[JURIST] The High Administrative Court of Ukraine Thursday validated the results of the Sept. 30 parliamentary election [JURIST report] after dismissing a legal challenge by the Communist Party of Ukraine [party website, in Ukrainian] contending the vote was invalid due to alleged violations associated with Ukrainians voting abroad. The coalition [press release] of President Viktor Yuschenko's Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc [party website in Ukrainian] and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc [party website, in Ukrainian] won 228 seats in the 450-member Verkhovna Rada [official website, in Ukrainian], while the opposition Party of Regions [party website, in Ukrainian], led by Yuschenko's long-time rival Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych [BBC profile], won 175 seats. AP has more.

The court's decision could help settle tensions in the Ukraine, which has been engulfed in political turmoil in recent months. A constitutional crisis erupted in April when Yushchenko issued a degree dissolving parliament [JURIST report]. Yanukovych and leaders of the Ukrainian parliament filed a legal challenge before the Constitutional Court of Ukraine [official website; JURIST news archive]. Yushchenko subsequently dismissed three Constitutional Court judges for alleged oath and ethnics violations [JURIST report], and appointed replacement judges [JURIST report] without consulting either Yanukovych or the Justice Ministry. In May, Yushchenko sought a lower court order to block the Constitutional Court from ruling on his April 2 decree following his rejection of the Constitutional Court's authority [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] The White House Thursday agreed to let US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and ranking Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official websites] see classified documents pertaining to President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive], in hopes that it would speed up the approval of proposed legislation to grant telecommunications companies immunity from prosecution [JURIST report] for assisting in government eavesdropping between 2001 and 2007. Leahy, however, has insisted that the entire committee be allowed to view the documents before he will consider endorsing the immunity provisions, and other committee members have followed suit. Bush has threatened to veto any revised surveillance bill that does not include the immunity provisions.

Leahy and Specter sent a letter [PDF text] Monday to White House counsel Fred Fielding demanding the Bush administration comply with subpoenas [press release] for information about the warrantless domestic surveillance program. The committee formally subpoenaed the documents on June 27 in regards to proposed legislation to amend the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive]. The subpoenas mentioned in Leahy's and Specter's letter cover documents and information relevant to the legislation planned by Congress to amend FISA permanently. Leahy and Specter have criticized the White House for sharing some documents on the program with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which debated [JURIST report] and approved the Senate version of the bill last week, while keeping them from the Judiciary Committee. AP has more.

[JURIST] Two key Democrats on the US Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that their votes on the nomination of retired federal judge Michael Mukasey [WH fact sheet] as attorney general will depend on Mukasey's stance on whether the interrogation technique waterboarding constitutes torture. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) [official website], each said that their votes will be based on whether Mukasey officially states that waterboarding - a technique that replicates the effects of being drowned - is a form of torture. On the final day of his confirmation hearing, Mukasey avoided direct answers to questions about the legality of specific interrogation techniques because he considered such comments to be irresponsible "when there are people who are using coercive techniques and who are being authorized to use coercive techniques." Leahy has not yet set a date for the Judiciary Committee to vote on Mukasey's nomination and has said that he will not do so until Mukasey clarifies his position on waterboarding. Ten of the committee's 19 members must vote in favor of the nomination in order to send Mukasey's nomination to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.

Congress prohibited cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of persons under the custody or control of the United States government in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 [JURIST text]. In April 2006, more than 100 US law professors insisted in an open letter [text] to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that waterboarding is torture, punishable as a felony offense. President George W. Bush nominated Mukasey [JURIST report] in September to replace Gonzales, who submitted his resignation [JURIST report] in August. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Waterboarding: The Key Question for Mukasey | Op-ed: Mukasey on Torture: Of Sins, Mistakes and Crimes

[JURIST] Representatives in the US House of Representatives have asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay a vote on a resolution [HR 106 materials; text] labeling as genocide the World War I-era killings of over one million Armenians by Turkish soldiers [ANCA backgrounder; Turkish DC Embassy backgrounder]. The proposed legislation was approved by the House Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month and was expected to reach the floor [JURIST reports] before Congress recessed for the year. Four of the bill's primary supporters, however, sent a letter to Pelosi Wednesday expressing concern over the possibility of the resolution failing a House vote amid increasing concern about the resolution's effect on US-Turkey relations. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before Congress Wednesday that, if passed, the resolution could "severely harm" US-Turkish relations [JURIST report].

