[JURIST] International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [official profile] said Friday that Serbia must do more to apprehend fugitive war crimes suspects before she can give a positive report on the country's work with the ICTY to the European Union. Del Ponte has long criticized Serbia for its seeming reluctance to cooperate with the ICTY. Last week, she chided Serbian authorities [JURIST report] for failing to bring to justice Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and three other accused war criminals who are believed to be hiding in that country, saying that Serbia's cooperation with the tribunal is "still too slow and not yet sufficient."

Serbia said in September it would increase efforts [JURIST report] to locate and arrest Mladic, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder], former Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic [JURIST report], and Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin [ICTY indictment] in order to receive a favorable report from Del Ponte at her meeting with EU officials concerning the EU's pending pre-membership deal with the country. The EU has made Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY a key element of its membership negotiations. AFP has more. ADNKronos has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Former Illinois Governor George Ryan [defense website, JURIST news archive] was ordered Friday to begin serving a 6 1/2 prison sentence in less than two weeks. US District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer [official profile] set November 7 as the surrender date for Ryan to report to prison. The order follows the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals' refusal to review [order, PDF; JURIST report] an August ruling affirming Ryan's conviction. Former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson [law firm profile], the head of Ryan's legal defense team, said Thursday that Ryan will file a motion to remain free while he appeals his case to the US Supreme Court [official website]. Ryan's lawyers are expected to put the matter before Justice John Paul Stevens [official profile, PDF], a Chicago native and the member of the Supreme Court who handles Seventh Circuit matters.

Ryan's trial began in 2005, and in 2006 a jury found him guilty [JURIST report] 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]. AP has more. The Chicago Tribune has local coverage.

[JURIST] Italy's highest court of appeal, the Court of Cassation [official site, in Italian], upheld a verdict Friday clearing former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of charges that he bribed judges to prevent the sale of food company SME to rivals in 1985. Italian law allows both prosecutors and defendants to appeal twice against sentences. Friday's decision follows the same finding by a Milan appeals court [JURIST report] in April and is therefore is the final ruling in the case.

Berlusconi, Italy's richest man and owner of broadcaster Mediaset [Bloomberg profile], has faced trial on at least six occasions involving charges of false accounting, tax fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and giving false testimony [JURIST report]. Berlusconi has continually maintained his innocence, accusing prosecutors of conducting a political vandetta against him. This trial was initially blocked in 2004 by a bill drafted by Berlusconi ally and later defense lawyer Gaetano Pecorella but went ahead after the bill was struck down as unconstitutional. DPA has more.

[JURIST] Embezzlement charges against the widow and five sons of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive; BBC profile] originally indicted [PDF text, in Spanish; JURIST report] with 17 others [full list, in Spanish] on October 4 were dropped [PDF text, in Spanish] by a Chilean appeals court Friday. Charges against a spokesman and several advisers to Pinochet were also dropped. The charges stemmed from allegations that Pinochet was embezzling 25 million dollars to former DC-based Riggs Bank.

Pinochet died of a heart attack [JURIST report] in December 2006 without ever facing trial on multiple charges of tax evasion and human rights violations. Nevertheless, Chilean authorities began a new investigation [JURIST report] earlier this year to determine whether Pinochet ordered state officials to murder former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva [EB profile] in 1982. AP has more. La nacion has local coverage.

[JURIST] The UK High Court [official website] Friday heard arguments in a case that alleges British troops tortured ten Iraqi detainees in Basra in 2003. The nine plaintiffs and a tenth man were arrested in a Basra hotel where British troops found weapons and suspected bomb-making materials. Later, the tenth detainee, Baha Mousa [BBC report; JURIST news archive], died while in custody, allegedly as a result of abuse. Seven soldiers faced court-martial [BBC timeline] in connection with Mousa's death. Only one, Corporal David Payne, faced jail time after pleading guilty [JURIST reports] to a charge of inhumane treatment. All other charges were dismissed [JURIST report]. The plaintiffs in the current case are seeking damages from the UK Ministry of Defense [official website] and in August, lawyers for the Iraqi plaintiffs accused the Ministry of Defense of withholding evidence [JURIST report]. The Guardian has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

In June, the UK Law Lords ruled that UK human rights laws apply to British soldiers overseas [JURIST report] in Mousa's case. Next week, the Law Lords will consider whether the government can use a United Nations law to avoid liability for human rights abuses in Iraq [Liberty press release] based on arguments that the language of UN Security Council Resolution 1546 [PDF text] allows indefinite detention of nationals without legal responsibility. The UK government will also argue that British troops in Iraq are under UN control, and therefore outside the bounds of the UK human rights laws. UK human rights group Liberty [advocacy website] plans to argue that the UK maintains control of British forces in Iraq, and that British human rights standards apply to Iraqi detainees.

