[JURIST] Human rights groups have expressed concerns about repression and rights violations in the run-up to Russian parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday. Amnesty International (AI), [advocacy website] alleged Wednesday that the Russian government has interfered with opposition parties' rights of freedom of expression and free assembly [AI press release]. It characterized opposition candidate and former chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov - arrested [JURIST report] in Moscow Saturday at an anti-Putin rally - as a prisoner of conscience, and called for his immediate release. Russian human rights group Golos [advocacy website, in Russian] has meanwhile said that election observers have been prevented from effectively observing the elections [Moscow Times article] because of a politically-motivated criminal prosecution. AP has more.

United Russia [party website, in Russian] the political party of Russian President Vladimir Putin [JURIST news archive; official website] has launched a massive publicity campaign [NYT report] to win the elections, which it is already expected to dominate.

[JURIST] The Japanese House of Councillors [official website] passed a bill Wednesday to end Japan's air force mission in Iraq, with opposition leaders insisting that Japan should work through the United Nations rather than the United States. Japan withdrew its ground troops from Iraq last July, but a Japanese unit stationed in Kuwait still provides air support for the Multi-National Force-Iraq. The bill, which passed 133-103 [AP report], is supported primarily by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) [party website]. It is not, however, expected to pass the more powerful House of Representatives, dominated by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party [official website]. The House of Councillors vote comes little more than one week after a Japanese district court dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] that claimed the deployment of Japanese troops in Iraq violated Article 9 of the Japanese constitution [text].

The debate over Japan's involvement in military operations abroad recently caused a major rift [JURIST report] between Japan's two major parties, contributing to the September resignation [BBC resignation speech translation; JURIST report] of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The DPJ, which generally opposes Japan's overseas military deployments, blocked the renewal of the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law [text], which allowed Japan to refuel allied ships in the Indian Ocean for operations in Afghanistan until its expiration on November 1. The Japanese House of Representatives passed a bill [JURIST report] earlier this month reauthorizing a limited refueling operation. VOA has more.

[JURIST] A military court established in the Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounder] by the Palestinian militant group Hamas [JURIST archive; BBC backgrounder] handed down its first ruling on Wednesday, sentencing three members of rival party Fatah [JURIST archive; BBC backgrounder] to 18 months in prison and fining them $280. A fourth Fatah member was sentenced to one year in prison and a $140 fine. The four men were accused of planting a bomb near the house of a Hamas official, although no one was hurt in the resulting explosion. AP has more.

The Hamas court was established after Hamas' violent June takeover of the Gaza Strip [BBC report]. The judiciary of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Gaza Strip, under orders from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile], has refused to cooperate with the Hamas government and ceased functioning since the takeover in June. Hamas vowed in September that it would replace PA judges [JURIST report] who refused to cooperate with it. The military court was expected to begin considering criminal cases that ordinarily would have been dealt with by the PA courts.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Wednesday that former Croatian general Ante Gotovina [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] must remain in detention in The Hague until his trial. The court denied Gotovina's motion for release [decision text, PDF] and dismissed the motion to strike because of the risk he could flee. Gotovina, who has indicted [text] for alleged crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war, filed a motion for provisional release in August to await trial under house arrest in Croatia. The motion also required Croatian officials' assurance that Gotovina would return to The Hague for trial, but the prosecution formally opposed [text, PDF] the request, writing that provisional release would undermine the interests of justice. The ICTY has not yet given a trial date. Reuters has more.

After his 2001 indictment Gotovina became the third most-wanted ICTY war crimes suspect until officials arrested [JURIST report] him in Spain's Canary Islands in 2005. He is charged in connection with the killing of Croatian Serb civilians during the Balkan wars in the 1990s, including failing to prevent the murder of 150 people in Krajina during Operation Storm [BBC report] in 1995. The offensive forced about 150,000 Serbs from their homes.

[JURIST] The Iraqi parliament [official website, English version] met briefly Wednesday to continue debate on a controversial bill [JURIST report] that would allow former Baath Party [party website, in Arabic; BBC backgrounder] members not convicted of any crimes to return to their previously held government positions, participate in the political process, and serve in the civil and military service. Discussion was inconclusive and despite a previous announcement no vote was held due to low turnout; many parliamentarians boycotted the meeting over coalition-imposed security measures at the parliament building. Hardline Shiite allies of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr [BBC profile] called for the law to be redrafted to include compensation for the families of victims of Saddam Hussein's regime, and for former political prisoners to be reinstated to their jobs. AFP has more.

