[JURIST] A spokesperson for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] announced Tuesday a large-scale media campaign to encourage more victims to come forward and participate in the trial of Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder] leader Kaing Guek-Eav [TrialWatch backgrounder; court materials], better known as "Duch." The trial is set to begin [JURIST report] February 17. Announcements will be made [AFP report] in newspapers, on the radio, and perhaps on television, and victims will have until February 2 to come forward.

Duch faces charges [scheduling order, PDF; JURIST report] of murder and torture in addition to charges [closing order, PDF; JURIST report] of crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions. Duch is best known for running the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp [backgrounder] in Phnom Penh in the late 1970s after the Khmer Rouge took over. Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there are only twelve known survivors [advocacy website]. The ECCC plans to try as many as eight suspects [JURIST report] for their roles in the Khmer Rouge regime, which is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] between 1975 and 1979. Earlier this month, Japan announced [JURIST report] that it would give an additional $21 million to the ECCC following an announcement by the court [JURIST report] that it plans to complete operations a year early because of limited funding. In February, a Cambodian genocide survivor testified [JURIST report] against Nuon Chea [PBS backgrounder] at a pretrial hearing, marking the first time a victim has taken the stand against a former Khmer Rouge official.

[JURIST] A court in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on Tuesday sentenced former justice minister Agnes Ntamabyariro to life in prison for inciting violence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide [HRW backgrounder]. The Court of First Instance of Nyarugenge found [BBC report] that Ntamabyariro and co-defendant Jean-Leonard Hategekimana, classified as Category 1 Suspects [official materials], had participated in planning the genocide, distributing weapons, and arranging the assassination of Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, then the Tutsi governor of Butare province, who opposed the genocide. Ntamabyariro and Hategekimana are the first officials from the interim government responsible for the genocide to be convicted in Rwandan courts. Ntamabyariro said that she would appeal [RNA report] the conviction.

Most prosecutions relating to the genocide are being conducted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive], including the recent convictions of former defense officials and a prominent entertainer [JURIST reports]. Citing concerns over the potential for fair trials, the UN-backed tribunal has refused to transfer cases [JURIST report] to Rwandan courts. The ICTR was established by the UN Security Council in 1994 to try those suspected of having committed genocide during the 1994 Rwandan conflict between Hutus and Tutsis. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1503 (2003) [text, PDF], the ICTR was supposed to complete all trials by the end of 2008, and to complete all of its work, including appellate review, by 2010. In June, however, the ICTR prosecutor asked the Council [JURIST report] to extend its mandate, noting that the recent arrests of several genocide suspects meant that the court would not have time to finish several first-instance cases until 2009.

[JURIST] A fact finding team for human rights group Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy group] on Monday accused Israel of war crimes [press release], citing the use of white phosphorous [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] in the midst of a dense civilian population. White phosphorous is a highly explosive substance that can burn into human skin and muscle and can cause serious wounds as well as death. The fact finding team found still-burning particles of the substance near residential buildings and in streets and alleyways. Israel has maintained that all the weapons employed during their three-week siege in Gaza are within the scope of what is allowed by international law. Both the UN and Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] have already called for Israel to stop firing white phosphorus shells [HRW press release] in Gaza. AI has said that Israel's continued use of the substance despite awareness of its effects constitutes a war crime.

Last week, International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] said that the ICC has no jurisdiction [JURIST report] to investigate possible war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. Moreno-Ocampo's statement came after calls by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) [advocacy website] for the UN Security Council [official website] to refer Israel to the ICC [press release] for an investigation. Moreno-Ocampo said the court currently lacks jurisdiction over Israel because it is not a member state.

[JURIST] Delivering his inaugural address [text] Tuesday in Washington DC shortly after taking the oath of office [text] as the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama [official website] insisted that his administration would pursue US national interests without sacrificing basic legal principles enshrined in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Taking an apparent swipe at some of the policies of outgoing president George W. Bush, Obama declared:

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

[JURIST] Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] admitted throwing a hand grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, according to the pre-trial testimony Monday of an American intelligence official. The official, identified as Interrogator 11, said Khadr expressed pride in learning he had caused the death of an American. Khadr's attorneys contend there are photographs and eye-witness accounts contradicting their client's alleged confession. Also Monday, special agent Robert Fuller testified that Khadr had identified former detainee and deported Canadian Maher Arar [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] by name when shown a photograph, saying he recognized Arar from an al Qaeda safe-house in Kabul. Notes taken at a 2002 FBI [official website] interrogation of Khadr emerged Tuesday that differ somewhat from Fuller's testimony, indicating Khadr only said Arar "looked familiar."

