[JURIST] The Moscow District Military Court opened closed preliminary hearings Wednesday on the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive]. The hearings began without prominent human rights lawyer Karina Moskalenko, who is representing Politkovskaya's family, because the lawyer fell ill Wednesday, giving rise to suspicions that she was poisoned [London Times report], possibly by mercury later found in her car. The trial judge rejected an argument by the Politkovskaya family to stay the hearing until Moskalenko could be present. The actual trial of the three men accused in the murder is scheduled to begin on November 17. Reuters has more.

Sergey Khadzhikurbanov and brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, all from Chechnya [JURIST news archive], were arrested last August [JURIST report] in connection with the inquiry into Politkovskaya's murder. The main suspect, Rustam Makhmudov, also from Chechnya, has yet to be captured but Russian authorities have said he is hiding in Western Europe. In May, Makhmudov was charged in absentia [Moscow News report] and an international warrant for his arrest was issued. Politkovskaya, a reporter for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta [media website, in Russian], was shot [JURIST report] in the head and chest after returning to her Moscow apartment building in October 2006.

[JURIST] Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] Thursday ordered the exhumation of 19 mass graves in Spain, launching an investigation into the disappearances of tens of thousands of people beginning in the Spanish Civil War [BBC backgrounder], and continuing through the early years of Francisco Franco's dictatorship [BBC backgrounder]. In a 68-page writ [PDF text, in Spanish], Garzon argued the mass disappearances constitute crimes against humanity. He expanded the investigation to include all members of Spain's Board of National Defense who served from July, 18, 1936, and all members of the first five governments headed by Franco until July 18, 1951. Garzon is unlikely to find any living suspects to charge, however. Franco himself died in 1975 at the age of 82. AP has more. From Madrid, El Pais has local coverage, in Spanish.

In 2007, the Spanish Parliament passed legislation [text; JURIST report] condemning the Franco government, acknowledging the victims and setting aside money to compensate them. Garzon, widely known for his high-profile investigations of terror and human rights cases, previously called for the creation of a "truth commission" [JURIST report] to uncover Franco-era abuses. In September, Garzon began an investigation [JURIST report] to assemble a definitive registry of the tens of thousands of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime. Garzon ordered government agencies, the Spanish Episcopal Conference [church website], the University of Granada [academic website] and the mayors of four cities to produce the names of people buried in mass graves, as well as the circumstances and dates of their burial. Estimates of the number of people killed during the 1936-39 Civil War and the subsequent Franco dictatorship range from 90,000 to 180,000.

[JURIST] The FBI is investigating allegations of voter registration fraud involving the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) [advocacy website] ahead of the November presidential election. According to senior law enforcement officials quoted by AP Thursday, the FBI is analyzing evidence gathered from recent raids of ACORN state headquarters [AP report] to determine whether there is a nationwide effort to commit systematic voter fraud. AP has more.

ACORN workers engaged in a nationwide voter registration drive [press release] enrolling more than 1.3 million new voters in 21 states have been accused of submitting fraudulent voter registration forms in several of those states. Earlier this month reports surfaced that a majority of the 5,000 registration forms submitted to board of elections officials by Acorn employees in Lake County, Indiana were false or fraudulent [Northwest Indiana Times report]. The registration forms submitted in the county included a Jimmy John's restaurant, members of the Dallas Cowboys, and several deceased persons. ACORN has vigorously denied [press release] the voter fraud allegations against it and says they are part of a politicized effort by Republicans to "create an unfounded specter of voter fraud and to suppress voting."

[JURIST] Vietnam's Hanoi People's Court on Wednesday sentenced journalist Nguyen Viet Chien of Thanh Nien news agency [media website] to two years in prison for "abusing democratic freedoms" to infringe state interests for his reporting on the so-called PMU 18 corruption scandal [JURIST report; Tuoi Tre news archive, in Vietnamese]. Nguyen's co-defendant, Nguyen Van Hai of Tuoi Tre news agency [media website, in Vietnamese], received a two year "re-eduction" sentence, suspended for time served, after pleading guilty. Story informant Lieutenant-Colonel Dinh Van Huynh was sentenced to one year in prison for "deliberately revealing state secrets," and retired policeman General Pham Xuan Quac was reprimanded for providing information to the press. The sentencing judge said that "hostile forces, reactionaries and political opportunists" exploited the PMU 18 scandal [AFP report] to criticize the Vietnamese government. The sentences were immediately condemned [BBC report] by the US Embassy in Hanoi [official website], which argued that the journalists acted within their legal rights under Vietnamese law. Advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists decried the sentences as "shameful" [CPJ report], and Reporters Without Borders called on the international community to condition aid to Vietnam [press release] on "respect for press freedom and the release of imprisoned journalists." The Financial Times has more.