Sunday's first reading [JURIST report] of the draft law in parliament was met with raucous opposition. Supporters of the measure are looking for a way to reinstate [JURIST report] former Baath party members who say they joined the party for professional reasons; Hussein only allowed university enrollment, career progression and specialized medical aid to those who were members of his party. Despite provisions in the proposal that would prevent reemployment of former Baathists who have been charged with, or are sought for, criminal activities, several influential Shiite leaders oppose the draft law [JURIST report] as a "dangerous" undertaking to return former regime members - many of the Sunnis - to leadership positions in the government. Some Kurds, who were also suppressed by Hussein's Baathist regime, oppose the draft law as well.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive] Wednesday reduced the sentences [press release, in French] of three Rwandan media executives imprisoned for their roles in the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder]. Ferdinand Nahimana and Hassan Ngeze, sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report] in 2003, were granted sentence reductions to 30 years and 35 years, respectively. The third executive, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, had his sentence reduced from 35 years to 32 years.

Nahimana and Barayagwiza helped establish Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines [Wikipedia backgrounder], a radio station that broadcast messages encouraging the killing of minority Tutsis; Ngeze was the editor of Kangura [IDRC backgrounder], a magazine that "dehumanized" Tutsis. The five-judge appeals tribunal overturned the trial judge's finding that there was an understanding between the defendants' media outlets to encourage genocide. Approximately 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis, died in three months of the Rwandan genocide. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Wednesday in Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transport [LII case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-457, where the Court is considering whether a Maine tobacco transport law is preempted by federal law. In 2003, Maine passed a law requiring special inspection of incoming tobacco packages to prevent purchases from unlicensed retailers who might sell to minors. In 2005, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found [opinion] that the Maine law was preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) [text], which limits state regulation of interstate air and motor carriers.

The Maine law is targeted at preventing Internet tobacco sales [GAO report] to minors, and lawyers from the Maine attorney general's office argued that the FAAAA was not intended to reach public health issues. Critics of the law say that such regulation must come from Congress. With at least 40 states regulating tobacco delivery from Internet purchases, delivery companies face widely varied state standards. Justice David Souter said that the FAAAA intended to deregulate the shipping industry, and questioned whether the law created any exceptions. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] on Wednesday unanimously approved [press release] the appointment of Serge Brammertz [ICC profile; JURIST news archive] as the new chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon [official website] nominated Brammertz [JURIST report] earlier this month to replace outgoing chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [official profile], who will step down at the end of the year. Although the ICTY chief prosecutor normally serves a four-year term, Brammertz will likely serve for less than that, as the ICTY is scheduled to complete its work in 2010. Brammertz will begin working at the ICTY on January 1.

Brammertz, a lawyer from Belgium, is a former deputy prosecutor in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. Most recently, he was heading the international investigation in to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. The ICTY was established in 1993 to prosecute war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] Twelve states filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] Wednesday, seeking to invalidate new regulations that relax disclosure requirements [EPA Toxic Release Inventory materials] for companies storing or emitting 500 or more pounds of toxins. The civil case will be led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo [official website], and was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website]. Joining New York in the suit are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Cuomo argues that the new regulations "rob New Yorkers - and people across the country - of their right to know about toxic dangers in their own backyards."

The new EPA regulations require detailed disclosure only whenever companies store or release 5,000 pounds of toxins, while allowing companies to file an abbreviated form when they store or release between 500 and 4,999 pounds of toxins. The old Toxic Release Inventory law, established under the 1986 Emergency Planning & Community Right to Know Act [text], required detailed disclosure from any company dealing with 500 or more pounds of toxic materials, and was signed by President Ronald Reagan after the 1984 Union Carbide chemical disaster in Bhopal, India [Wikipedia backgrounder] caused the deaths of between 2,500 and 5,000 people. The EPA announced last year that it would push for the relaxed reporting requirements [JURIST report] after it abandoned plans to move reporting from an annual basis to every two years. AP has more.

[JURIST] The last two witnesses for the prosecution in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia case against former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj [ICTY backgrounder, PDF; BBC profile] and two other members of the Kosovo Liberation Army [FAS backgrounder] failed to testify on Wednesday citing fears that the ICTY would be unable to protect them. One of the scheduled witnesses was charged with contempt of court [press release] after refusing last week to testify against the defendants, saying that he had been threatened after previously testifying in a separate trial. The other witness remains hospitalized in Canada, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Lawyers for the defendants are expected to move for a dismissal of the case for insufficient evidence, a motion rarely granted at the court.

