[JURIST] A military judge ruled that a US Army sergeant may testify for the prosecution against Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., who is charged [JURIST report] in connection with the killing of four Iraqi prisoners, as court-martial proceedings began Tuesday. Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham will be allowed to testify [AP report], despite defense counsel's objection that its limited time to prepare for this witness puts Leahy at a disadvantage. Cunningham had been charged as a co-conspirator in the murders until last week when his charges were dropped. Leahy's lawyer argued that the government's advantage is further strengthened in light of its several months of conversations with Cunningham. Leahy faces life in prison and dishonorable military discharge if convicted.

Leahy faces court-martial [JURIST report] on charges of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and obstruction of justice, and is among six members of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry [unit website] accused in killings that took place between March 10 and April 16, 2007. The prisoners were allegedly shot in the head while bound and blindfolded before being dumped in a canal. Fellow unit members Spc. Belmor Ramon and Spc. Steven Ribordy have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and accessory to murder [JURIST reports], respectively, in connection with the incident.

[JURIST] Italian authorities Monday began dismantling illegal immigrant camps around Rome heavily populated by members of the Roma minority ("gypsies") [JURIST news archive] following the alleged weekend rape of a 14-year old girl by East European immigrants which led to public outcry and vigilante reprisals. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni [official profile, in Italian] meanwhile proposed an emergency decree which would authorize local bodies to create groups of unarmed citizens to "assist the police by bringing to their attention events which might be damaging to urban security." Italy's left-wing opposition parties have already voiced disapproval of the move, and the Vatican has warned against scapegoating.

In July 2008, the Italian government began recording the fingerprints [JURIST report] of thousands of Roma, including children, ostensibly to reduce street crime and begging. Later that month, the European Parliament [official website] called on EU member states to repeal all anti-Roma laws and the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights urged Italy to change its "severe" policies [JURIST reports] on Roma people. Italy's Interior Ministry responded by announcing [JURIST report] that the government would revise plans to fingerprint the Roma, altering requirements to only include those who do not have valid identification cards. 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].

[JURIST] The Federal Court of Canada [official website] Monday dismissed an application [decision, PDF] by two Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees requesting access to Canadian interrogation records. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian with landed immigrant status in Canada, and Ahcene Zemiri [NYT materials], an Algerian permanent resident of Canada, sought disclosure of records of interrogations conducted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) [official websites] both in Canada and at Guantanamo Bay. Relying on the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada [official website] in Canada (Justice) v. Khadr [decision, PDF], and claiming protection under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text], Slahi and Zemiri argued that Canada was obligated to turn over any materials which had been given to American authorities. The court distinguished this case from Khadr on the grounds that Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] was a Canadian citizen and necessarily entitled to section 7 protections, where Slahi and Zemiri's connection to Canada was more tenuous.

the Charter, ... is a Canadian instrument enacted to enshrine and protect the fundamental rights of Canadians and those finding themselves within Canada’s territory. Its extraterritorial reach is exceptional and limited. ... This Court is not prepared to extend the Charter’s reach beyond that which has already been decided. The Applicants are not Canadian citizens. They have failed to establish the required connection to Canada. Consequently, their circumstances cannot engage a section 7 Charter right.

[JURIST] Speaker for Italy's Chamber of Deputies [official website] Gianfranco Fini [official profile] said Monday that Italy will not accept detainees released from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Fini made the announcement after a meeting with US House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) [official profile] in Rome, and it contradicts earlier statements [ANSA report] by Italian defense minister Ignazio La Russa [official website, in Italian] in which La Russa said the country may consider accepting the detainees either under asylum status or within its prison system. Fini said that Italian law particularly forbids the country's prison system from housing foreign inmates absent some formal agreement.

Last week, Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Vygaudas Usackas [official profile] said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] would begin talks with the US about the possibility of accepting prisoners [JURIST post] from Guantanamo Bay. Earlier this month, the European Parliament [official website] voted 542-55, with 51 abstentions, to adopt a resolution [materials; JURIST report] calling for member states to accept low-risk prisoners who cannot be returned to their countries of origin for fear of persecution. Details regarding which prisoners may be transferred to which countries are as yet undetermined. Last month, Council of the European Union Secretary-General Javier Solana [official website] indicated that several EU member states would likely be willing to accept [press release, PDF; JURIST report] some former prisoners, though acceptance may be conditioned on the US providing careful background checks to prove that the detainees pose no danger to the host country. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner [official profile] has noted that legal obstacles facing the transfer of the detainees would be different for each host country, and that their acceptance would be determined on a case-by case basis.

