[JURIST] A Spanish judge on Tuesday ordered the release of former Guatemalan interior minister Carlos Vielmann after authorities in Guatemala failed to request his extradition. Vielmann has been imprisoned in Spain [El Mundo report, in Spanish] since his arrest in Madrid last month, and was to be extradited on charges [read more]

[JURIST] A jury for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] on Wednesday convicted five Somali men on charges of piracy [JURIST news archive], the first such conviction in the US in nearly 200 years. The men were found guilty on charges of piracy, attacking [read more]

[JURIST] US Air Force Major Margaret Witt, who was discharged under the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) [10 USC § 654; JURIST news archive] policy, will become the first openly gay person to serve in the US military after the Obama administration Wednesday did not pursue a stay of [read more]

[JURIST] Germany's Federal Constitutional Court [official website, in German] on Wednesday upheld restrictions [judgment, in German; press release] on the use of genetically modified (GM) crops. The German state of Saxony-Anhalt had challenged the 2008 law, which requires "buffer zones" between GM and conventional crops. The law also mandates that [read more]

[JURIST] A court in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday sentenced 19 ethnic Uzbeks for their involvement in the June 2010 ethnic violence [Guardian backgrounder; JURIST news archive] that resulted in more than 300 deaths and an additional 2,000 injuries. Seventeen of the Uzbeks received life sentences and two received 25-year sentences for [read more]

[JURIST] The Federal Court of Malaysia [official website], the country's highest court, on Wednesday rejected a defamation suit filed by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim [official profile; JURIST news archive] against former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad [BBC profile]. Anwar filed suit in 2006 after Mahathir allegedly suggested at a [read more]