The trial against Haradinaj and his two co-defendants, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj [TrialWatch profiles], began in March [JURIST report] with outgoing chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte labeling Haradinaj a warlord and a mobster in uniform who committed "ugly, cruel and violent crimes." The defendants face 37 counts of war crimes, including murder, persecution, and rape [amended indictment, PDF], but Haradinaj has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to all charges. Haradinaj was a senior commander of the KLA, the ethnic Albanian guerrilla force that opposed Slobodan Milosevic [advocacy website] during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf stepped down as head of Pakistan's army Wednesday, the day before he is scheduled to take an oath of office as Pakistan's civilian president. Musharraf's role as army chief complicated his recent bid for re-election as president, with several legal challenges filed against him in the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website]. The court, reconstituted with Musharaff loyalists after he declared a state of emergency [PDF text; JURIST news archive] earlier this month, dismissed all legal challenges [JURIST report] to Musharaff's re-election last week.

Opposition lawmakers, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, welcomed Musharraf's retirement from the military, but renewed calls for the state of emergency to be lifted. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Tuesday upheld [opinion, PDF] a district court's dismissal [order, PDF; JURIST report] of a lawsuit brought by illegal immigrant detainees over their transfer from Massachusetts to Texas holding centers following a March 6 factory raid in which 360 people were arrested. The district court dismissed the lawsuit [ACLU materials] because it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. The appeals court upheld the dismissal, but on the grounds that the plaintiffs had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The court wrote:

The common denominator is that none of the claims can proceed in the district court. Thus, while our reasoning differs somewhat from that of the court below — and our opinion should not be read as an unqualified endorsement of the way in which immigration officials handled the matter — we affirm the judgment of dismissal...

We are sensitive to the concerns raised by the petitioners and are conscious that undocumented workers, like all persons who are on American soil, have certain inalienable rights. But in the first instance, it is Congress — not the judiciary — that has the responsibility of prescribing a framework for the vindication of those rights. When Congress speaks clearly and formulates a regime that satisfies constitutional imperatives, the courts must follow Congress's lead. In that sense, it does not matter whether a court approves or disapproves of an agency's modus operandi.

[JURIST] The judicial panel of the UK House of Lords, also known as the Law Lords, Wednesday upheld [judgment text] a controversial ban on hunting with hounds under the Hunting Act 2004 [text]. The Lords said that overturning the ban, which prohibits fox and deer hunting and rabbit coursing with dogs in England and Wales, would subvert the democratic process as opponents of the ban had not succeeded in Parliament. The Countryside Alliance [advocacy website], which brought the challenge, argued that the ban is in violation of human rights and places thousands of jobs at risk, and said that it plans to appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights [press release].

Last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge [JURIST report] brought by the Countryside Alliance alleging that the fox hunting ban infringed the right to private family life, peaceful assembly and freedom of association. In 2005, the Countryside Alliance lost another challenge [JURIST report] questioning the legality of the 1949 Parliament Act [BBC backgrounder], which was used by the House of Lords to push the Hunting Act through Parliament. The first criminal prosecution under the Hunting Act occurred last year, when a UK court found a man guilty of illegally fox hunting with dogs [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Ousted Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] Tuesday urged Pakistan's political parties and people to boycott parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8, saying that they were comprised by being held under unconstitutional emergency rule and should not proceed because Pakistan was in unusual circumstances with the rights of its judges, lawyers and people restricted or suspended. Lahore High Court Bar Association Secretary Sarfraz Cheema Chaudhry said the chief justice talked to him by telephone from his official residence, which he has not been allowed to leave. Chaudhry's boycott call was echoed by retired Supreme Court Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile], an anti-Musharraf candidate in the presidential election in October and one of 17 retired Pakistani judges who Tuesday issued a joint declaration calling for the reinstatement of the constitution and for an end to emergency rule. Pakistan's Dawn has more. The News has additional coverage.

Pakistan's two main political parties appear somewhat divided over the boycott option. Recently returned ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been visiting some of the deposed judges [News report], has said he favors consultation with party members although he party has given him free rein to decide whether to boycott or not. Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister leading the Pakistan People's Party, said [Hindu report] on Wednesday that her party had "finally decided to participate under protest while reserving the right to boycott at a subsequent stage".

[JURIST] A Greek appeals court Tuesday dismissed criminal charges against former Getty Museum [museum website] curator Marion True for her alleged involvement in the looting of an ancient gold wreath from Greece. The Los Angeles museum acquired the wreath in 1993, and Greek prosecutors brought charges against True alleging that the artifact had been illegally removed from the country. Under Greek law, courts must apply the statute of limitations of the jurisdiction where the acquisition of an artifact was made known, and California law sets a three-year limit on claims for stolen artifacts. True still faces criminal charges in Greece related to unregistered artifacts found in her summer home in Greece.