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday began the trial [Phnom Penh Post report] of former Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder] leader Kaing Guek-Eav [TrialWatch backgrounder; court materials]. Kaing, also known as "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. Kaing is best known for running the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp [Fathom 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], and the court has encouraged [JURIST report] these and other surviving victims of the regime to testify against its leaders.

The ECCC plans to try as many as eight suspects [JURIST report] for their roles in the Khmer Rouge, but rights groups have warned that the trials could face credibility and corruption [JURIST reports] problems. Judges for the court have denied allegations [JURIST report] of corruption. Last 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 2008, 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.

2/18/09 - Pretrial hearings were held [ECCC press release, PDF] Tuesday and Wednesday. The date for the formal opening of the trial has yet to be set, but some observers expect it to begin in March.

[JURIST] The administration of US President Barack Obama [official profile] on Monday proposed the development of a binding international treaty to regulate global mercury [DOS backgrounder] levels. The announcement by US State Department [official website] Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Sustainable Development Daniel Reifsnyder came at the 25th Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environmental Forum [official website], a meeting of global environment ministers held by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) [official website] in Nairobi, Kenya. In his statement [text], Reifsnyder said:

We have now arrived at a point where there is a call to come together to launch an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international agreement on mercury; ... The United States now joins that call. We are prepared, Mr. Co-Chair to help lead in developing a global legally binding instrument for mercury. ...

It is clear that mercury is the most important global chemical issue facing us today that calls for immediate action. Mercury is a chemical of global concern specifically due to its long range environmental transport, its persistence in the environment once introduced, its ability to bio-accumulate in ecosystems, and its significant negative effects or human health and the environment. The United States does not support adding additional substances to an agreement on mercury, or diverting valuable time and attention to other issues by debating criteria and parameters for an adding mechanism.

[JURIST] The Russian Prosecutor General's Office [official website, in Russian] said Monday that additional charges will be filed [press release, in Russian] against Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive]. The charges include allegations of embezzlement and theft, contending that Khodorkovsky and a group of investors embezzled more than $100 million from his former company Yukos [JURIST news archive]. Additional charges will also be filed against Khodorkovsky's former partner Platon Lebedev [defense website]. Khodorkovsky's supporters believe that the charges are politically motivated for his opposition of former Russian president Vladimir Putin [JURIST news archive].

Khodorkovsky was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2005 for fraud and tax evasion [JURIST report], charges which he still denies. Khodorkovsky applied for early release last July, but his application was rejected [JURIST reports] by a Russian judge in August because he disobeyed guards at the Krasnokamensk penal colony [Guardian backgrounder], refused to participate in a training program, and faced the possibility of additional charges. Khodorkovsky appealed [JURIST report] that decision in September.

[JURIST] The government of Pakistan [JURIST news archive] reached an agreement Monday with Islamic militants in the Pakistani North West Frontier Province (NWFP) area of Swat to implement Islamic Sharia law [CFR backgrounder; JURIST news archive], according to Pakistani government officials. The implementation of Sharia law in Swat is contingent upon peace [NYT report] between the Pakistani government and Islamic militants linked with the Taliban [JURIST news archive] operating in the area. The agreement is seen by some as a government concession [Dawn report] to Islamic militant groups in the NWFP. As with an earlier tentative agreement [JURIST report] reached in May 2008 to establish Sharia law in the Swat area, Monday's agreement will create a separate justice system [BBC report] for the whole region.

The May 2008 agreement [Guardian report] to establish Sharia law in the Swat area, which collapsed amid ongoing violence between Islamic groups and the Pakistani military, provided that militants would halt suicide attacks and hand over foreign fighters under local protection. In exchange, an Islamic justice system would have been created to operate in parallel with the secular system, and established Pakistani courts would have been advised by Islamic scholars. Violence by Islamic militants has long been a problem in Pakistan's outlying provinces. Earlier in 2008, Pakistan's top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud [BBC profile] and four others were charged [JURIST report] in the assassination of former prime minister Benzhair Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive]. Meshud is the commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban, a group of Islamic militants with links to al Qaeda. He has denied involvement in the attack.