[JURIST] Retired Bosnian Serb general Novack Djukic was indicted [press release] Friday by the War Crimes Chamber [HRW backgrounder] of the Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina [official website] for allegedly ordering a 1995 attack on the town of Tuzla in which 71 people were killed. Djukic, who commanded the Bosnian Serb army in the Tuzla region during the Bosnian war [JURIST news archive], was arrested [JURIST report] in November for his involvement in an incident where the Republika Srpska Army [backgrounder] fired a single artillery shell into the central square of the town. Most of those who died in the subsequent explosion were between the ages of 18 and 25. The youngest victim was only three years old.

The War Crimes Chamber was set up to alleviate the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website], and will continue to hear cases as the ICTY winds down in 2010. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Italian prosecutor Franco Ionta said Friday that he would "almost certainly" appeal a Rome court's October 2007 dismissal [JURIST report] of a criminal case against US Army Spc. Mario Lozano [defense website] for the 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 [BBC profile]. The comment came after the court released a statement of reasons for its ruling stating that it lacked jurisdiction to try the US soldier.

Lozano was tried in absentia [JURIST report] beginning in April last year. Lozano's lawyers had argued that the Italian court lacked jurisdiction [JURIST report], as members of multinational forces in Iraq were each under the sole jurisdiction of their home countries. The Italian agent 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. US and Italian officials have failed to agree [JURIST report] on details surrounding Calipari's death. A US investigation cleared US soldiers of wrongdoing, while an Italian probe [JURIST reports] concluded the killing was accidental but found that there were serious miscommunications and confusion about the rules of engagement for checkpoints. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Friday granted certiorari in six cases [order list, PDF], including Kennedy v. Louisiana (07-343) [docket; cert. petition], in which the Supreme Court will consider whether a death sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment when imposed for a crime in which the victim was not killed. Patrick Kennedy was sentenced to death in Louisiana for raping a minor, one of the few remaining crimes where the death of a victim is not required for the death penalty. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld [opinion, PDF] the sentence. AP has more.

The Supreme Court also granted cert in several other sentencing cases. In Irizarry v. US (06-7517) [docket], the Court will rule on whether a judge must give advance notice to both sides in a criminal case if he plans to pass a sentence that deviates from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Eleventh Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] that the guidelines are only advisory and so notice is not required. In Greenlaw v. United States (07-330) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Supreme Court will rule on whether a federal circuit court can take steps to lengthen a convict's sentence in the absence of any government appeal requesting such an extension.

The Court granted cert in three other cases Friday. In John Bridge v. Phoenix Bond & Indemnity Co., et al. (07-210) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will rule on whether a victim of mail fraud must prove that he relied on a misrepresentation made by the defendant to prevail in a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) action. In Sprint Communications Company, et al. v. APCC Services (07-552) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will rule on whether a plaintiff who was assigned the right to pursue a claim, but who does not stand to gain anything from the claim, nonetheless has standing to sue. In Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle (07-411) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will rule on whether Indian tribes’ courts have jurisdiction to decide a case between a business owned by tribe members and a bank that owns land within a reservation but that is not owned by tribe members.

[JURIST] Convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] Friday filed suit [complaint, PDF; press release, DOC] in the US District Court for the Northern District of California against University of California Berkeley law professor John Yoo [academic profile], the author of controversial US government memos arguing that detained enemy combatants could be denied Geneva Conventions protections against torture. The suit alleges that Yoo's memos, written while he was a senior lawyer in the US Justice Department, helped set the Bush administration's policy that terrorism detainees are not protected by the Geneva Conventions. The Chicago Tribune has more.

In a January 2002 memo [text] co-authored by Yoo while working for the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel called "Application of Treaties and Laws to al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees", Yoo contended that because Guantanamo Bay detainees had no status under US federal law, "as a result, any customary international law of armed conflict in no way binds, as a legal matter, the President or the US Armed Forces concerning the detention or trial of members of al Qaeda and the Taliban." Yoo also worked on an August 2002 memo [text] that argued there was no law that could prevent the president from theoretically ordering torture. In 2004, Yoo published an op-ed entitled Terrorists Have No Geneva Rights [text] in the Wall Street Journal.

[JURIST] About 60 members of the 100-member Ecuadorian Congress [official website] met at a hotel in Quito Thursday despite being suspended [JURIST report] by the special Constitutional Assembly in late November. Head of Congress Jorge Cevallos had said [press release, in Spanish] when the Congress disbanded in November that legislators were merely going on their normal recess and would return as scheduled in January. He called an indefinite recess decreed by the Assembly "illegal and unconstitutional" and said the Congress is "empowered, in extreme cases, to meet in any part of the country." Constitutional Assembly leader Alberto Acosta, meanwhile, told Reuters that the Assembly will ignore any decisions by the Congress. Reuters has more.