Turkey has long objected [JURIST comment] to any attempts to classify the 1915 Armenian killings as genocide. Several other countries - including France, Canada and Argentina - have nonetheless passed laws or resolutions [BBC backgrounder] to that effect. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] Thursday agreed to hear an appeal over the asserted right of Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive] to see thousands of pages of Canadian government documents related to his case. Lawyers for Khadr, who was born in Toronto, will face off against Canadian Justice Department [official website] lawyers who oppose the access. In May of this year, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal overruled a lower court decision [judgment text] barring Khadr's access to documents compiled by Canadian officials following interviews with Khadr at Guantanamo. Invoking the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [official text], the appeals court concluded that Khadr had a right to see any evidence that could affect his right to a full defense.

Khadr was detained in Afghanistan in 2002 after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban. He was only 15 at the time. Early US military commission proceedings against him were effectively quashed by the US Supreme Court’s rejection of the presidentially-established military commission [opinion text] as unconstitutional in June 2006. He was formally recharged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April of this year under the new Military Commissions Act [PDF text] with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism as well as spying. Those charges were later dismissed by a military judge as improper but were subsequently reinstated [JURIST reports] by the new US Court of Military Commission Review. Khadr's lawyers are currently attempting to appeal that ruling [JURIST reports] to a US federal court. Canadian Press has more.

[JURIST] The US Congress is taking steps to put all armed US contractors working in combat zones under the jurisdiction of the US military, according to Thursday reports. Earlier this month, the Senate included such a provision in its 2008 defense authorization bill [HR 1585 materials], and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. Carl Levin said Wednesday that he expects the House to include it in the final version of the bill to be sent to President Bush. The move comes at the recommendation of Pentagon officials; contractors working for the US Department of Defense are already being asked to sign contracts making them subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to a report [text] in the Washington Post. AP has more.

The idea of making all US contractors subject to military jurisdiction and military law may be opposed by US Department of State, which has laid down [press release] its own new rules and procedures governing the operation of US private security contractors working with its own personnel in Iraq. The new rules were laid down after Blackwater [corporate website; JURIST news archive] company guards working for the State Department killed 17 civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square on September 16.

8:45 PM ET - Answering questions relating to the status of US contractors in Iraq during a hearing Thursday on Iraqi corruption before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [official website] Secretary of State Rice said she was not opposed to new laws to fill what she called a "hole" in US law governing the potential criminal liability of US contractors for actions in Iraq, but had concerns about whether contractors should be subject to military law. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UFCCC) [official website], said Thursday that the United States and Australia want to participate in negotiations for a new global agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol [PDF text; JURIST news archive], set to expire in 2012. The statement by Yvo de Boer [official profile] followed an informal meeting of world leaders in Bogor, Indonesia [press release] earlier this week in which the two countries - the only two Western industrialized nations to refuse to sign Kyoto - urged developing nations to join in efforts to stop global warming. Their comments were aimed specifically towards countries such as China and India who argue that such measures would restrict their growing economies. The US hopes the new negotiations will begin as early as this December, when the UNFCCC convenes in Bali [press release].

Both the US and Australia have faced intense criticism [JURIST comment] as a result of their opposition to the Kyoto pact, the first comprehensive international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by developed and developing nations. Word of their willingness to join new climate change negotiations comes in a year filled with UN-sponsored discussions on the effects of global warming and only weeks after former US Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control [official website] received the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change" [press release]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] has ordered [letter, PDF] that his approval be obtained before any government minister or official from the president's office be charged with corruption, the chair of the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [official website] said Thursday. During a committee hearing [COGR materials] on the State Department and the Iraq war, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) made public an April 2007 letter [PDF text] from al-Maliki's office sent to the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity [US State Dept. backgrounder] which states:

