The California Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF; Perry v. Brown materials] Thursday that sponsors of Proposition 8 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 year by the US District Court for the …
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for former spokesperson Florence Hartmann for nonpayment of a €7,000 fine imposed for a contempt of court conviction. A five-judge appeals panel reordered the fine imposed on Hartmann, a French …
The UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs stressed Thursday that parties in conflict have a duty to protect non-combatants under international law. Valerie Amos highlighted conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and Yemen as examples of countries where civilians are being targeted. In Somalia, Somalis and Kenyans are engaged in battle to …
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) convicted former Rwandan mayor Gregoire Ndahimana 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. He was convicted of the killings at Nyange parish …
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Tuesday remanded to state court the Mississippi attorney general's lawsuit against the administrator of the British Petroleum (BP) $20 billion Deepwater Horizon oil spill reparations fund, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF). Seeking …
The UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Thursday decided that Ieng Thirith is unfit to stand trial—just days before the war crimes trial of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders is set to start. Ieng, the former minister …
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday finally agreed on a controversial detainee provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 that governs the handling and prosecuting of suspected al Qaeda detainees. The provision, which was approved by a 26-0 vote, allows the military to have complete custody …