The special Constitutional Assembly is charged with rewriting Ecuador's constitution [text, in Spanish]. Controlled by leftist President Rafael Correa [official website, in Spanish; personal website], it will assume legislative duties until the new constitution is approved and general elections are called. Correa, who previously pledged to disband the Congress, is pushing for a constitution free of foreign influence and institution of reforms to restrain powerful political parties [JURIST report], increase government accountability, and hold regional rather than national elections.

[JURIST] Lawyers for an Oklahoma man filed a taxpayer lawsuit [complaint, PDF] Thursday seeking to overturn a state immigration law as an alleged violation of the state constitution. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 [HB 1804 text, RTF] denies illegal immigrants state identification and requires all Oklahoma government agencies to verify immigrants' citizenship before conferring benefits. The suit, which names Gov. Brad Henry [official website] and the Tulsa County Board of Commissioners [official profile], argues that the law is unconstitutional because "it creates a Bureau of Immigration and allows for the appropriation and expenditure of public funds" and improperly delegates legislative power to federal authorities. AP has more. The Tulsa World has local coverage.

The bill, which took effect on Nov. 1, 2007, was challenged [JURIST report] by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders in federal court last October. US District Judge James Payne dismissed [JURIST report] the challenge by saying the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue because none of them had suffered a cognizable injury as a result of the bill. The constitutionality of the law remained open to challenge in other proceedings as Payne did not rule on the merits of the case. The bill is considered one of the country's toughest on illegal immigration [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] The Communist Party of China [official backgrounder] Thursday issued a list of "10 taboos" [Xinhua report] for public officials as part of the government's attempt to fight corruption ahead of a reshuffling of provincial leadership posts later this month. The rules focus on preventing bribes, favors, negative campaigning, and intimidation. The government will assign groups of inspectors throughout the country to monitor the reshuffling. It has also required media outlets to publish contact information for inspectors, including a 24-hour telephone hotline. BBC News has more.

China has taken a hard line on corruption in recent months, punishing several officials with lengthy prison terms and the death penalty [JURIST report]. Last month, a former prosecutor received a suspended death sentence [JURIST report] after being convicted of accepting bribes and embezzling money. In September, a former official of the Agricultural Bank of China was executed [JURIST report] for taking bribes and embezzling nearly $2 million. In July, the former commissioner of China's State Food and Drug Administration was executed for accepting $850,000 in bribes [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Opposition activists in Myanmar [JURIST news archive] called for the release of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi [Nobel Prize profile; JURIST news archive] Friday as the nation observed its independence day. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NDL) issued a statement also demanding the release of Buddhist monks detained during last year's anti-government protests and other political prisoners at a NDL meeting attended by about 300 party members and activists. A party spokesman said that 97 NDL members are currently being detained. The crackdown started in September when Myanmar security officers arrested hundreds of monks demonstrating against rising fuel prices and human rights abuses by the military regime. At least 10 people were killed when government soldiers shot into protesting crowds [JURIST report] and the government has said that some 3,000 people were arrested for participating in the protests. AP has more.

In related news, AP Thursday reported claims by humanitarian and opposition groups that the Myanmar army is positioning troops in rural areas populated by ethnic minorities, possibly in anticipation of another crackdown on dissidents and ethnic guerrillas. The groups say that past clampdowns against the rural population were far more brutal than the more publicized moves against urban protesters last year, and reported that the military engaged in widespread human rights abuses as it worked to root out remnants of the Karen National Union [group website; Wikipedia backgrounder] and other ethnic rebel forces. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Turkish Grand National Assembly [official website] passed a bill Thursday that prohibits smoking in government buildings, offices, bars and restaurants, and imposes stiff penalties for noncompliance. People caught smoking in designated non-smoking areas could be fined 50 Turkish lira, while companies that advertise or distribute tobacco [JURIST news archive] could be fined 250,000 lira. The bill passed with strong backing from the Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party [party website, English version] of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [BBC profile].

Smoking is already illegal on buses and planes in Turkey, but, despite government attempts to curb the habit, the country still has Europe's highest rate of smokers. About 60 percent of Turkish men and 20 percent of Turkish women smoke. AFP has more. The Turkish Daily News has local coverage.

[JURIST] The CIA made plans to destroy videotapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects [JURIST news archive] as early as 2003, according to correspondence [press release] made public by US Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) Thursday. In a February 2003 letter [PDF text] from Harman to the CIA general counsel, Harman referenced a congressional briefing where she was informed of the existence of a videotape showing the interrogation of terror suspect Abu Zubaydah. Harman wrote:

You discussed the fact that there is videotape of Abu Zubaydah following his capture that will be destroyed after the Inspector General finishes his inquiry. I would urge the Agency to reconsider that plan. Even if the videotape does not constitute an official record that must be preserved under the law, the videotape would be the best proof that the written record is accurate, if such record is called into question in the future. The fact of destruction would reflect badly on the Agency.