A Dutch court ruled in 2008 in favor of the government, finding that the statute of limitations barred [JURIST report] the plaintiffs' claims. Indonesian officials say that Dutch soldiers shot 431 people as they tried to escape the massacre, while a 1969 Dutch investigation reported that 150 people were killed. In 2009, the Dutch government, which has never apologized for the massacre, allegedly donated 850,000 euros to Balongsari, although the village claims that it has not received the money [RNW report]. The Netherlands colonized Indonesia, then called the Dutch East Indies, from the late sixteenth century until 1949.

As Libya begins its recovery from conflict, the World Bank has been asked to lead the effort in the areas of public expenditure and financial management, infrastructure repair, job creation for young people and service delivery. The World Bank joins the United Nations and the European Union as one of the three institutions invited by Libya's [NTC] to coordinate assistance for the north African nation as it forges a path forward after months of violent conflict.

The NTC assured world leaders last week that Libya will be a society of tolerance and respect [JURIST report] for the rule of law. During a meeting [BBC report] in Paris chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil [BBC profiles] vowed to administer elections and draft a new constitution for Libya within 18 months. However, allegations of war crimes and human rights violations have been widespread during the Libya conflict. On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official profile] sent a letter [text, PDF] to the UN Security Council (UNSC) [official website] seeking the formation of a mission to provide assistance [JURIST report] to the new post-conflict authorities in Libya. Last month, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) [advocacy website] reported [text, PDF] Libyan troops used children as human shields [JURIST report] to deter attacks by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) [official website]. Also last month, Libyan Prime Minister Al Baghdad Ali Al-Mahmoudi requested that the UN create a "high-level commission" to investigate alleged human rights abuses [JURIST report] by NATO. In June, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] decided to extend a mandate to an investigative panel instructing it to continue its investigation of human rights abuses in Libya, after it published a 92-page report [JURIST reports] claiming authorities committed multiple crimes against humanity.

See JURIST's Feature on the Libya conflict for more.

Other former French officials have also been accused of scandals and subjected to investigations as a result. Last month, a commission of the Court of Cassation ordered an investigation [JURIST report] into the newly appointed Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) [official website], Christine Lagarde, for her involvement in a $400 million arbitration agreement with French businessman Bernard Tapie. Tapie won a settlement with state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais [official website, in French] in 2008 when Lagarde was acting as France's Finance Minister. A senior prosecutor contends that Lagarde "overstepped her authority" in allowing the arbitration to proceed because the controversy involved a state-owned institution. Furthermore, an investigation would be needed to determine whether Lagarde sufficiently probed the neutrality of one of the arbitration judges. The investigation will be ongoing for several months, after which a decision will be made about whether to send the case to trial.

Moreover, the court has been unable to find any precedent, and the parties have been unable to direct the court to any precedent, that permits the expansion of the Commerce Clause authority to regulate individuals prior to their engagement in commercial activity on the basis of the unique nature of the market being regulated. This court is bound by the principles of stare decisis and must reasonably interpret, not create, law. This court's interpretation of existing precedent, including Lopez and Morrison, leads the court to the conclusion that the Supreme Court would not construe the Commerce power to have such expansive reach. The extension of the Commerce Clause in the manner the government suggests is unsupported by precedent and therefore beyond the scope of this court's proper function to grant.

Given the split in decisions being handed down, the US Supreme Court [official website] is expected to weigh in next year. Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] dismissed two lawsuits [JURIST report] challenging the constitutionality of the PPACA. In Virginia v. Sebelius, the court held that Virginia lacked standing to sue and vacated the judgment of the district court [JURIST report], remanding the case with instructions to dismiss the suit for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. In Liberty University v. Geithner, the court ruled that the suit was filed prematurely, also vacating the lower court ruling [JURIST report], which had declared the act constitutional. Although the Fourth Circuit dismissed the cases without deciding the issue of constitutionality, other federal courts have not hesitated to address it. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] struck down the individual mandate [JURIST report] as unconstitutional, creating a circuit split. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] had upheld the law in June, and that ruling was appealed [JURIST reports] to the Supreme Court by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) [advocacy website].

The Russian Investigative Committee [official website, in Russian] said in June that there was no evidence of undue pressure [JURIST report] by superiors on the judge that sentenced Khodorkovsky. Also that month, Khodorkovsky reissued his appeal for release on parole [JURIST report] after the first attempt was returned due to insufficient documentation. Khodorkovsky has served half of a 13-year sentence, reduced by a year [JURIST report] last month, for fraud, theft and money laundering, which under Russian law makes him eligible for parole. In December, Judge Viktor Danilkin sentenced [JURIST report] Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to six additional years in prison, extending their imprisonment to a total of 14 years. Their defense counsel staunchly criticized the ruling, claiming [press release] that the court blocked significant amounts of testimony and evidence submitted by the defense and systematically quashed objections to their omission. The verdict drew vehement international criticism [JURIST report], including from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official profile], who said [press release] that the ruling "raises serious questions about selective prosecution."

The Mission notes the danger that the protests might become increasingly radicalized and more violent in response to the excessive use of lethal force by the government, and the growing involvement of, and intimidation by, armed elements within the demonstrations. In essence violence has led to more violence and it is a tribute to the street protesters that they have sought to maintain their peaceful character despite the heavy price in loss of life and in severe injuries that has been paid thus far. On the other hand, the Mission is alarmed by the deteriorating humanitarian situation, which is negatively affecting most Yemenis, but in particular the poorest and most vulnerable, such as children, IDPs and refugees. Isolated acts of sabotage cannot account for all the suffering witnessed by or reported to the Mission throughout the country and the availability of electricity, fuel, cooking gas, water and other basic services should not be misused to punish the entire population. The Mission is of the view that calls for investigations and prosecutions will be undermined unless urgent measures are undertaken to ensure the independence and integrity of the judiciary and to provide them with sufficient resources. Additionally, given the lack of confidence by many Yemenis in the judiciary to conduct impartial investigations into human rights abuses there is a need for international, independent and impartial investigations to take place.

The delegation's report comes as many rights groups have criticized Yemen for its handling of pro-democracy protests that have persisted since February. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] released a report [text; PDF] in April urging the international community to pressure Yemeni authorities to investigate protestor deaths. Just days earlier, the OHCHR urged the Yemeni government [JURIST report] to stop using force against peaceful protesters. The Yemeni Parliament enacted several emergency measures [JURIST report] in March at the request of President Ali Abdullah Saleh [official website, in Arabic] in an effort to end anti-government protests. Saleh, who agreed to step down in April [JURIST report], and his party, the General People's Congress (GPC), had caused mounting political tensions due to attempts to remove presidential term limits [JURIST report] and expand their political power. In December, the parliament stoked outrage among opposition parties and independents when it amended the constitution [AFP report] to eliminate provisions requiring that opposition parties be represented on the high election commission. The protests in Yemen have been analyzed in two recent JURIST op-eds: Constitutional Enforcement in Tunisia, Yemen, and Egypt by L. Ali Khan, Professor of Law at Washburn University, and The Middle East protest movements: each with a story, all with uncertainty by Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Vice President of Research, Foundation for Defense of Democracies [advocacy website].