[JURIST] A Chilean judge Monday sentenced General Manuel Contreras [TrialWatch profile] to two consecutive life terms in prison for a 1974 car bombing that killed another general and his wife. At the time of the bombing, Contreras was the head of the country's infamous secret police, the National Intelligence Directive (DINA), under former dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive]. The sentence is the longest that has yet been given to a member of Pinochet's regime and will only symbolically increase the more than 60 years in prison that Contreras has already been sentenced to for other crimes. McClatchy has more. Patagonia Times has local coverage.

In April, Contreras was sentenced [JURIST report] to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1974 disappearance of a political dissident. In January, a Chilean appeals court sentenced [JURIST report] Contreras to 10 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping of seven neighborhood leaders from La Legua in December 1973. In November 2007, Chile's Supreme Court affirmed seven convictions and overturned one [JURIST report] in cases involving murders committed by state agents during Pinochet's 1973-90 regime. The court based that decision on the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials], finding that Chile was in a state of internal armed conflict when the murders occurred.

[JURIST] The Italian Court of Cassation [official website] Monday overturned the convictions of six Italians, including Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi, for distributing anti-Roma literature in 2001. The court found that the men were motivated by a belief that all Roma are thieves, but held that this motivation did not amount to "racial hatred" under existing Italian anti-discrimination laws. The decision is expected to draw anger from human rights groups and Roma advocates [European Roma Rights Centre website]. It was speculated that the release of the ruling, which was handed down in March, was timed to bolster recent government plans to fingerprint [JURIST report] the nation's entire Roma population. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni [OECD profile] said that the fingerprinting would help to reduce street begging and keep children in school, but opponents immediately criticized it as a method of "ethnic screening." The Guardian has more.

In November 2005, the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) [advocacy website] reported that Roma minorities are the ethnic group most susceptible to racism in the European Union [JURIST report]. Two years later, in November 2007, the European Court of Human Rights rejected [JURIST report] the educational separation of Roma children in the Czech Republic, holding that the practice amounted to racial discrimination and violated principles of human rights.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Monday released declassified portions of last month's decision [PDF text] that a US Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] had improperly designated a Chinese Uighur Muslim [JURIST news archive] detained at Guantanamo Bay as an enemy combatant. In the opinion, Circuit Judge Merrick Garland dismissed government arguments that classified documents established Huzaifa Parhat's terror connections:

First, the government suggests that several of the assertions in the intelligence documents are reliable because they are made in at least three different documents. We are not persuaded. ... In fact, we have no basis for concluding that there are independent sources for the documents' thrice-made assertions. To the contrary, as noted in Part III, many of those assertions are made in identical language, suggesting that later documents may merely be citing earlier ones, and hence that all may ultimately derive from a single source. And as we have also noted, Parhat has made a credible argument that - at least for some of the assertions - the common source is the Chinese government, which may be less than objective with respect to the Uighurs. Other assertions in the documents may ultimately rely on interview reports (not provided to the Tribunal) of Uighur detainees, who may have had no first-hand knowledge and whose speculations may have been transformed into certainties in the course of being repeated by report writers.

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Hungary [official website] Monday ruled that two proposals passed by the country's parliament to criminalize hate speech were unconstitutional infringements on the freedom of expression. The court held that the extremist speech that the amendments sought to prevent was not a danger to society because it was already marginalized. The first bill, passed last year, would have allowed recovery in cases where a person's ethnic group - rather than the individual person - was insulted. The second bill, passed in February [Politics.hu report], would have designated national, ethnic, racial, or religious insults as misdemeanors punishable by up to two years in prison. In March, Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom [official website] requested that the Constitutional Court rule on the constitutionality of the two amendments before they took effect. AFP has more.

Balancing free speech interests with anti-hate efforts has also been a difficult task for other European governments in recent years. In 2006, British politicians, writers and comedians urged members of the UK House of Commons [official website] to accept freedom of speech revisions in the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill [text; BBC Q/A]. The bill was amended [official amendments; JURIST report] in the British House of Lords [official website] in 2005 when peers voted to restrict punishable actions to "threatening words or behavior" rather than including words which may be insulting or abusive, which critics said would unfairly infringe upon comedians [JURIST report] and writers who satirize religion.

[JURIST] Polish President Lech Kaczynski [official website] Tuesday refused to sign the EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon [PDF text; website], saying that to do so would be "pointless" after Irish voters rejected [JURIST report] the treaty in a June referendum. The treaty's future has been uncertain since the Irish vote, as the instrument requires that all 27 European Union member nations ratify it before it can go into effect. In April, the lower house of the Polish parliament [official website, in Polish] voted 384-56 [JURIST report] to approve the EU Reform Treaty. The Upper House approved it the following day. BBC News has more.

Poland had raised numerous objections to the pact during negotiations, many having to do with the proposed Council of Europe voting system, but signed the reform treaty [JURIST reports] along with other EU nations in December. Fourteen countries have ratified the document [JURIST news archive]. In 2005, an earlier draft for a European constitution [JURIST news archive] failed when voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] rejected the proposal in national referenda.