It has been decided not to refer any of the following parties to the court until approval of His Excellency, the Prime Minister, is obtained:

1. Presidential office
2. Council of Ministers
3. Current and previous minister

[JURIST] British Petroleum (BP) [corporate website] will pay approximately $373 million in fines and restitution to settle three separate claims [press release] against the corporation, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday. BP will pay just over $300 million in criminal penalties and restitution as part of an agreement [CFTC press release] to defer the prosecution of a civil lawsuit [JURIST report] filed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) [official website] in June 2006 alleging that at least six current and former employees of BP North America violated the Commodity Exchange Act [text] by using BP's dominant market position to manipulate propane prices. In related news, a federal grand jury in Chicago Thursday indicted four former BP employees on mail and wire fraud charges, as well as violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, for conspiring to manipulate propane prices during the same time period.

In the first of two environmental settlements Thursday, BP agreed to pay $20 million to resolve an investigation [JURIST report] initiated by the Environmental Protection Agency into BP's alleged violation of the Clean Water Act [text] in response to the spill of an estimated 134,000 to 267,000 gallons of crude oil in Alaska in March 2006, the largest spill ever in Alaskan history [BBC report]. BP also said Thursday it would pay $50 million and plead guilty to a one-count felony violation of the Clean Air Act for alleged deficiencies at the company's Texas City refinery which resulted in an explosion that killed 15 people and injured hundreds more in 2005. BP issued a statement [press release] Thursday addressing the plea agreements and saying the company has made changes and "real progress" since the violations occurred. BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone also said:

These agreements are an admission that, in these instances, our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law. For that, we apologize.

[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] on Thursday ruled [judgment; press release] that Russia's arrest and pre-trial detention of former Yukos executive Platon Lebedev [defense website] violated Lebedev's right to liberty and security under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. Lebedev was arrested in 2003 on fraud and tax evasion charges. According to the ECHR press release, the court held:

unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 5 [Section] 1 (c) concerning Mr Lebedev's unauthorised detention between 31 March and 6 April 2004;

by four votes to three, that there had been a violation of Article 5 [Section] 3 (right to be brought promptly before a judge) concerning the absence of Mr Lebedev's lawyers at a hearing on 3 July 2003;

by five votes to two, that there had been a violation of Article 5 [Section] 4 (right to have lawfulness of detention decided speedily by a court) concerning delays in the review of the detention order of 26 December 2003;

unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 5 [Section] 4 concerning delays in the review of the detention order of 6 April 2004;

unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 5 [Section] 4 concerning Mr Lebedev's absence from the detention hearing on 8 June 2004; and,

unanimously, that there had been no failure to comply with Article 34 (right of individual petition).

[JURIST] Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong [official website] told reporters Thursday that the joint Cambodia-UN tribunal that will try former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide requires additional funds to extend its work into 2010. Although the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] was originally supposed to complete its work by 2009, numerous delays have pushed back the start of operations, which are now expected to begin in the middle of 2008. ECCC head of public affairs Helen Jarvis said the tribunal is still short $7.5 million of the $56.3 million initially budgeted [finance website], but did not say how much additional funding will be requested. Allegations of mismanaged administration and corruption [OSJI press release] could hamper the tribunal's efforts to secure more funding.

The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2005, PDF] to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials. The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians who died between 1975 and 1979. AP has more.

[JURIST] The full US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Thursday declined review [order, PDF] of the August ruling [JURIST report] of a three-judge Seventh Circuit panel affirming the conviction of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan [defense website] on fraud and corruption charges. Six of nine Seventh Circuit judges decided to deny Ryan's request for a rehearing en banc, though three judges dissented saying that the case "merited consideration" by the full court. The three-judge panel ruled that the district court judge acted properly in Ryan's trial when she replaced two jurors after it was discovered they had concealed their criminal backgrounds. Ryan may now begin his 6 1/2 year prison sentence [JURIST report], but his lawyer said that Ryan will file a motion to remain free while he appeals his case to the US Supreme Court. The Chicago Tribune has more.

