Tymoshenko is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence after she was convicted of abusing her power [JURIST report] during her service as prime minister. In December the EU policy chief criticized the court of appeals [JURIST report] in Tymoshenko's case for not addressing the actual legal issues of the case. Earlier that month, Tymoshenko ended her appeal in Ukrainian courts [JURIST report] in order to focus on appeals in the ECHR. Her initial appeal was denied [JURIST report] that same month.

Last month, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] began a fraud investigation [JURIST report] into Wells Fargo & Company [corporate website] by filing a subpoena enforcement action to force the company to turn over documents connected to its sale of $60 in residential mortgage-backed securities to investors. The fraud is allegedly due to material misrepresentations or omitted material facts in a number of Wells Fargo offerings between 2006 and 2008. The SEC is also investigating several other firms [Bloomberg report] that failed to disclose material facts related to weaknesses in offerings, and has informed Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase [corporate website] that they may also face charges. Earlier in March, the country's five largest mortgage service providers reached a $25 billion dollar agreement [JURIST report] with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) [official websites], and 49 state attorneys general over mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. Announced in February [JURIST report], the settlement does not prevent civil suits by individual homeowners or criminal charges pursued by federal or state authorities.

Human rights groups have closely scrutinized Kazakhstan's adherence to its international human rights obligations. In October Nazarbayev signed a restrictive law to curb religious extremism after the Kazakhstani parliament passed the bill [JURIST reports] a month earlier. Last April Nazarbayev discharged six justices [JURIST report] of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazkhstan for corruption. Kazakhstan submitted to a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council [official websites] in February 2010. Kazakhstan accepted 121 of the recommendations [Kazakhstan UPR materials] to reduce human rights violation, particularly with respect to freedom of the press. In August 2009, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction [JURIST report] of publisher Ramazan Esergepov, who was sentenced to three years in jail for revealing state secrets in his newspaper. A representative of Freedom of the Media at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) [official websites] said that revealing public corruption [press release] is the "main duty of the journalists acting in the public interest," and that "[c]riminal sanctions for 'breach of secrecy' should only apply to the officials whose job descriptions stipulate the duty to protect sensitive information, but not to citizens."

Mali has experienced military turmoil since Taureg rebels began attacking Malian soldiers [Al Jazeera report] in January. Last month Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, who led Malian soldiers in a military coup [JURIST report], announced he would reinstate the country's 1992 Constitution [text, PDF, in French] and create a transitional government to hold elections. Also in March the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [official website] expressed concern over political and security instability in Mali [JURIST report], and how ongoing fighting between government forces and Tuareg rebels will affect Malians forced to flee their homes in search of safety. Last month the acting head of the EU delegation in Mali, Bertrand Soret, met with Sanogo and urged a quick return to constitutional order [JURIST report]. Soret indicated that the EU expected the Malian military to find a solution to the current crisis, and that he has asked to have access to government ministers that have been detained by the military. The UNHCR reported last month that more than 80,000 people had fled Mali [press release] to escape the fighting.

The Venezuelan government has been criticized in the past, largely for restricting human rights. In December 2010, the National Assembly of Venezuela [official website, in Spanish] passed [JURIST report] the Social Responsibility Law [text, PDF, in Spanish], which bans Internet content that promotes unrest among citizens or challenges legally established authorities. In June 2010, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) [official website] sent a letter to the Venezuelan government expressing concern [JURIST report] over the increasing threat to freedom of expression [press release] in the country, citing three recent cases that caused particular concern. In February 2010, the IACHR released a report [JURIST report] providing a detailed analysis on the state of human rights in Venezuela, which ultimately concluded that not all citizens are ensured full enjoyment of their basic human rights. The top Venezuelan human rights official criticized the report [JURIST report] and said that the report makes unfair characterizations and undermines Venezuelan democracy.

Strategies based on the narrow pursuit of economic growth without due regard for equity and related environmental, social and human rights considerations, will both fail in their economic objectives, and risk damaging the planet and the fundamental rights of people.

Officially known as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development [Britannica backgrounder], the 1992 Rio Conference was a groundbreaking push for a unified effort towards sustainable development. Commencing this June in Rio de Janeiro, Rio+20 is intended to act as a twenty year anniversary thrust to further the goals of the first conference and address new concerns threatening efforts towards sustainable development. The conference will focus on two primary themes: 'a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication' and 'the institutional framework for sustainable development.' The UN has also made public a collection of issue briefs [briefs collection] ahead of the conference which identify some of the specific resources and goals that will be at issue in the conference.

The fact that security personnel attacked Abbasov in broad daylight is utterly outrageous and shows the climate of impunity for attacks on journalists in Azerbaijan. The European Broadcasting Union should not stand by and watch silently as this violent campaign against the media unfolds.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [advocacy website] released its annual Attacks on the Press report [JURIST report] in February, expressing concern about increased censorship of journalists worldwide in 2011. Last May, journalism rights group Reporters without Borders (RSF) [advocacy website] released [JURIST report] its annual list of predators of press freedom [materials; press release], which included the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev. In April 2011, the US Department of State (DOS) [official website] released its 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [materials]. The reports cited many of the same countries and organizations [JURIST report] as the RSF for violating freedom of the press, including Azerbaijan. RSF's 2010 report [JURIST report] also listed many of the same offenders.

The Ferris doctrine originates in Ferris v. United States, an 1892 Court of Claims opinion that sets forth "A contractor who is one of several persons to be paid out of an appropriation is not chargeable with knowledge of its administration, nor can his legal rights be affected or impaired by its maladministration or by its diversion, whether legal or illegal, to other objects." The ancient doctrine was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 2005 through Cherokee Nation v. Leavitt [JURIST report], which held the original presumption that under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, tribes may undertake and be reimbursed for programs that would otherwise be provided by the government.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a concurring opinion, with which Justice Stephen Breyer joined, expressing her concern that the court's decision "foreclose[d] a district court's authority ... to exclude evidence "deliberately suppressed"from the PTO or otherwise withheld in bad faith." The decision, she notes, prohibits courts from exercising authority to "exclude evidence from a § 145 proceeding when its admission would be inconsistent with regular equity practice and procedure."

The court's decision resolves a circuit split "with respect to whether the TVPA authorizes actions against defendants that are not natural persons." In February, the court heard arguments [JURIST report] in the related case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] about whether three oil companies are immune from US lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute of 1789 (ATS) [text] for alleged torture and international law violations that took place overseas. The court is slated to hear rearguments next term in Kiobel to determine whether the ATS allows US courts to hear lawsuits for overseas violations of international law.

Omar Khadr was charged after he was captured following a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002 in which he threw a hand grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another. In August 2010 the military judge rejected Khadr's claim that his confession was a byproduct of torture [JURIST report]. Earlier that August, the same judge ruled that Khadr's confession was admissible at trial [JURIST report]. Canada had previously declined to seek Khadr's repatriation [JURIST report] after his former lawyers obtained a ruling in the Supreme Court of Canada [official website] that the interrogation of Khadr by Canadian officials while in detention violated section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text]. According to the ruling, Canadian officials questioned Khadr, who was captured at age 15, even though they knew he was being indefinitely detained, and, in March 2004, he was questioned with knowledge that he was subjected to three weeks sleep deprivation by US authorities. Still, that ruling did not force the government to seek his repatriation.