secret bank accounts linked to the corrupt sale of frigates, but the accusations turned out to be false. It has been alleged that Villepin may have been behind the letters and had known that Sarkozy did not own the accounts the letters claimed.

Judges searched Villepin's home on Thursday. In December 2006, Villepin was questioned [JURIST report] by judges for more than 17 hours in connection with an investigation into the smear. Villepin has denied any wrongdoing. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Duma [official website, in Russian], the lower house of the Russian parliament, Friday approved legislative amendments to change the prevailing definition of extremist crime in Russian law to include activities taken for "political or ideological hatred." Opponents of the legislation criticized the amendments as an attempt to curtail civil liberties and hamper democracy by putting restraints on media coverage and discouraging opposition campaigning. Russian parliamentarians defended the measure as necessary to prevent terrorism; President Vladimir Putin [official website] has denied that the changes would be used to oppose a democratic power transition.

Under the new amendments, public disturbances "committed for ideological, political or racial motives" are punishable by a prison term of eight years. "Calls to extremism" can be punished by six years in prison. The new amendments will also grant the police additional wire-tapping powers. They now go to Russia's upper house, the Federation Council. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Serbia will arrest wanted war crimes fugitive Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and transfer him to the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague within the year, President Boris Tadic [official website] said Friday. Tadic told reporters that he considered the capture of Mladic to be vital to pushing forward Serbia's stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) [Wikipedia backgrounder] with the European Union (EU). Reuters has more.

Serbia [JURIST news archive] has lately come under increased international pressure from the EU and the United States to prosecute war criminals and arrest war crimes fugitives. On May 15, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor told reporters that the search [JURIST report] for Mladic "has not stopped for even a moment" and hinted at progress following statements by the EU that EU-Serbia pre-membership negotiations could resume depending on Serbia's commitment to bring war crimes suspects to justice.

[JURIST] Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash) [official website] announced Friday he will ask the US Supreme Court [official website] to rule on whether he had a First Amendment right to turn over an illegally taped telephone call conversation to the media that involved House Republican leaders. In 1996, McDermott leaked a recorded telephone conversation in which several Republican lawmakers discussed ethics allegations against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) [personal website] to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the New York Times, which published stories on the case in January 1997. The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled [PDF opinion] that McDermott had no First Amendment right to turn over the taped telephone call to reporters. The court found his actions particularly problematic because McDermott was serving on the House Ethics Committee [official website] at the time. McDermott Friday criticized the court's ruling as an infringement of his First Amendment rights, and said that "the protections afforded all Americans by the First Amendment have been placed on a very slippery slope by this (appeals court) decision."

McDermott was previously found liable [PDF opinion; JURIST report] of violating 18 USC 2511(1)(c) [text] by a three-judge panel, but in June the court granted his petition for an en banc rehearing in front of the entire nine-judge panel. Lawyers for ABC, NBC, CBS, the Associated Press, Time, Newsweek, and the Washington Post among others filed an amicus curiae brief [PDF] on behalf of McDermott, arguing that the First Amendment protects him and that he should not incur liability for merely receiving tapes obtained by other parties. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website; JURIST news archive] has increased to approximately $100,000 a month the funds available for former Liberian president Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to defend himself in his ongoing war crimes trial. The allocation includes money for a legal team and an investigator, as well as office space in The Hague, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Despite a UN report that concluded Taylor may be in control of millions of dollars [JURIST report] held in bank accounts worldwide, the court has ruled Taylor to be an indigent defendant, guaranteeing him free counsel.

If investigators can concretely link funds to Taylor, he can be forced to repay the court for defense costs. Charges against Taylor include murder, rape, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers during a blood civil war in Sierra Leone [JURIST news archive]. If acquitted, Taylor will be permitted to return to Liberia; if convicted, he will serve his jail time in Britain [JURIST report]. The trial, which was expected to last 18 months, was relocated to The Hague from Sierra Leone [JURIST report] for security reasons in 2006. Currently delayed [JURIST report] to give the new defense team more time to prepare, the trial is set to resume on August 20. AP has more.