Ryan's trial began in 2005, and, in 2006, a jury found him guilty [JURIST reports] on multiple counts of corruption and fraud [indictment, PDF] in connection with a bribes-for-licenses scandal that occurred during Ryan's term as Illinois Secretary of State. Ryan made national headlines and won praise in some quarters in January 2003 when just before leaving office he commuted the executions of all Illinois inmates then on death row [CNN file report; Ryan speech].

[JURIST] A judicial panel of the British House of Lords [official websites] Wednesday narrowly ruled that Scottish subjects can pursue cases related to alleged human rights abuses [judgment text] of prisoners by the Scottish Prison Service [official website] occurring as far back as 1999. Considering a test case brought by prisoners [JURIST report] alleging that solitary confinement violated their rights, the Law Lords determined that the 1999 establishment of the Scottish Parliament [official website] eliminated the one year statute of limitations on such cases that continues to apply in England and Wales. The prisoners argued that they were placed in extended solitary confinement at the sole discretion of a prison governor, without recourse or third party scrutiny.

Approximately 1700 inmates are additionally seeking compensation from the Scottish Prison Service for being forced to "slop out," which entails using a closed chamberpot in full view of other inmates. Approximately 220 "slop out" cases have already settled for a combined sum of £400,000. The devolved Scottish government [official website] has spent millions to upgrade Victorian-era prisons under its jurisdiction with modern sanitary facilities, or alternatively, to build new prisons. Although the prison service estimate of £71 million to cover alleged rights violations is less than an initial estimate of over £130 million, it is believed that the Law Lords' ruling will increase the number of claimants. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro [official profile] said Wednesday that he will investigate alleged human rights abuses [press release] during his November visit to Myanmar. The visit [JURIST report] will be the first time Pinheiro has been granted entrance to the country by Myanmar's military government since 2003, but Pinheiro said that he has received reports that detainees had been tortured, abused or denied food and medical attention during the recent crackdown on anti-government protest. Pinheiro said he expects to collect testimony and verify statistics on the number of people detained or killed by the government during the protests. Pinheiro has also called for the release of pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], currently under house arrest. Suu Kyi was allowed to leave her home Thursday for a brief meeting with a government official [AP report] who is coordinating Suu Kyi's contact with the military government and outside organizations, including the United Nations.

In August, the government arrested hundreds of Buddhist monks who led the demonstrations, and detained an estimated 3,000 protesters [JURIST report]. According to the government, 10 people were killed by government soldiers who fired shots into nonviolent crowds [JURIST report], while dissident groups claim that 200 people have been killed since the crackdown began. Protests only subsided when junta troops effectively locked down Myanmar's major cities. Last week, the junta lifted the curfew and ban on assembly [JURIST report] that was imposed during the protests. UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari [official profile] is also scheduled to make a second visit to the country next month to continue efforts to encourage the country's military junta to move towards democratization and reconciliation. The UN News Centre has more.

[JURIST] An Italian trial court on Thursday dismissed a criminal case against a US soldier accused of murdering an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq, citing a lack of jurisdiction over the matter. Italian authorities had charged US Army Spc. Mario Lozano [defense website; Wikipedia profile] with the 2005 murder of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and the attempted murders of agent Andrea Carpani and Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena [Wikipedia profile], but Lozano's lawyers argued in July that the Italian court lacked jurisdiction, as members of multinational forces in Iraq were under sole jurisdiction of their home country. The court delayed the case until September to allow prosecutors time to develop a rebuttal.

The Italian agents and journalist were shot at while entering a US checkpoint [JURIST report] on the way to the Baghdad airport after the agents secured the release of Sgrena from Iraqi kidnappers. Although Italy has not officially asked for Lozano's extradition, the US has made it clear that any such request would be rejected. Lozano has denied all charges against him [JURIST report], maintaining that he fired upon the Italian vehicle in self-defense after numerous attempts to signal the vehicle to stop when entering his checkpoint failed. US and Italian officials have failed to agree [JURIST report] on details surrounding Calipari's death. A US investigation [JURIST report] into the incident cleared US soldiers of any wrongdoing but an initial Italian probe [JURIST report], while also concluding that the killing was accidental, found that there were serious miscommunications among US officials in Iraq, and confusion about the rules of engagement for checkpoints. BBC News has more. ANSA has local coverage, in Italian.

