[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Tuesday upheld [opinion, PDF] the dismissal of a lawsuit against members of the Bush administration which was brought by Valerie Plame [Washington Post profile], the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative whose disclosed identity precipitated the 2003 CIA leak scandal [JURIST news archive]. The appellate court found that the officials who allegedly leaked information about Plame's identity were acting within the scope of their employment, and such government workers are generally protected by qualified immunity. Dissenting in part, Justice Rogers disagreed with the court's finding that the lawsuit “would inevitably require judicial intrusion into matters of national security and sensitive intelligence information,” and wrote:

The disclosure concerns identified by the court as counselling hesitation are either unfounded or premature because there has been no discovery or presentation by the Wilsons to the district court of how they will attempt to prove their claims. Contrary to separation of powers, then, the court effectively cedes to Congress the judiciary’s defined role to decide issues arising under the Constitution

[JURIST] Germany's Federal Constitutional Court [official website, in German] on Tuesday upheld [ruling, in German; press release, in German] a state ban on smoking in public restaurants and bars in Bavaria. The Bavarian ban is the strictest in the nation, where public smoking is regulated on a state-by-state basis. Last month, the Constitutional Court ruled [text, in German; JURIST report] that several other state anti-smoking laws allowing bars to designate a separate room for smokers unconstitutionally discriminated against one-room establishments. The court held that that all publicly-accessible businesses must be treated equally before the law, so either smoking must be banned in bars entirely or the laws must be rewritten to create exemptions for smaller businesses. The Bavarian law was held to be constitutional because it does not include an exception for separate smoking rooms. AP has more.

In 2006, the federal government of Germany rejected a proposed nationwide ban on smoking in restaurants out of concern that it would intrude on police powers guaranteed to the states in the wake of federalism reforms which had been approved [JURIST reports] that summer. Under the new constitutional reforms, Germany's 16 states have the power to regulate restaurants and businesses. Elsewhere in Europe, legislatures of England and France [JURIST reports] have approved nationwide smoking bans in public places. In the US, voters in three states approved state-wide smoking bans [JURIST report] in the 2006 November elections, while Rhode Island amended its smoking ban after a state judge struck down [JURIST report] several provisions of the law as irrational and therefore unconstitutional in 2005.

[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] last week denied [opinion, PDF] a request made by six ethnic Uighur Guantanamo [JURIST news archive] detainees to be transferred to less restrictive facilities within the base. The petitioners argued that their solitary confinement in a higher security section of the base caused them mental suffering, but the court ruled that the detainees did not sufficiently demonstrate that they would suffer irreparable harm if they were not moved. Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled:

What is clear is that no court has ever ruled that detainees, designated as enemy combatants, have a right to challenge the conditions of their confinement pursuant to the constitutional writ of habeas corpus. Furthermore, courts are reluctant to second-guess day-to-day operations of domestic prison facilities, especially when doing so intrudes upon the military and national security affairs. This deference combined with the paucity of evidence of irreparable injury and the petitioners' failure to articulate a specific constitutional right and standard from which to analyze the facts of this case presses the court to deny the petitioners' motion for a TRO and a preliminary injunction.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] on Monday that computer and PO box use restrictions placed on those convicted of child pornography offenses [statute text] are reasonable as long as they are reasonably connected to their conviction and are construed narrowly enough to allow legitimate computer and mail use. The issue came before the court due to a challenge made by Robert Goddard against restrictions placed upon him as conditions of his supervised release [statute text] after he was convicted of downloading and possessing child pornography. The court clarified the limitations placed on computer use and upheld the PO box and other restrictions:

We believe that two of the computer conditions are problematic if broadly construed, because they could be read to prohibit all use of a computer except for work and to make the use of a work computer impracticable. However, these conditions involve no greater a deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary if narrowly construed to allow personal computer use as approved by the probation officer and not to condition routine or automatic software additions, deletions, upgrades, updates, installations, repairs, or other modifications on prior approval. So construed, we approve the computer conditions and conclude that the remaining conditions are also reasonable. [citations omitted]

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday issued a closing order [PDF text; press release] to officially indict former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav [TrialWatch profile], also known as Duch, on charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions. Duch is the first suspect to be charged since the tribunal was established in 2006. No trial date has been set, although sources expect it to commence in September. Duch, who was in charge of the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, is one of five top leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime [JURIST news archive; BBC backgrounder] currently in ECCC custody. AP has more.

In April, ECCC officials said that the court expected to complete its investigation [JURIST report] into Duch by July. Duch was arrested in 1999 on genocide charges and was subsequently charged with war crimes by a military court in March and with crimes against humanity [JURIST reports] by the ECCC in July. It is thought that those charges were brought to keep Duch in custody while the ECCC began its initial operations. A panel of ECCC judges ruled late last year that Duch should not be granted bail [JURIST report] while preparations for his trial continue.