[JURIST] Ieng Sary [TrialWatch profile; JURIST news archive], former Foreign Minister during the Khmer Rouge regime [BBC backgrounder], appeared before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) [court website] for the second day Tuesday to appeal his detention on genocide charges. Lawyers for Sary, whose appearance at the ECCC had been set last weekend [scheduling order, PDF; hearing invitation, PDF], have asked for his release due to ill-health [JURIST report], and have also argued that a genocide trial in the ECCC would constitute double jeopardy, since he was pardoned [NYT report] by King Norodom Sihanouk on similar charges in 1996. Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served as Minister for Social Affairs, were arrested [PDF press release; JURIST report] in November 2007 and charged [JURIST report] with crimes against humanity and war crimes for breaches of the Geneva Convention [text] based on their role in the Khmer Rouge regime. AFP has more. AP has additional coverage.

Ieng Sary's 1996 pardon has been challenged as a violation of international law in a response [PDF text] to a previous hearing. The response characterized the pardon as non-binding with respect to the ECCC, which was established by in 2001 to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials. According to published proceedings [PDF text], Sary is punishable under articles 5, 6, 29, and 39 of the Law on the Establishment of the ECCC [text]. The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] who died between 1975 and 1979. To date, no top Khmer Rouge officials have faced trial. Sary and Thirith are two of five former Khmer Rouge leaders in the custody of the court, including former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] Tuesday dismissed [decision, PDF] a lawsuit brought by Canadian citizen Maher Arar [advocacy website; JURIST news archive], who sought a declaratory judgment against US government officials for deporting him to Syria. The court ruled that Arar had failed to state a claim for which it had jurisdiction to grant relief:

We do not doubt that if Congress were so inclined, it could exercise its powers under the Constitution to authorize a cause of action for money damages to redress the type of claims asserted by Arar in this action. The fact remains, however, that Congress has not done so. Instead, it has chosen to establish a remedial process that does not include a cause of action for damages against US officials for injuries arising from the exercise of their discretionary authority to remove inadmissible aliens. We are not free to be indifferent to the determinations of Congress, or to ignore the Supreme Court's instructions to exercise great caution when considering whether to devise new and heretofore unknown, causes of action.

[JURIST] The man suspected of killing Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive] has fled to Western Europe, an investigator at the Russian Prosecutor General's Office [official website, English version] said Tuesday. In May, Russian authorities named Chechen Rustam Makhmudov as the main suspect in the murder, charging him in absentia [Moscow News report] and issuing an international warrant for his arrest. In June, authorities formally charged [JURIST report] Sergey Khadzhikurbanov and Rustam's brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov in connection with the murder while the search for Rustam continued. Investigators said they know which country Rustam is in, but declined to specify. Reuters has more. RIA Novosti has local coverage.

Politkovskaya wrote for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta [media website, in Russian], and had reported extensively on the conflict between the Russian army and separatist forces in Chechnya beginning in 1999. She was shot [JURIST report] in the head and chest after returning to her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006. She was a well-known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website; JURIST news archive], and authored two books on Chechnya. Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika [official website] has said that Politkovskaya's murder was orchestrated by a Moscow-based Chechen criminal group specializing in contract killings.

[JURIST] A French court Monday ordered Internet auction house eBay [corporate website] to pay $63 million in damages to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) [corporate website], finding that the website failed to prevent the sale of counterfeit luxury goods that infringed on registered designs. LVMH praised the holding as a victory for designers seeking to control the distribution of their merchandise or prevent the sale of "copycat" products. In June, another French court ruled against eBay in a similar lawsuit for failing to prevent the sale of fake Hermès International SCA [corporate website] products. EBay said that it would appeal Monday's decision [press release]. The New York Times has more. Bloomberg has additional coverage.

The ruling comes as part of a growing trend, as European nations tighten restrictions on imitation luxury goods. A German court [Bavarian justice system website, in German] last week ruled [JURIST report] that a sports utility vehicle manufactured in China bore an unacceptable resemblance to a model manufactured by German automaker BMW [corporate website], ordering the SUV's importers to stop sales of the infringing SUV, destroy all remaining cars, and pay compensatory damages to BMW. Last year, DaimlerChrysler threatened to sue Shuanghuan Automobile [Forbes report] over a car it alleged infringed on its designs. The US and the European Commission (EC) announced [US Trade Representative press release; EC press release] plans in 2007 to negotiate an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) [JURIST report] to promote international enforcement of copyright law [JURIST news archive]. The Agreement is on the agenda for the G-8 summit taking place this month.

[JURIST] A Chinese reporter for US-based Chinese news website Boxun.com [news website, in Chinese] received a four-year prison sentence Tuesday in Nanjing on charges of illegal weapons possession and public disorder. Sun Lin, who writes under the pen name Jie Mu, has reported on sensitive topics including crime, police brutality, and corruption in China, and Boxun said Sun was being punished for his work. His wife, He Fang, a Boxun contributor, received a suspended sentence for similar charges. The two have been in Chinese custody since their arrest [Asia Media report] in May 2007. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) [advocacy website] condemned Sun's sentence, calling it [RSF press release] "yet another tragic example of the government's inability to tolerate journalists who dare to report news freely, without constraint or censorship." AP has more.