[JURIST] US military prosecutors have filed an appeal against a military judge's decision to dismiss charges against Guantanamo detainee Omar Ahmed Khadr [TrialWatch profile; JURIST news archive], according to the Department of Defense (DOD) Friday. In late June, Judge Peter E. Brownback III reiterated his earlier ruling [order, PDF] dismissing charges against Khadr on grounds that the Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] that reviewed Khadr's status had not found him to be an "unlawful enemy combatant" [JURIST report] as required under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text]. Prosecutors argue that a military panel had found Khadr to be an "enemy combatant," which was essentially the same as an "unlawful enemy combatant."

Khadr, a Canadian national, was formally charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying. He was 15 years old when he was detained in 2002. Khadr allegedly threw a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He has remained in US custody despite the dismissal of charges. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A Bangladeshi court jailed UN human rights expert Sigma Huda [official profile, DOC] Thursday, pending a trial over allegations connecting her to a government corruption case [JURIST news archive]. Prosecutors allege Huda assisted her husband, former Bangladeshi communications minister Nazmul Huda, in extorting almost $300,000 USD from a construction company while in office. The Bangladesh Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling allowing her to be released on bail earlier in the week. The trial is scheduled to start Monday. Huda's lawyer told AP that she is being targeted for her criticism of Bangladesh's military interim government.

Last month Bangladesh refused to allow Huda to travel to Geneva [UN Watch press release], where she was scheduled to deliver a key report on human trafficking. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women [advocacy website] has established a timeline [press release, DOC] of the allegations made by Huda against the Bangladeshi government, including harassment and imprisonment of her family members. AP has more.

[JURIST] Russia expressed displeasure with the UK Friday over British refusal [press release] to prosecute exiled business tycoon Boris Berezovsky [Wikipedia profile] for his calls to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website]. Berezovsky, who has been living in the UK since 2001 as a refugee, called for a regime change in an April interview with the Guardian [text]. While Berezovsky did say that force was necessary and that he didn't believe democratic means would work, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service [official website] said that since he cited the Ukraine's Orange Revolution [Wikipedia backgrounder] as an example, they "concluded that he appeared to indicate civil disobedience as the model he was advocating." Russia's Prosecutor General office [official website, in Russian] believes Berezovsky should have been charged with inciting terrorism overseas, saying "calls for a violent change of power are a criminal offense in any country."

Although originally a supporter of Putin, Berezovsky fell out of favor with Putin after vocally opposing the war in Chechnya [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Putin opened investigations into Berezovsky's businesses, and Berezovsky fled to the UK. He has been charged in Russia with fraud and political corruption. Had Berezovsky been convicted of inciting terrorism, he would have lost his refugee status and could have been extradited to Russia to face those charges. Without extradition, Berezovsky will be tried in abesntia. RIA Novosti has more. The Guardian has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on Friday convicted former Pharmaceutical Registration Department Director Cao Wenzhuan of corruption and dereliction of duty [JURIST report] for receiving approximately $316,000 in bribes from two pharmaceutical companies in exchange for certifying substandard drugs at the State Food and Drug Administration [official website, in Chinese]. The court sentenced Cao to death on both counts, stripped him of all political rights, and confiscated all of his personal property. The court said the harsh sentence was warranted given Cao's high stature, the enormous bribes involved, and Cao's refusal to confess or return the bribes received. The court did grant Cao a two-year reprieve for his execution, finding that he had provided information that aided in the investigation of other corruption cases.

On Thursday, the same court convicted four other government officials involved in the drug approval process of corruption, issuing sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment. Zheng Xiaoyu, former commissioner of the State Food and Drug Administration, was sentenced to death [JURIST report] in May for receiving $832,000 in bribes and allowing eight companies to bypass the drug approval process. One improperly approved antibiotic is suspected of killing at least 10 people. Zheng, who served as the food and drug commissioner from 1998 to 2005, has appealed his death sentence on the grounds that he should receive leniency because he cooperated with the investigation and has confessed his crimes. Death sentences in China require the approval [JURIST report] of the Supreme People's Court [official website]. AP has more. Xinhua has local coverage.

[JURIST] South Dakota is preparing to hold its first execution in 60 years next week, AP reported Friday. The execution was halted [JURIST report] last year by Governor Mike Rounds [official website], but the passage of new lethal injection protocols [text] in February cleared up the legal concerns that led to its suspension. While the former law, written in 1984, specified a particular two-drug mixture, February's legislation is much broader, allowing the prison warden the ability to select any lethal injection [JURIST news archive] mixture, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Corrections. Rounds had feared that the state would open itself up to legal liability if it instead used the three-drug cocktail that has become the standard for lethal injections around the country, and has recently been the subject of numerous constitutional challenges [JURIST report].