[JURIST] A Danish court on Monday began the trial of two men accused of planning a bomb attack on the country. The pair admitted to manufacturing an explosive compound, but have denied that they were planning an attack or that they intended to use it to make a bomb. A representative of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) [official website] has said the unnamed men, one from Pakistan and the other from Afghanistan, are also suspected of having ties to al Qaeda [JURIST news archive]. Prosecutors in the case are heavily relying on covert surveillance evidence collected by PET and foreign intelligence agencies, including chat logs discussing the June bombing of the Danish embassy [press release] in Pakistan. The men could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted, and a verdict in the trial is expected in October. AP has more. The Copenhagen Post has local coverage.

Covert and electronic surveillance [JURIST news archive] methods such as those used by prosecutors in the case have recently become more widespread and have been criticized by privacy groups. In 2006, a Danish court ordered the continued detention of two men charged [JURIST report] in connection with an alleged terror plot set to take place in Denmark, but also ordered the release of five others who had been charged. The country was the focus of a worldwide controversy over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] published by a Danish newspaper in 2005, which in early 2006 prompted other attacks on Danish embassies abroad.

[JURIST] Attempts to bring war crimes suspect and former fugitive Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to trial were long delayed by the US, France, and England, a former spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official site] said in a interview published in Serbian newspaper Blic [media website] on Sunday. Florence Hartmann accused former US President Bill Clinton and former French President Jacques Chirac of interfering to prevent the arrest of Karadzic, and suggested that the US had only relented when it realized that his freedom was a stumbling block to stability in the region. Hartmann made similar accusations [JURIST report] last year in her memoirs [book website], saying that the US and other western countries repeatedly impeded ICTY efforts to arrest Karadzic. In her book, Hartmann also said that Russia aided in moving Karadzic to safety in Belarus, and alleged that the West helped in order to hide information about the Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Sapa-DPA has more.

Last week, Karadzic submitted a document [PDF text; JURIST report] to the ICTY asserting that he was granted an immunity deal by former US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke [PBS biography], conditioned on his removing himself from public life. He went on to ask the Tribunal to order the appearance of not only Holbrooke, but also former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright [DOS profile] and two other officials allegedly involved in the deal. Holbrooke and Albright have denied the accusations, but Purdue University Professor Charles Ingrao [faculty profile], leader of a research group [Scholars' Initiative website] dealing with issues of the former Yugoslavia, said in an interview [Bosnian Institute report] that he has independent evidence verifying Karadzic's claims.

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia [official website] on Monday refused to grant a temporary injunction allowing concealed firearms in non-secure areas of the Atlanta International Airport. Gun ownership advocacy group GeorgiaCarry.org (GCO) [advocacy website] and state Representative Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) [official profile] had sought to temporarily prevent the airport from enforcing a total gun ban [press release, PDF] while the court considers a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; case materials] challenging the ban's constitutionality. GCO and Bearden argue that the ban also violates a state law [PDF text; statute materials] allowing the carrying of concealed weapons in state parks, public transit and other areas. The airport has issued a request to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) [official website], asking the federal agency to sign off on the ban in order to preempt the state law. AP has more. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has local coverage.

Challenges to firearm restrictions [JURIST report] have become increasingly common since the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report], in which the Court affirmed a decision invalidating the District of Columbia's handgun ban [JURIST report]. Heller marked the first occasion that the Supreme Court directly addressed the Second Amendment since 1939's US v. Miller [case materials].

[JURIST] Russian legislators on Monday adopted a measure calling for the establishment of an international tribunal [Itar-TASS report] charged with investigating allegations of genocide in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia's Prosecutor General, Yury Chaika [Russiaprofile.org bio], responded to the request on Tuesday, asserting that no such body is required [Interfax report], since any grievances could be resolved in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. On Sunday, Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin [Kommersant report] had described deaths in South Ossetia as numbering in the thousands, and said that those responsible should be tried in a special international court.

Also Tuesday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said that the conflict with Georgia can end when troops partly demilitarize and a non-use of force agreement is signed [Reuters report]. Georgian officials later stated that Russian forces continued to attack well after Medvedev announced an order to halt military action [CNN report]. On Monday, Georgia and Russia each accused the other of organizing mass civilian arrests and detentions. Rights groups have warned that killings of civilians would constitute war crimes [JURIST report], but Russian officials argued Saturday that Russia sent troops into South Ossetia to protect civilians [BBC report].

[JURIST] The newly-formed state council of the military group which overthrew [JURIST report] the government of Mauritania [CIA factbook profile] last week passed a law on Tuesday conferring on its leader, Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, all the powers of deposed President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi [BBC profile]. On Monday, the group released [BBC News report] Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef [IBT report] and three other officials close to the president, but retained custody of Abdallahi.

At one time, Aziz supported Abdallahi, but the two split after Abdallahi made political concessions to conservative Muslim groups. In 2005, Aziz also backed a coup [JURIST report] to remove then-President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Taya [BBC report]. Taya himself had come to power in a coup two decades prior and survived numerous other attempts [JURIST report] to overthrow his administration.