[JURIST] Internet VoIP [backgrounder] provider Vonage Holding Corp. [corporate website] on Thursday settled a patent lawsuit [press release] against it brought by Verizon Communications [corporate website] for up to $120 million. The exact amount of damages Vonage will have to pay Verizon hinges upon whether the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] agrees to hear an appeal of an earlier federal jury verdict awarding Verizon $58 million. If the Federal Circuit agrees to re-hear the case, Vonage will pay Verizon $80 million; if the Federal Circuit declines to re-hear the case, Vonage will pay Verizon $117.5 million and give $2.5 million to charity. Although it awards substantial damages to Verizon, the settlement agreement allows Vonage to continue using technology patented by Verizon for Vonage's Internet based phone service.

In March 2007, a federal jury awarded Verizon $58 million in damages plus a 5.5 percent future royalties rate after it found Vonage had violated three Verizon patents. The Federal Circuit held in April that Vonage could continue to subscribe new customers pending patent appeal [JURIST report] despite an earlier ruling by a lower court judge that they could not. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada [BBC profile] was freed from detention Friday after receiving a presidential pardon [text; JURIST report] earlier this week. Estrada had been held for over six years on corruption charges. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's decision to issue the pardon has been questioned by her critics as Article VII, Section 19 of the Philippines Constitution [text] prohibits the president from pardoning those who have been impeached. Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera on Friday defended the pardon as properly issued because although impeachment proceedings against Estrada began in the Philippines Senate, Estrada left office before any impeachment actually took place. Devandera also noted that the pardon was for Estrada's conviction for violating the nation's economic plunder law [text]. AP has more. The Sun-Star Manila has local coverage.

Held under house arrest since 2001, Estrada was sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report] last month after his conviction for stashing some $77 million in gambling payoffs, kickbacks and illegal commissions in secret bank accounts under an alias. In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Estrada to pay $15.5 million, and under the terms of the pardon "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."

[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official website] Thursday announced the launch of a nationwide public consultation [press release] leading to a new as-yet-undrafted "Bill of Rights and Duties" in what he described as part of a process of "moving towards a written constitution" for the United Kingdom. Brown initially laid out a series of proposed UK constitutional reforms [JURIST report] - including the idea of a rights charter - in July, shortly after taking over from Labour Party predecessor Tony Blair. Speaking at the University of Westminster [transcript], Brown said that the consultation would include "a discussion of how we can entrench and enhance our liberties - building upon existing rights and freedoms but not diluting them - but also make more explicit the responsibilities that implicitly accompany rights" in a changing world where "traditional questions about the freedoms and responsibilities of the individual re-emerge but also where new issues of terrorism and security, the Internet and modern technology are opening new frontiers...". The Guardian has more.

The UK currently has no single overarching constitutional document or rights charter, although its working "unwritten constitution" includes a variety of fundamental statutes such as the Magna Carta supported by a long judicial tradition of protecting civil liberties; the famous Bill of Rights of 1689 [text] actually addresses taxes more than fundamental freedoms. Several British rights groups - including Liberty, the Scottish Council for Civil Liberties and Charter 88 [advocacy websites] - have long pushed for a substantive UK Bill of Rights, and the idea has been politically championed by the Liberal Democrats, although only recently has it gained support among leaders of the leading Labour and Conservative [JURIST report] parties.

Speaking at Cambridge University [transcript] Thursday after introducing the consultation in the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw seemed to suggest that a written charter of rights might usefully circumscribe "judicial activism", noteworthy in that the British executive has lately been mired in an ongoing power struggle with the judiciary [JURIST news archive], especially over the legality of various anti-terrorism and security measures:

Over many years there has been debate about the idea of developing a list of the rights and obligations that go with being a member of our society. A Bill of Rights and Responsibilities could give people a clearer idea of what we can expect from the state and from each other, and a framework for giving practical effect to our common values.