With no further legal challenges expected, 25-year-old Elijah Page [SD AGO backgrounder] will be put to death for the 2000 murder of 19-year-old Chester Allen Poage. Page pleaded guilty to being one of three people who tortured Poage for over two hours before stabbing and bludgeoning him to death. Page has ended all appeals, and has asked to be put to death. His lawyer told AP that Rounds and the state Supreme Court chief justice have assured Page that the execution can be called off at any time if he wishes to restart his appeals process. AP has more.

[JURIST] Italy's Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) [official website, in Italian], the country's top self-governing judiciary body, has accused the Italian Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) under the government of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of spying on approximately 200 judges and magistrates that were deemed "politically unreliable" by the government. The CSM accused Nicolo Pollari, head of SISMI under Berlusconi, of using the military intelligence agency's resources against prosecutors and judges investigating corruption charges against Berlusconi [JURIST report], as well as spying on foreign judiciary officials affiliated with the European Union.

Pollari was dismissed by the Italian cabinet [JURIST report] last November due to allegations that he was involved in the alleged 2003 CIA kidnapping [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] of Egyptian cleric Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile]. Pollari, another SISMI official, and 26 CIA agents are being tried for their role in Nasr's alleged kidnapping. Friday's Independent has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] has denied [order, PDF] a prosecution motion [PDF text] which sought to move the trial of former Bosnian army commander Rasim Delic [ICTY case backgrounder, PDF; Trial Watch profile] out of the international court at The Hague. Prosecutors sought the change [JURIST report] after the court limited the scope of the trial and the number of witnesses prosecutors could call. In its ruling Thursday, the court emphasized its prior consideration of the prosecution's witness list, its belief that the number of witnesses and amount of time allocated are ample for the prosecution to present its case, and its belief that moving the trial now "would not be in the interests of justice". The court also noted that prosecutors could file motions during the trial if it wished to present additional witnesses, or seek additional time to hear evidence. The trial will begin as scheduled [press release] on July 9.

Delic led Bosnia's Muslim army during the 1992-95 Bosnian war [Wikipedia backgrounder], in Sarajevo, and is accused of a number of crimes [amended indictment, PDF; ICTY materials], including murder, rape, and two counts of cruel treatment. He has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Mizanur Rahman was convicted Thursday in a UK court of inciting murder during a February 2006 protest [BBC report] against the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive]. Rahman, who has already been convicted for inciting racial hatred [JURIST report] during the rally at the Danish embassy, called for the beheading of individuals who insult Islam and the killing of British and American forces in Iraq. Rahman will be sentenced alongside three other defendants convicted of similar offenses on July 18.

Five Muslims were arrested [JURIST report] in March 2006 for leading the unauthorized protest. Abdul Saleem was convicted of inciting racial hatred [JURIST report] in February, and Abdul Muhid and Umran Javed [JURIST reports] were convicted of inciting murder and inciting racial hatred. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US District Judge Cecilia Altonaga upheld torture charges [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] Thursday against the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, Charles McArthur Emmanuel [JURIST news archive], rejecting Emmanuel's argument that a federal anti-torture statute [18 USC 2340A text] exceeds Congressional authority because it criminalizes behavior of foreign government officials outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Altonaga also rejected Emmanuel's assertion that the statute was vague in its definition of torture, ruling that Emmanuel's alleged conduct would be considered torture in the "civilized world." Emmanuel, whose trial is expected to begin in September, faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted of torture.