[JURIST] The US Senate voted Wednesday against proceeding to a final vote on the DREAM Act of 2007 [PDF text; S 2205 materials], a bill that would amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 [text; unofficial summary] to allow certain children of illegal immigrants an opportunity to achieve legal residency. According to the Congressional Research Service bill summary [text], the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, in part:

Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to cancel the removal of, and adjust to conditional permanent resident status, an alien who: (1) entered the United States before his or her sixteenth birthday, and has been present in the United States for at least five years immediately preceding enactment of this Act; (2) is a person of good moral character; (3) is not inadmissible or deportable under specified grounds of the Immigration and Nationality Act; (4) at the time of application, has been admitted to an institution of higher education, or has earned a high school or equivalent diploma; (5) from the age of 16 and older, has never been under a final order of exclusion, deportation, or removal; and (6) is under 30 years old on the date of enactment of this Act.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday stayed the execution [PDF opinion] of an Alabama man pending the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in Baze v. Rees (07-5439) [docket; cert. petition, PDF; JURIST report], where the court has been asked to rule on the constitutionality of lethal injections. Lawyers for death row inmate Daniel L. Siebert argued that Alabama's lethal injection cocktail, combined with the drugs he takes to treat his pancreatic cancer, could result in unnecessary pain and suffering for Siebert, in violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The normal Alabama lethal injection protocol is the same protocol being challenged in Baze v. Rees and, according to the 11th Circuit, is "used in every other state that administers the death penalty." Alabama had argued that Siebert's execution should be allowed under a modified protocol, but the Eleventh Circuit called the changes "minor" and refused to allow the execution, scheduled for Thursday, to proceed. Lawyers for the inmate in Baze v. Rees have argued that the three-drug mixture [DIPC backgrounder] at issue constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because the first drug fails to make the inmate fully unconscious, thereby making the inmate suffer excruciating pain when the heart-stopping drug is injected. Since the Supreme Court accepted the Baze case in September, courts have stayed executions in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Virginia, and Georgia [JURIST reports]. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] A former Guantanamo Bay detainee was convicted by a Tunisian court Wednesday on criminal association charges and will serve three years in prison. The convict, Lotfi Lagha, had been charged with associating with a criminal group with the aim of harming or causing damage in Tunisia, though it is unclear which group he associated with, or what violent act was planned. AP has more.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report [text; press release] in September accusing Tunisian officials of mistreating Lagha [JURIST report] and fellow captive Abdullah al-Hajji Ben Amor after they were returned to Tunisia from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The US Department of Defense transferred [JURIST report] the two men back to Tunisia in June after they passed through a review process. Since 2002, approximately 445 detainees have been transferred out of Guantanamo and approximately 330 remain [press release].

[JURIST] Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada [BBC profile] received a presidential pardon Thursday from his former vice president and now President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo [official website]. Estrada will be released from jail after having served six and a half years on corruption charges under the nation's economic plunder law [text] for allegedly stashing some $77 million in gambling payoffs, kickbacks and illegal commissions in secret bank accounts under an alias. The pardon [text] reads:

WHEREAS this administration has a policy of releasing inmates who have reached the age of seventy (70),

WHEREAS, Joseph Ejercito Estrada has been under detention for six and a half years,

WHEREAS, Joseph Ejercito Estrada has publicly committed to no longer seek any elective position or office,

IN VIEW HEREOF and pursuant to the authority conferred upon me by the Constitution, I hereby grant executive clemency to JOSEPH EJECRCITO ESTRADA, convicted by the Sandiganbayan of Plunder and imposed a penalty of Reclusion Perpetua. He is hereby restored to his civil and political rights.

The forfeitures imposed by the Sandiganbayan remain in force and in full, including all writs and processes issued by the Sandiganbayanin pursuance hereof, except for the bank account(s) he owned before his tenure as President.

Upon acceptance of this pardon JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA, this pardon shall take effect.