However, if specifically British rights were to be added to those we already enjoy by virtue of the European Convention, we would need to ensure that it would be of benefit to the country as a whole and not restrict the ability of the democratically elected government to decide upon the way in which resources are to be employed in the national interest. For example, some have argued for the incorporation of economic and social rights as they have in South African law into British law. But this would involve a significant shift from Parliament to the judiciary in making decisions that we currently hold to be the preserve of politicians including decisions around public spending, and implicitly, levels of taxation.

I entirely agree with the words of Lord Bingham, in his important speech on the rule of law when he said that the importance of predictability in law must preclude excessive innovation and adventurism by the judges, and that is echoed Justice Heydon of the High Court of Australia who suggests that judicial activism, taken to extremes, can spell the death of the rule of law.

[JURIST] Peruvian Justice Minister Maria Zavala [official website] Thursday apologized for the 1992 death squad killings of nine university students and a professor in the so-called La Cantuta massacre [backgrounder] during the regime of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Fujimori is facing trial in Peru in November in connection with the killings. The head of a special three-judge panel of Peru's Supreme Court said earlier this month that the court would ultimately consolidate six separate charges [JURIST report] against Fujimori into three "megatrials" and one other trial proceeding.

Chile turned Fujimori over [JURIST report] to Peru last month following the Chilean Supreme Court's decision [JURIST report] to allow his extradition on human rights and corruption charges. Thousands of protesters [JURIST report] gathered in the streets of Lima, Peru upon Fujimori's return, demanding his release. Fujimori was held under house arrest in Chile after being arrested in December 2005 after flying into Chile from Japan to campaign for the Peruvian presidency, despite having been officially banned from holding public office until 2010 [JURIST reports]. He served as president of Peru from 1990 to 2000. AP has more.

[JURIST] European and US-based rights groups filed a lawsuit [press release] against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] with the Paris prosecutor Friday coincident with Rumsfeld's arrival in Paris to deliver a speech sponsored by Foreign Policy magazine. In their complaint [PDF text; additional materials] the French-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH), the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), and the French League for Human Rights (LDH) [advocacy websites] allege that Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation tactics that amount to torture. The rights groups insist that France is obligated to prosecute Rumsfeld since authorities in the US and Iraq have failed to launch an independent investigation into his responsibility for the alleged torture. They have also called on French officials to arrest Rumsfeld while in Paris, saying it had authority to detain him under the Convention Against Torture [text].

The FIDH and CCR have already filed two similar suits [JURIST report] against Rumsfeld in Germany seeking accountability for acts of torture allegedly committed at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and in Afghanistan [JURIST news archives]. In April, the office of the German Federal Prosecutor [official website, in German] declined to investigate the latest war crimes claim [ASIL backgrounder; PDF introduction, in English] against Rumsfeld and other high-ranking US officials. The German lawyers subsequently said they would take their case to Spain [JURIST report]. Two other complaints were filed against Rumsfeld in Argentina in 2005 and Sweden in 2007. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani Thursday objected to the execution of former Saddam Hussein-era Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tai [TrialWatch profile], joining a group of Iraqi political leaders speaking out against the planned execution. Al-Mashhadani said that executing al-Tai would cause military officers to question their commanders' orders out of fear that they could be held accountable after the governing regime changes. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] last month objected to al-Tai's planned execution [JURIST report], saying that al-Tai should receive clemency because he was only acting under the threat of death from Hussein and had worked with the Kurdish community while he was an official in Hussein's regime. A prosecutor has said that any death sentence must be approved by the government and the president's office, and Talabani has said he will not approve the execution. The Appeals Chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] last month upheld [JURIST report] al-Tai's death sentence and has also said that a death sentence need not be approved [JURIST report] by the president's office. The US has not handed over custody of al-Tai [JURIST report], saying they are waiting for a proper request from Talabani.

Al-Tai and two other former officials from Saddam Hussein's regime, including Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid - known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali" [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] - were all convicted in June of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Kurds during the 1988 Anfal Campaign [HRW backgrounder]. Al-Majid has repeatedly denied the allegations [JURIST report], saying that he does not know who used chemical weapons or "if they were ever used." Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] was also a co-defendant in the Anfal genocide trial [JURIST news archive] before he was executed in December 2006. Talabani similarly refused to sign Hussein's death warrant [JURIST report], invoking his general opposition to the death penalty. That death warrant was subsequently signed by Talabani's vice-presidents. AP has more.