Emmanuel commanded a paramilitary unit in Liberia during his father's regime and is said to have abused a detainee with a hot iron, scalding water, and electric shocks in 2002. Last December, a federal judge denied bail for Emmanuel, ruling that Emmanuel was a flight risk and a danger to the community. Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is currently on trial in the The Hague before the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website; JURIST news archive] for crimes against humanity. AP has more. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has rejected [PDF text] a lawsuit challenging the government's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive], ruling Friday that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit. The ACLU filed the lawsuit [complaint, PDF; ACLU materials] on behalf of journalists, scholars, attorneys and national nonprofit organizations having "a well-founded belief that their communications are being intercepted by the NSA" in order to challenge the use of warrantless wiretaps by the National Security Agency to intercept communications of suspected terrorists. The appeals court ruled 2-1 that a lower court decision finding the domestic surveillance program to be unconstitutional should be overturned:

The plaintiffs are a collection of associations and individuals led by the American Civil Liberties Union, and they cross-appeal. Because we cannot find that any of the plaintiffs have standing for any of their claims, we must vacate the district court's order and remand for dismissal of the entire action.

[JURIST] Lawyer Kenneth R. Feinberg [corporate profile] was appointed Thursday to head the distribution effort [press release] of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund [academic website] established to aid victims and families of the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech [JURIST news archive] that left 33 people dead and 25 wounded in the largest shooting spree in US history [MSNBC backgrounder]. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger [academic website] said that Feinberg, who also served as the administrator for the September 11 compensation fund, will work pro bono for the fund and will provide the necessary expert advice in the distribution of approximately $6 million in undesignated donations.

Feinberg, a specialist in mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution, served pro bono as Special Master [Wex backgrounder] of the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund [official website] for 33 months and distributed over $7 billion in public funds to families and victims injured in the September 11 attacks. In January 2003, seven families of 9/11 victims filed a class action lawsuit [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] against Feinberg, alleging that he administered the fund arbitrarily. The families specifically objected to Feinberg's calculation of wrongful death compensation based upon after-tax projections of lost income, and also challenged Feinberg's proposal to cap individual awards over $6 million. The suit, along with two other similar actions, was subsequently dismissed [NYLJ report] by a federal judge who found that Feinberg acted "reasonably and properly" to implement the intent of Congress. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] A US Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) [official website] spokesperson has confirmed that up to 10 US Marines are currently under investigation for the alleged killing of at least eight Iraqi detainees during the Multinational National Force-Iraq's November 2004 offensive in Fallujah [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. The latest allegations surfaced when former Marine Corporal Ryan Weemer admitted the incident during a polygraphed job interview with the US Secret Service. Military journalist Nathaniel Helms has allegedly corroborated the account, reporting that he saw the Marines execute subdued Iraqi prisoners, whose bodies were later buried under rubble from an air strike.

The investigation is the latest potential embarrassment for the US Marine Corps [official website], which has also been implicated in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive] as well as a March 4 incident in Afghanistan [JURIST report] in which Marines allegedly fired at civilian bystanders along a several mile stretch of road following an attempted suicide bombing attack. The NCIS, the civilian investigative arm of the US Navy, will submit the evidence to a high ranking Marine Corps officer, who will decide whether to refer the allegations to an Article 32 [JAG backgrounder] hearing to determine whether the charges will proceed to a general court-martial. Reuters has more. The Los Angeles Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Thailand's Constitution Drafting Assembly approved a final draft of a new constitution Friday, paving the way for an August 19 constitutional referendum and possible general elections in December. The 100-member body, appointed by the military, unanimously approved the 309-article draft presented [JURIST report] by the 35-member Constitutional Drafting Committee in April. The new constitution is part of an effort by the ruling Council for National Security [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] to decrease populist influence by reducing the impact of elections, which plotters of last year's coup blame for bringing former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [JURIST news archive] into power. Under the proposal [Nation report], the Thai House of Representatives would be reduced from 500 seats to 400 seats, 320 of which will be directly elected and 80 appointed from the party list. A multi-seat constituency system will also replace single-member districts. The proposal also seeks to eliminate direct elections for members of the Senate, who will be instead appointed by national and provisional committees composed of bureaucrats and judicial officials, and will reduce the number of senators from 200 to 150.

Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont [official profile; BBC profile] earlier this week ordered government officials to promote support for the draft [Bangkok Post], and the military-controlled parliament is expected to pass a bill later this month to penalize the obstruction or opposition to the referendum. The draft constitution is expected to face opposition from Buddhist activist groups that have unsuccessfully campaigned for Buddhism as a state-sponsored religion, democracy activists, and Thaksin's supporters. If the draft constitution is rejected by popular referendum, military leaders are authorized under the interim constitution imposed after last September's coup [JURIST reports] to revise an earlier constitution. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.