[JURIST] US President Barack Obama [official profile] issued a memorandum [text] Monday that proposes to limit the use of attaching presidential signing statements [1993 DOJ backgrounder] which raise constitutional or other legal questions before bills are signed into law. The memorandum suggested parameters for the disregard of statutory provisions based solely on differences in policy, yet at the same time recognized the need to uphold the historical and legal significance of raising valid constitutional objections. Obama also noted the public criticism of presidential signing statements generated by the George W. Bush [JURIST news archive] administration, and the memorandum states:

To ensure that all signing statements previously issued are followed only when consistent with these principles, executive branch departments and agencies are directed to seek the advice of the Attorney General before relying on signing statements issued prior to the date of this memorandum as the basis for disregarding, or otherwise refusing to comply with, any provision of a statute.

[JURIST] Turkish police on Tuesday arrested 56 people charged with plotting to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) [party website], including two retired generals. They were arrested [Reuters report] after the Istanbul prosecutor issued an indictment linking them to the Ergenekon [BBC backgrounder] group case. The group is allegedly responsible for bombing the headquarters of the newspaper Cumhuriyet [media website, in Turkish], assassinating Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink [BBC obituary], and planning other attacks to provoke a military coup to topple the AKP. Retired General Sener Eruygur and retired General Hursit Tolon were arrested last year but were released for health reasons.

Tuesday's arrests are the latest in a series of arrests related to the Ergenekon probe. Last week, a Turkish court ordered the arrest of Cumhuriyet [media website, in Turkish] journalist Mustafa Balbay and internet publisher Neriman Aydin for their alleged involvement the coup plot. There are currently more than 100 suspects in custody, with 40 arrested January 7, another 12 arrested January 12, and 30 arrested January 19. [JURIST reports]. The suspects include journalists, academics, army officers, policemen, and Turkish Workers' Party [party website, in Turkish] leader Dogu Perincek [JURIST report]. In October the High Criminal Court in Istanbul began the trial [JURIST report] of 86 defendants allegedly involved in the coup plot.

[JURIST] The Italian government on Tuesday asked the country's Constitutional Court [official website] to dismiss kidnapping charges against US and Italian intelligence officers, arguing that allowing the case to go forward would harm the country's national security interests. The case involves 26 Americans being tried in absentia and five former Italian intelligence officials charged in the 2003 abduction and rendition [JURIST news archive] of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr [JURIST news archive]. The Constitutional Court is now hearing the case [ANSA report] in closed sessions after suspending the case [JURIST report] for three months in order to allow the government and prosecutors to prepare arguments on the national security issues. Both Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his predecessor, former Prime Minister Romano Prodi [BBC profile], have warned that certain evidence collected by the prosecution could jeopardize future collaboration between Italian and US spy services. Prosecutor Armando Spataro has accused Berlusconi, ex-Italian military intelligence agency chief Niccolo Pollari, and others of inflating security arguments to obstruct justice. The Constitutional Court is expected to rule on whether the case can go forward later this week.

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. Last May, Magi ruled that Berlusconi can be called to testify [JURIST report].

[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Tuesday dismissed [order, PDF] a lawsuit by Saudi Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi that challenged his confinement based on a request [text, PDF] from al-Sharbi himself. According to al-Sharbi's attorney, Judge Emmet Sullivan made the decision after a private hearing [Washington Post report] conducted Friday through a video link with the prison. Sullivan wrote:

While the Court may certainly question the wisdom of abandoning a legal challenge to a detention that has lasted seven years without trial, the Court cannot say that Mr. Al Sharbi is incompetent or is making the decision to withdraw the pending habeas petition involuntarily and unknowingly. Mr. Al Sharbi was able to articulate to the Court his own reasons for wishing to proceed in this manner. The Court cannot say that these reasons are based on incompetence, mental infirmity, or the result of threat or coercion.

[JURIST] Spain's General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) [official website, in Spanish] on Tuesday said that there will be an investigation into the failure of Judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to report his earnings while on sabbatical in the US. Garzon, famed for indicting Osama bin Laden and former Latin American dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archives], took a leave of absence [El Pais report, in Spanish] and accepted a teaching position at New York University between 2005 and 2006 but did not report his earnings. According to CGPJ, any Spanish judge taking a leave of absence must report to the judicial oversight committee any salaries that will be received during that time. While there will be no disciplinary hearing, if he is found to be in violation of the rules, Garzon could be fined, suspended, or possibly expelled.