Rights groups have lobbied the Obama administration [joint letter text, PDF] to halt the trial [JURIST report] of Khadr, scheduled to begin January 26, as he was 15 years old at the time he allegedly threw a grenade that killed a US solider in 2002. He was charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism, and spying in April 2007. The pre-trial hearing began Monday after a judge denied a request for a delay [JURIST report] of the proceedings.

[JURIST] In one of his final acts as President of the United States, George W. Bush on Monday commuted the sentences [DOJ press release] of two former border patrol agents convicted of the shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler. The two former agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos [advocacy website], are expected to be released from prison in March. In this final act of clemency, Bush did not pardon the men but reduced their sentences, finding that even though they had received fair trials, their 10-year sentences were excessive. In 2006, Compean and Ramos were convicted on charges of assault, discharge of a weapon in the commission of a crime of violence, tampering with an official proceeding, and deprivation of civil rights. In 2008, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] upheld [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] their convictions. The controversial decision received national attention after members of Congress called upon Bush to pardon the men. Many local residents fear that the prosecution of border patrol agents limits their ability to do their job properly.

During Bush's two terms, he has granted 189 pardons and 11 commutations of sentence. In December, Bush issued presidential pardons to 19 people convicted of crimes ranging from drug trafficking to forging US Treasury checks. Monday's final commutations leave many well-known felons who had reportedly sought pardons [JURIST report] disappointed, including junk bond dealer Michael Milken [Forbes profile], former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham [JURIST report], former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards [official profile], former Cheney chief of staff I. "Scooter" Libby [JURIST news archive], and Canadian-born financier Conrad Black [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] granted summary judgment [opinion, PDF] on Monday in favor of Vice President Dick Cheney [official profile; JURIST news archive], giving Cheney broad discretion over which vice presidential records should be preserved. The lawsuit, initiated by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website] against Cheney and the Executive Office of the President [official website], alleges that Bush administration is illegally trying to keep certain records from the public. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly [official profile] ruled that the plaintiffs were not entitled relief under the Presidential Record Act (PRA) [44 U.S.C. § 2201 et seq. text]. The court found that:

Plaintiffs argue throughout their submissions to the Court that the Presidential Records Act should not be read to vest broad discretion in the Vice President to handle the preservation of his own records during his term in office without the possibility of judicial oversight. The Court is nevertheless bound to apply the Presidential Records Act as Congress enacted it, which provides only narrow areas of oversight relating to the Vice President’s document preservation decisions.

To the extent that this lawsuit highlights any unintended consequences stemming from the Presidential Records Act, Plaintiffs’ remedy lies with Congress and not this Court.

[JURIST] Prominent Russian human rights lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, was shot dead by a masked gunman in Moscow on Monday. Markelov, known for his work on high profile human rights cases including representing journalist Anna Politkovskaya [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive], was protesting the early release of Colonel Yuri Budanov [Moscow Times report]. Anastasia Baburova, a journalist covering Markelov for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta [media website], also died after being shot in the head by the gunman. Markelov had argued against the release of Budanov, who was convicted of strangling a Chechen woman that he believed was a rebel sniper. Budanov speculated that the shooting was an attempt to increase tensions [RIA Novosti report] between Russians and Chechens. The release of Budanov sparked protest across Chechnya last week.

Between 1992 and 2006, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that 42 journalists have been killed [JURIST report] in Russia. The high-profile case of Politkovskaya has increased exposure of the killings to an international audience. Politkovskaya, who also wrote for Novaya Gazeta, was covering the conflict between the Russian army and separatist forces in Chechnya. Politkovskaya was widely known for her stories about human rights abuses by Russian troops in Chechnya and was murdered [JURIST report] after returning to her Moscow apartment building in October 2006. Last June, Russian authorities officially charged [JURIST report] three men in the killing of Politkovskaya. The trial remains ongoing.