- California high court rules Proposition 8 sponsors may defend it in court
- ICTY issues arrest warrant for former spokesperson
- UN humanitarian chief emphasizes need to protect civilians in conflict zones
- Rwanda genocide tribunal convicts former mayor
- BP reparations lawsuit remanded to Mississippi state court
- Khmer Rouge leader declared unfit to stand trial
- Senate committee votes to grant military complete control over al Qaeda suspects
[JURIST] The California Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF; Perry v. Brown materials] Thursday that sponsors of Proposition 8 [text; JURIST news archive] and other ballot initiatives can defend them in court when the state refuses to do so. When the same-sex marriage ban was initially struck down last [read more]
[JURIST] The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] Wednesday issued an arrest warrant [order, PDF; press release] for former spokesperson Florence Hartmann [BBC profile; ICTY materials, PDF] for nonpayment of a €7,000 fine imposed for a contempt of court conviction. A five-judge [read more]
[JURIST] The UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs [official website] stressed Thursday that parties in conflict have a duty to protect non-combatants [UN News Centre report] under international law. Valerie Amos [official profile] highlighted conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and Yemen [BBC backgrounders] as examples of countries where civilians are being targeted. [read more]
[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] convicted [judgment summary, PDF] former Rwandan mayor Gregoire Ndahimana [HJP profile] of genocide and crimes against humanity on Thursday and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Ndahimana was charged in connection with the 1994 Rwandan Genocide [BBC backgrounder]. He [read more]
[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website] Tuesday remanded to state court [order, PDF] the Mississippi attorney general's lawsuit against the administrator of the British Petroleum (BP) [corporate website] $20 billion Deepwater Horizon oil spill [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] reparations [read more]
[JURIST] The UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Thursday decided [text, PDF; materials] that Ieng Thirith [ECCC profile, PDF] is unfit to stand trial—just days before the war crimes trial [press release] of the surviving Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news [read more]
[JURIST] The Senate Armed Services Committee [official website] on Wednesday finally agreed on a controversial detainee provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 [SB 1867, PDF] that governs the handling and prosecuting of suspected al Qaeda [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] detainees. The provision, which was approved by a 26-0 vote [read more]