In September, the Getty Museum signed an agreement [JURIST report] with the Italian ministry of Culture Heritage and Activities [official website] to return 40 allegedly looted Italian artifacts [list of objects, PDF] in exchange for the dropping of a civil lawsuit against True. The agreement was initially announced [JURIST report] in August, after the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities threatened to suspend all Italian collaboration with the Getty. Italy first demanded that the Getty return all antiquities alleged to have been looted [JURIST report] last year, insisting that, pursuant to a 1939 Italian law, all archaeological artifacts excavated in Italy belong to the Italian state, and that many items recovered in international waters were nevertheless exported illegally from Italy. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Political arrests in China [JURIST news archive] more than doubled in 2006 compared to the previous year, according to a report [press release] Wednesday from human rights group Dui Hua [advocacy website]. The 2007 Chinese Law Yearbook revealed that the state arrested 604 individuals for "endangering state security" in 2006, the highest number since 2002. In 2005, China arrested 296 individuals for "endangering state security," a charge often levied by the Chinese government against dissidents and government critics.

In one high-profile case, Chinese human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng was convicted [JURIST report] by a court in Beijing of inciting subversion of state power [CECC report]. Gao gained international notice by representing controversial clients, including members of the banned sect Falun Gong [group website; BBC backgrounder]. Other high-profile subversion trials in China in 2006 resulted in the jailing of several journalists and a 10-year sentence for a teacher [JURIST reports] who posted pro-democracy essays on the Internet. AP has more.

[JURIST] An Egyptian court sentenced three police officers to seven years in prison late Tuesday for torturing 38-year-old carpenter Nasr Abdullah to death in July. The sentencing is part of the country's recent crackdown on police brutality. Earlier this month, two police officers were sentenced to three years in prison [JURIST report] for sodomizing and beating Emad el-Kabir in 2006 while videoing the incident on a cell phone. Egyptian bloggers posted the video on the Internet later that year.

Human rights groups have recently expressed concern about the use of torture in Egyptian police stations. In April, Amnesty International released a report [text; JURIST report] criticizing Egypt for systematic human rights abuses of detainees in its police stations, military camps and centers run by State Security Investigations. AP has more.

[JURIST] The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] on Tuesday affirmed [PDF text; summary, PDF] the genocide and crime against humanity convictions of former lawmaker and retired colonel Aloys Simba [ICTR case materials; Trial Watch profile]. The appeals chamber also affirmed Simba's 25-year prison sentence [press release]. Simba's defense team challenged his conviction on multiple grounds - including the form of the indictment against him, the court's assessment of evidence, numerous intermediate court decisions, the length of the imposed sentence, and alleged violations of Simba's right to call witnesses - but the appeals chamber dismissed all of his arguments. The ICTR also rejected the prosecution's appeals of Simba's sentence and the dismissal of additional charges against him.

Simba was convicted [JURIST report] in 2005 of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity for supplying weapons and ammunition to Hutu militias in the massacre of Tutsis at Murambi Technical School and Kaduha Parish in the Gikongoro prefecture of Rwanda during what has been called the 100-day massacre [BBC backgrounder] in which over 800,000 Rwandans were killed. The UN News Centre has more.

[JURIST] Russian officials said Wednesday that leaders in the country want to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) [text] with a formal, binding agreement with the US that will limit the creation of new nuclear weapons. The treaty, which signaled the end of the Cold War [BBC backgrounder], will expire in 2009.

US President George Bush's administration has said that it wants to replace the treaty with an informal agreement that does not include the strict verification requirements of the current treaty. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russian leaders are disappointed with US proposals [RIA Novosti report], and that an informal agreement would be a "failure." AP has more. Kommersant has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Simon Wiesenthal Center [advocacy website] announced Tuesday that it will extend its campaign to capture and prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals to four South American countries. In a press conference in Buenos Aires, director Efraim Zuroff outlined the details of Operation Last Chance [project website], which will offer rewards to anyone providing information that leads to the capture of suspected Nazis in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay [JURIST news archives]. According to the Center, between 150 and 300 suspected Nazi war criminals entered Argentina after the end of World War II, and "dozens, if not hundreds" remain in hiding in South America today. Zuroff announced that there is evidence indicating that Aribert Heim [Guardian report], a doctor accused of performing medical experiments on concentration camp detainees, is living in South America. Although Heim's family claims that he died in Argentina in 1993, the Center is offering a reward of 310,000 euros for information leading to his capture. Heim would be in his 90s if still alive.

The Jerusalem-based Center began its campaign in 2002, targeting Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Thus far, it has led to information regarding 488 suspects in 20 countries and has referred 99 cases to local prosecutors. Last week, Italy's high court upheld the life sentences of three former Nazi officials [JURIST report] who were convicted of war crimes. The Wiesenthal Center reports that 21 Nazi war criminals were convicted in 2006, and that 16 were convicted [JURIST report] in the previous year. Deutsche Welle has more. Clarin has local coverage, in Spanish.