[JURIST] Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile; JURIST news archive] chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], told Reuters Sunday that the ICC was investigating possible new war crimes committed by the Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] in recent attacks on Uganda villages. The attacks follow the apparent collapse of a peace deal with the rebels last month. Reuters has more.

In March, Ocampo said that arrest warrants issued by the ICC for LRA leaders [JURIST report] remain in effect, despite requests from Uganda that they be withdrawn. The four ICC-issued warrants were executed in 2005 and include LRA leader Joseph Kony and LRA senior member Vincent Otti [BBC profiles]. In 2007, Otti was executed by rebels [BBC report], though official confirmation of his death was delayed until January amid fears that it would disrupt peace talks. Kony, who remains in hiding, is wanted for orchestrating the killing of thousands of civilians and the enslavement of thousands more children over two decades of conflict. The government has said that Kony is willing to face trial at home [JURIST report], but not at the ICC. A fifth arrest warrant was initially issued for Raska Lukwiya but was later withdrawn after a July 2007 ICC pre-trial chamber decision.

[JURIST] National Iranian Oil Co. [corporate website] Director of International Affairs Hojatollah Ghanimi Fard [profile, in Persian] derided US bill HR 6074 [materials] on Saturday, calling it "inexpert" and "a projection of US economic problems" in an interview with Shana [Shana.ir report], the news service of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum [official website, in Persian]. The proposed legislation passed the US House of Representatives [JURIST report] by a wide margin last week and would bring OPEC [official website] members under the authority of US antitrust laws. AFP has more. The Iranian news service FARS has local coverage.

The bill would authorize the US Department of Justice to file charges against OPEC countries for allegedly restricting oil supplies and price-fixing. President George W. Bush has threatened a veto, but the House could override that with a two-thirds majority vote.

[JURIST] Jean-Pierre Bemba [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], a former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo [JURIST news archive], was arrested [ICC press release] Saturday by Belgian authorities at his home outside of Brussels, after the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] issued a sealed warrant [PDF, in French; decision to unseal, PDF, in French] for his arrest on Friday. The ICC indicted Bemba for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which were allegedly committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) between October 2002 and March 2003. Prosecutors claim he is responsible for rape, torture, outrages upon personal dignity, and pillaging. Bemba's arrest warrant is the first issued by the ICC in its investigation of large-scale sexual offenses [ICC press release] in the CAR. AP has more.

Bemba was elected to the Congolese Senate after losing a run-off presidential election [JURIST report] to Joseph Kabila [BBC profile], who in December 2006 became the first freely-elected president of the DRC since 1960. After the election, Bemba's private militia force led a violent campaign against government troops until the DRC Supreme Court rejected his election challenge [JURIST report]. In the process, Bemba's supporters set fire to the Supreme Court building [JURIST report]. Following the clashes, the chief prosecutor of the DRC issued a warrant for Bemba's arrest [JURIST report], and he fled to Europe. A court in CAR referred the war crimes charges [JURIST report] for which Bemba was arrested Saturday to the ICC in April 2006.

[JURIST] Myanmar's military junta continued its controversial referendum on a draft constitution [JURIST news archives] Saturday in areas hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis earlier this month that left some 130,000 people dead or missing according to the latest estimates. Voting took place in 47 townships, 40 in the vicinity of the former capital Yangon. The referendum was held in the rest of the country [JURIST report] May 10, much to the dismay [JURIST report] of many members of the international community as well as local opposition and rights activists. Bloomberg has more.

The military government announced on May 15 that the constitution had been approved [JURIST report] by roughly 90 percent of voters in the referendum's initial round. The National League for Democracy and other opposition groups have labeled the referendum a "sham" to legalize military rule. The draft constitution reportedly reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military and would also block pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [JURIST news archive] from seeking office. Myanmar [JURIST news archive] has been governed without a constitution since the military regime took power in 1988 and talks on a new national charter have been underway for 14 years. The last general elections in Myanmar were held in 1990. The NLD, led by Suu Kyi, won that election easily, but the ruling military government did not recognize the result and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest.

[JURIST] The leaders of Pakistan's governing Pakistan People's Party [party website] presented an anticipated [JURIST report] 62-point constitutional amendment package at a news conference Saturday, saying it would be presented to the country's parliament by the end of June. The package - an attempt at a political compromise - anticipates restoring all the superior court judges removed by President Pervez Musharraf under last November's declaration of emergency, provides new limits on judicial and presidential power, and enshrines constitutional protections for a more independent judiciary. According to Pakistan's Post newspaper, it includes the following specific provisions on the judiciary:

• The retirement age of Supreme Court judges will be increased from 65 to 68 years, while the retirement age of High Court judges will be increased from 62 to 65 years.
  
  
• The tenure of chief justice of Pakistan will be limited to three years.
  
  
• Reinstated judges will take fresh oaths.
  
  
• The Chief Justice of Pakistan's powers to take suo motu action will be curtailed.