Nguyen Van Hai and Nguyen Viet Chien were arrested [JURIST report] in May on suspicion of abuse of power and divulgation of false information [AFP report, in French] and were charged [JURIST report] in September, facing up to seven years in prison. The journalists reported on illegal gambling and corruption [JURIST news archive] within Project Management Unit (PMU) 18, a Vietnamese agency responsible for the construction of roads and bridges that receives aid from the World Bank and other countries. Their work triggered an investigation that led to the Hanoi People's Court's August 2007 convictions [JURIST report] of former Vietnamese government officials. In September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Vietnamese government [HRW report] to end efforts "to silence independent bloggers, journalists, and human rights defenders" and to enforce the right to exercise freedom of expression, assembly and association under the Vietnamese Constitution [text] and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text].

[JURIST] US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) [corporate website] is lobbying state governments to relax strict, recently enacted rules designed to provide greater oversight of the mortgage lending industry, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The rules are contained in the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 [text, PDF], which was signed into law by President Bush at the end of July. The Act requires mortgage originators to be registered and licensed by state agencies. As part of the registration and licensing process, originators are required to undergo background checks, including fingerprint analysis by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website], personal history checks, credit reporting, and investigation of originator's civil and criminal records. The Act also requires originators to undergo training on federal law and regulations, ethics, and lending standards for subprime mortgages, and to be tested on those subjects. According to the Wall Street Journal, AIG has been lobbying states to ease some of the state-imposed rules associated with the Act. Reuters has more.

AIG was the recipient of an $85 billion bridge loan from the US Federal Reserve [official website] due to financial instability due to subprime lending and the financial derivatives and mortgage-backed securities markets. Additionally, many current and former AIG executives blame the company's troubles on "mark-to-market" accounting rules [JURIST report]. The $85 billion bridge loan is intended to allow AIG time to sell off its assets in an orderly fashion in order to avoid the negative consequences of a bankruptcy or collapse during the current financial crisis. The bridge loan is intended to act in concert with the recently-passed $700 billion rescue bill [JURIST report] to limit the effects of the crisis on the larger US economy and international markets. Last month, members of Congress urged [JURIST report] regulatory changes and investigations following a stock market drop propelled by Lehman Brothers' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and the sale of Merrill Lynch.

[JURIST] The Pakistani cabinet led by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani [BBC profile] Wednesday approved changes to a statute governing the country's lawyers and endorsed a draft bill that would establish a new National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR). The changes to the Legal Practitioners Act of 1973 [text, PDF] would undo an amendment [JURIST report] to the Act promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf [JURIST news archive] following his November 3, 2007 declaration of emergency rule [JURIST news archive]. In particular, they would reduce the power of superior court judges appointed by the government to discipline and even disbar lawyers for "professional or other misconduct." The establishment of a National Human Rights Commission is intended to bring Pakistan in compliance with a UN General Assembly resolution requiring members to set up official human rights bodies. The Daily Times has more. The News has additional coverage.

In the wake of the initial amendment to the lawyers' statute the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) derided it as unconstitutional and canceled the membership of then-Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum. Asma Jahangir [official profile, PDF], the chairwoman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan [advocacy website] was placed under house arrest [order] for two weeks shortly after the emergency was declared.

[JURIST] A commission established to investigate the political and ethnic violence that followed Kenya's disputed December 2007 presidential election [JURIST reports] released [press release] a report [PDF] on Wednesday recommending the establishment of an international tribunal to try suspected perpetrators. The Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence cited “systematic attacks on Kenyans based on their ethnicity and their political leanings” and criticized the state security apparatus for “fail[ing] institutionally to anticipate, prepare for, and contain the violence.” In some instances, law enforcement officers are suspected of having committed acts of violence and gross violations of human rights. Justice Philip Waki, the head of the commission, requested that a tribunal be established within the territorial boundaries of Kenya with the mandate to prosecute crimes – “particularly crimes against humanity” – relating to the 2007 general election. The “Special Tribunal for Kenya,” as it is termed in the report, is to be composed of Kenyan and international judges and will apply both Kenyan and international law.

Notably absent from the commission’s report are the names of the suspected culprits. According to Waki, the commission has evidence of involvement by prominent politicians, government officials, and businessmen in Kenya but has postponed disclosures to prevent the sabotage and adulteration of evidence. The commission is expected to deliver the names in a sealed envelope to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan [official profile; JURIST news archive], who helped mediate the current power-sharing agreement between Kenya's ruling party and opposition, as early as this Friday. VOA has more.