In addition to the Pinochet and bin Laden indictments, Garzon is well known for his involvement in high-profile investigations of terror and human rights cases. Last October, he ordered [JURIST report] 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 the Francisco Franco dictatorship [BBC backgrounder]. Garzon has also called for the creation of a "truth commission" [JURIST report] to uncover Franco-era abuses.

[JURIST] The Supreme People's Court [official website, in Mandarin] of China will take steps to eliminate judicial corruption, according to a report delivered Tuesday to second session of the Eleventh National People's Congress [official website] by Chief Justice Wang Shengjun [official profile, in Mandarin]. Wang reported that that 712 court officials were punished for misconduct in 2008 and that such corruption has negative social impacts [Xinhua report] and affects the credibility of the courts. He said that the Supreme People's Court would take measures to lessen such corruption with improved ethics education.

In October, the Chinese legislature removed the vice president of the Supreme People's Court [JURIST report] without explanation, although there were allegations of a scandal. In January 2007, the Communist Party of China (CPC) [official website] promised to confront government corruption after former Chief Justice Xiao Yang called for judicial reform [JURIST reports] to regain the public's trust. Several months later, Xiao Yang applauded the reform [JURIST report] that had been achieved.

[JURIST] Head of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) [official website] Ziaul Islam said Tuesday that there are no plans in place to lift the ban on several websites that have posted a recording in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [official profile, BBC profile] is criticized by army officers over how she handled the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) [official website] mutiny [BBC backgrounder] in late February. The BTRC blocked several websites [AFP report] Sunday on government instructions that identified them as subversive or detrimental to the administration because the audio [YouTube clip, part 1 in Bangla; part 2, in Bangla] of the meeting could be distributed through them. Among the websites banned [Blitz report] are YouTube and Esnips [websites]. Bangladeshi media has reported on the contents of the meeting but has not published a transcript.

Bangladeshi officials said Saturday that the government is considering trying by court-martial [JURIST report] the more than 1,000 border guards accused of participating in the BDR mutiny, which killed dozens of top BDR officials, including the force's commander. The US FBI team sent to Bangladesh to assist in the investigation arrived on Sunday [BBN report], and Scotland Yard investigators are also expected to join in the investigation. Hasina was elected to office in December 2008, ending two years of military rule.

[JURIST] A group of lawyers called Monday for the formation of an International Finance Court to adjudicate the issues around the Bernard Madoff [JURIST news archive] fraud case. The Madoff Case Global Alliance of Law Firms, established last month [press release, DOC] at a meeting in Spain, aims to form an international network [Reuters report] to facilitate sharing information and developing strategies. They say an international forum must be established to address the complex issues of the case because of their sheer magnitude and because they unfold across several legal systems. The group plans to meet Wednesday with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] chairman Mary Schapiro [official profile] to lobby for their proposal. The alliance also plans to present their proposal to the Group of 20 (G-20) [official website] at their April meeting in London in the belief that their plan should be organized in conjunction with the UN, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Leading the coalition of lawyers is Javier Cremades [professional profile, in Spanish], from the Spanish law firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo [firm website, in Spanish], and Gaytri Kachroo [professional profile], from the US law firm McCarter & English [firm website]. Cremades and his law firm have brought a lawsuit [summons, PDF] against the Spanish bank Santander [corporate website, in Spanish] in a US federal court, although the case has not yet been adjudicated as the judge questions the appropriateness of jurisdiction [Bloomberg report] and the need for court intervention. McCarter and English is the law firm representing Harry Markopolos [Boston Globe profile], a whistleblower who accused [text] Madoff of fraud before the SEC in 2005.

In February, Madoff consented to a partial judgment [JURIST report] with the SEC over civil charges brought by the SEC to obtain preliminary injunction and freeze Madoff's assets. Madoff still faces criminal charges [JURIST report] by the SEC. The SEC's capacity for enforcement has been heavily questioned in the wake of the alleged Ponzi schemes perpetrated by Madoff and other financiers like Allen Stanford [JURIST report].