China has continued to stifle dissent, including arresting and imprisoning journalists and writers, in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, being held this summer in Beijing. In February, a Chinese court convicted dissident writer Lu Gengsong on charges of subversion [JURIST report], sentencing him to four years in prison for writing essays exposing corruption within the Communist Party of China. Earlier this year, the Chinese government violently suppressed demonstrations and protests in Tibet [JURIST news archive], detaining thousands.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed papers [press release] in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida Monday asking the court to force a Swiss bank to hand over the names of American clients suspected of hiding funds from tax collectors. The DOJ is requesting permission for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [official website] to issue "John Doe" summons against UBS [corporate website] to obtain information about unidentified American bank patrons accused of tax fraud. A former UBS banker pleaded guilty [San Francisco Examiner news archive] to conspiracy to defraud the IRS last month, after he admitted that UBS employees assisted US citizens in hiding approximately $20 billion in taxable assets. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said [statement]:

Today's action sends a strong, unequivocal signal to anyone thinking of short-changing the nation and their fellow citizens by evading the tax laws.

Offshore accounts harbor billions of dollars, and people should take notice that the secrecy surrounding these deals is rapidly fading. The information we would gather from this action would help us detect wealthy individuals who don't pay their taxes as well as provide details about how advisors facilitate this abuse.

[JURIST] Nearly $100 million in annual funding is needed to fix California's "dysfunctional" prison system, according to a state commission's report [PDF text; press release] released Monday. The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice (CCFAJ) [official website] was asked to evaluate instances of wrongful convictions and to make informed recommendations for future changes. The CCFAJ report found:

The system is plagued with excessive delay in the appointments of counsel for direct appeals and habeas corpus petitions, and a severe backlog in the review of appeals and habeas petitions before the California Supreme Court. Ineffective assistance of counsel and other claims of constitutional violations are succeeding in federal courts at a very high rate.

[JURIST] The US does not appropriately protect its citizens and foreign nationals from executions that are out of line with international law, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston [advocacy profile] said [statement, PDF; video, RM] Monday. Alston said state death penalty systems need stronger safeguards against racial bias [JURIST report] and wrongful convictions. He added that investigations into the deaths of foreign detainees held in US custody [JURIST report] are often insufficient, due process protections are inadequate for those facing the death penalty under the Military Commissions Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive], and US military contractors are not held accountable [JURIST report] for killings committed abroad. Summarizing his findings, Alston said:

If there is a single theme that emerges from my visit it is the need for greater transparency in relation to a number of issues of major importance... I was frequently told by Government officials that although they were unable to answer my specific questions, I should rest assured that there was accountability. Whether or not it does in fact exist, this “private” or “internal” accountability cannot take the place of genuine, public accountability. A Government open and accountable to its people is a foundational premise of a democratic state.

[JURIST] A Polish appeals court has ruled that the trial of former communist military leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski [official website] can proceed, overturning a lower court decision that halted the trial [JURIST report] while prosecutors gathered more evidence against other communist officials. Jaruzelski was charged in March 2006 [JURIST report] with "organizing crimes of a military nature" and carrying out crimes that consisted of the deprivation of freedom through internment" in connection with his imposition of martial law [Polish government backgrounder] in Poland on December 13, 1981. The trial is expected to begin in September or October. AP has more. From Poland, The News has additional coverage.

Last week, a Polish court overturned the conviction [JURIST report] of a riot police officer found guilty for the 1981 shooting deaths of nine coal miners who were protesting Jaruzelski's imposition of martial law. Jaruzelski was previously tried in 2001 for ordering troops to fire on striking ship workers [BBC report] in the 1970s, but the trial ended without a verdict. About 100 people are said to have died as a result of the declaration of martial law and subsequent arrests of Solidarity movement [official website] leaders, including former Polish president Lech Walesa [BBC profile]. An estimated 10,000 people were held in internment camps during martial law. Jaruzelski has argued that his decision to impose martial law was necessary to maintain order and prevent foreign intervention in Poland.

[JURIST] Four former Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] detainees filed lawsuits [CCR materials] Monday against two private US military contractors and three of their employees, alleging torture, war crimes and civil conspiracy. The former detainees said that employees of CACI International and L-3 Communications [corporate websites], which performed interrogation and interpretation work for the US military, violated the Geneva Convention, the Army Field Manual [texts] and US law by torturing and conspiring to torture the detainees. They further alleged that CACI and L-3 negligently failed to prevent the torture. In a statement [text], CACI responded:

After numerous and thorough government investigations, no CACI employee or former employee has been charged with any misconduct in connection with CACI's interrogation work in Iraq. CACI has unequivocally renounced the abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison and has cooperated fully in all government inquiries of this matter. CACI does not condone or tolerate illegal or inappropriate behavior by any employee when engaged in CACI business.