In March the Kenyan parliament approved a power-sharing agreement [JURIST report] between President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] and opposition leader Raila Odinga [campaign profile] intended to end the post-election violence which had sparked simmering ethnic tensions in the country. Human Rights Watch reported that over 1,000 people were killed and 500,000 displaced in weeks of protests and rioting.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed a bill [HR 928 text, PDF] designed to further insulate federal inspectors general (IGs) from political interference. The Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 is the latest in a series of amendments to the Inspector General Act of 1978 [text], which created the oversight offices within executive agencies. The new law establishes requirements for qualification and appointment of IGs and limits the conditions of their removal. It provides, in part, that

[e]ach Inspector General shall be appointed without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations.

[JURIST] A judge on the Constitutional Court of Italy [official website, in Italian] on Wednesday suspended the trial of 26 Americans [JURIST news archive] and five former Italian intelligence officials for the 2003 abduction and rendition [JURIST news archive] of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr [JURIST news archive] to consider whether to compel a witness to answer questions that may implicate state secrets. During cross-examination in a closed session, Italian intelligence agent Giuseppe Scandone refused to respond [AP report] when defense lawyers for former Italian Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official website] chief Nicolo Pollari asked if Pollari had ever ordered subordinates to carry out the extraordinary rendition of a terror suspect. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] submitted a letter [La Stampa report, in Italian] to the intelligence officials before the hearing Wednesday arguing that though discussion of the relationship between Italy and foreign intelligence services may reveal state secrets, Pollari's defense team may be able to continue with their questioning. Judge Oscar Magi is expected to confirm with the government whether a reply from Scandone would implicate classified national security information before the trial reconvenes on October 22. AKI has more.

Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized on the streets of Milan by CIA agents with the help of Italian operatives, then allegedly transferred to Egypt and tortured by Egypt's State Security Intelligence before being released [JURIST reports] in February 2007. Defense lawyers for Pollari have said they need Italian agents' testimony and classified government documents to assert their defense that Pollari was not involved in the kidnapping. In May, Magi ruled that Berlusconi can be called to testify [JURIST report].

[JURIST] An urgent effort by the Bush administration to transfer 17 Guantanamo detainees outside the US has stalled as a result of a bitter interagency dispute, according to a New York Times report on Wednesday. Last week, US District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ordered [opinion, PDF] the 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs [backgrounder] held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be released in the United States. The judge found that after the government dropped its claim that the Uighurs were “enemy combatants,” there was no longer a legal basis for continuing their confinement at Guantanamo [JURIST news archive]. The decision marked the first instance a court had ordered that prisoners from Guantanamo be released onto US soil and provoked an immediate outcry from the Bush administration. The Justice Department [official website] responded by filing seven separate appeals on the release issue, and the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit temporarily blocked [opinion, PDF] Urbina’s action. Some critics have suggested that the Justice Department’s filings, which describe the Uighurs as “a danger to the public,” have compromised diplomatic efforts undertaken by the State Department [official website] to resettle the detainees in other countries. The New York Times has more.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other advocacy organizations have urged the government not to drag its feet in freeing the detainees [AI press release]. The Bush administration continues to resist requests from the Chinese government to repatriate the Uighurs, fearing they would be tortured upon return to the remote northwestern province of Xinjiang. But since transferring five Uighur detainees to Albania in 2006, it had been unable to persuade governments to accept others.

[JURIST] US and Iraqi negotiators Wednesday agreed on a draft for a Status of Forces Agreement [CFR materials] that gives Iraqi courts limited jurisdiction over American military personnel. According to Iraqi officials quoted by AP Wednesday, the draft agreement requires US troops to face trial before Iraqi courts for major crimes committed off base when the troops are not on an authorized mission. The US would retain the right to prosecute troops and private contractors for crimes committed on base and while troops are on authorized missions. The current draft agreement will likely face resistance in the US Congress, where many lawmakers are wary of subjecting American troops to any foreign judicial jurisdiction. AP has more.

The draft agreement has been delayed [JURIST report] by months of negotiation. If passed by lawmakers in each country, it will extend the role of US forces in Iraq through 2011. The current UN mandate authorizing a US troop presence in Iraq expires in December [UN press release]. In late June, the US agreed to eliminate legal immunity for US contractors [JURIST report] from the proposed agreement, and suggested that it might concede US control of Iraqi airspace. The US continued to push for immunity for US troops from prosecution in Iraqi courts and the right to hold detainees independent of Iraqi review.