JURIST's legal news service, powered by a team of over 40 law student reporters and editors led by Professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. http://jurist.org/paperchase JURISTremove_this@jurist.org (Jurist Webmaster) Sat, 25 May 2013 13:32:03 -0500 [JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] ordered [press release] Friday that Zivko Budimir [official website, in Croatian], president of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, be released from jail immediately. Budmir was arrested [JURIST report] in April along with 19 other officials as part of a corruption investigation and crackdown. Budmir, who has been charged with accepting bribes to grant amnesty to numerous convicts, left the prison in the southern town of Mostar late Friday evening. Bosnia and Herzegovina... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/bosnia-court-orders-release-of-president.php Sat, 25 May 2013 13:32:03 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/bosnia-court-orders-release-of-president.php Blake Lynch ... [JURIST] Puerto Rico's House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation in places of employment. According to media sources, the bill originally included protections for commercial transactions, housing, governmental services, and public accommodations, but the Senate voted [AP report] to narrow to bill's scope to employment last week. The bill will now move back to the Senate, which is expected to approve the measure. In addition, Governor Alejandro Garcia... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/puerto-rico-lawmakers-approve-gender-sexual-orientation-discrimination-law.php Sat, 25 May 2013 12:26:29 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/puerto-rico-lawmakers-approve-gender-sexual-orientation-discrimination-law.php Benjamin Minegar ... [JURIST] A group of UN independent experts on Friday urged South Asian countries to strengthen legislation to prevent caste-based discrimination [press release]. In South Asia, those members of society who are of low caste are referred to as "Dalits" or "untouchables." The UN experts noted that Dalits endure "marginalization, social and economic exclusion, segregation in housing, limited access to basic services including water and sanitation and employment, enforcement of certain types of menial jobs, and working conditions similar to... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/un-rights-experts-urger-south-asian-countries-to-strengthen-legislation.php Sat, 25 May 2013 11:56:25 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/un-rights-experts-urger-south-asian-countries-to-strengthen-legislation.php Blake Lynch ... [JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] on Friday upheld [opinion, PDF] the conviction and 28-year sentence for former Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas [official website] judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. In February 2011 Ciavarella was convicted by a jury [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania [official website] of racketeering, mail fraud, money laundering, tax fraud and other related crimes. The convictions stemmed from a juvenile sentencing scandal... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/third-circuit-upholds-conviction-in-pennsylvania-juvenile-sentencing-scandal.php Sat, 25 May 2013 10:16:16 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/third-circuit-upholds-conviction-in-pennsylvania-juvenile-sentencing-scandal.php Benjamin Minegar ... [JURIST] African foreign ministers agreed Friday to request that Kenyan leaders accused of inciting violence following the 2007 elections stand trial in their home country rather than before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] in The Hague. This follows Tuesday's report [text, PDF] by the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission [advocacy website] connecting [JURIST report] the Kenyan leaders to the violence. The African leaders' request stems from accusations [AFP report] by members of the African Union that the ICC... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/african-leaders-to-request-icc-try-kenyan-leaders-in-kenya.php Fri, 24 May 2013 15:03:40 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/african-leaders-to-request-icc-try-kenyan-leaders-in-kenya.php G. Redd ... [JURIST] Finnish telecommunications company Nokia filed suit against Taiwanese company HTC [corporate websites] Thursday for selling products in the US that infringe Nokia's patents on mobile technology. Three patents in question involve program products typically used in hand sets for a mobile phone. Thursday's suit brings the total number [Inquirer report] of Nokia patents being asserted against HTC in courts around the world to 50. Nokia has a long history [JURIST news archive] of holding other companies accountable in the... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/nokia-files-patent-infringement-suit-against-htc.php Fri, 24 May 2013 12:38:35 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/nokia-files-patent-infringement-suit-against-htc.php G. Redd ... [JURIST] Hobby Lobby, Inc. [corporate website] requested an exemption from the mandate to provide employees with coverage for contraceptives under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) [text; JURIST backgrounder] in an en banc hearing before the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] on Thursday. The Green family, founders of Hobby Lobby and its sister company Mardel, contend [AP report] that businesses, not just the currently exempted religious groups, should be excepted from that part... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/tenth-circuit-hears-hobby-lobby-appeal-of-health-care-ruling.php Fri, 24 May 2013 11:51:00 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/tenth-circuit-hears-hobby-lobby-appeal-of-health-care-ruling.php Julie Deisher ... [JURIST] The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) [official website] and the Kosovo Police Special Operations Unit ROSU [EU backgrounder, PDF] arrested five people Thursday on suspicion of war crimes in the 1998-1999 conflict [JURIST news archive]. Although the names of the accused were not released, the lawyer for Sami Lushtaku announced that his client is among those arrested. Lushtaku is the mayor of the town of Skenderaj [OSCE backgrounder, PDF], and is a close ally of... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/allies-of-kosovo-pm-probed-over-war-crimes.php Fri, 24 May 2013 11:42:52 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/allies-of-kosovo-pm-probed-over-war-crimes.php G. Redd ... [JURIST] US District Judge Denise Cote expressed a tentative view on Thursday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] would be able to show at trial that Apple [corporate website] knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise the prices of e-books with five publishers. She said her view was based largely [Reuters report] on material submitted as evidence. The trial, set for June 3, will proceed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/federal-judge-believes-doj-will-prevail-in-apple-antitrust-case.php Fri, 24 May 2013 10:23:25 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/federal-judge-believes-doj-will-prevail-in-apple-antitrust-case.php Julie Deisher ... [JURIST] The Afghan Parliament approved two new electoral laws Wednesday that will take effect in the elections next spring. According to Tolo News of Afghanistan [official website], the statutes in question will provide a legal framework for the quarantine of ballot boxes and the creation of a complaints commission. Both houses of the Afghan Parliament have been working with President Hamid Karzai [official website] to establish laws for the election [unofficial statute translation, PDF] of his successor, and recent delays... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/afghan-lawmakers-approve-new-electoral-law.php Fri, 24 May 2013 10:19:36 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/afghan-lawmakers-approve-new-electoral-law.php G. Redd ... [JURIST] US President Barack Obama [official website] delivered a speech [text] Thursday on US counterterrorism policy and efforts, outlining plans to restrict the use of unmanned drone strikes and to renew efforts to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder]. In Obama's first major speech on counterterrorism since his re-election, he addressed the war on terror: "Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue, but this war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. That's... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/obama-addresses-us-drone-strikes-steps-to-close-guantanamo.php Fri, 24 May 2013 09:38:24 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/obama-addresses-us-drone-strikes-steps-to-close-guantanamo.php Alison Sacriponte ... [JURIST] Lawyers representing Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] prisoners filed a complaint [text; case materials] Thursday alleging search policies restrict the detainees' access to counsel. According to a new policy [Al Jazeera report], detainees are subject to a genital pat-down whenever they wish to leave the detention camp, which they must do to meet with their lawyers. This caused representatives for more than a dozen detainees to file the complaint, saying:The new policies have no legitimate purpose, but are pretextual, imposed... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/guantanamo-lawyers-seek-end-to-invasive-search-policy.php Fri, 24 May 2013 08:43:13 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/guantanamo-lawyers-seek-end-to-invasive-search-policy.php Matthew Pomy ... [JURIST] Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] on Thursday published its annual report entitled State of the World's Human Rights [materials], which details the human rights landscape across the world in 2012. The report focuses on the increasing danger faced by those displaced from their homes. This includes international refugees displaced by violence and those internally displaced. More than 42 million individuals have been forced to flee from their homes because of violence or persecution. Specifically, the fighting in Syria [JURIST... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/amnesty-international-publishes-annual-human-rights-report.php Fri, 24 May 2013 07:08:43 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/amnesty-international-publishes-annual-human-rights-report.php Matthew Pomy ... [JURIST] The Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs [official website, in Malay] on Thursday seized [press release, in Malay] more than 2,500 copies of newspapers published by opposition parties. The Ministry states that the seized newspapers were sold in violation of their publication licenses, which limit the distribution of opposition party newspapers to party members, not public retail sale. Malaysian authorities have also made several unpopular arrests [AP report], including Tian Chua, a senior official in opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's People's... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/malaysia-authorities-seize-newspapers-detain-opposition-activists.php Thu, 23 May 2013 12:34:44 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/malaysia-authorities-seize-newspapers-detain-opposition-activists.php Julie Deisher ... [JURIST] A Russian court on Thursday denied parole for Maria Alekhina, a member of the feminist rock band Pussy Riot [RASPI backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Band members Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were sentenced [JURIST report] to two years in prison for "hooliganism," characterized by the court as driven by religious hatred, in connection to the band's February 2012 "guerrilla performance" of a protest song at the altar of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral [official website], a space maintained... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/member-of-feminist-rock-group-pussy-riot-denied-parole.php Thu, 23 May 2013 11:56:19 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/member-of-feminist-rock-group-pussy-riot-denied-parole.php Julie Deisher ... [JURIST] The North Cairo Criminal Court on Wednesday acquitted seven police officers accused of killing a protester and injuring 11 others during the January 2011 revolution. The public prosecution had charged these seven police officers with attempted and premeditated murder. The initial panel of judges on this case declined to review it, forcing the appeals court to assign a new panel of judges. The court found insufficient evidence [Daily News Egypt report] to convict. Most Egyptian police officers with charges... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/egypt-court-acquits-police-officers-accused-of-killing-protester.php Thu, 23 May 2013 11:39:29 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/egypt-court-acquits-police-officers-accused-of-killing-protester.php Alison Sacriponte ... [JURIST] A Pakistani anti-terrorism court (ATC) refused Wednesday to grant bail to former president Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] over the detention of judges in 2007 when he imposed emergency rule. Musharraf has been detained since April 19 at his Islamabad farmhouse for the detention charges as well as conspiracy to murder former prime minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive]. Just two days ago, the ATC granted bail [JURIST report] to Musharraf over the murder of... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/pakistani-court-refuses-bail-to-musharraf.php Thu, 23 May 2013 10:52:49 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/pakistani-court-refuses-bail-to-musharraf.php Alison Sacriponte ... [JURIST] A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the US House of Representative advocated Wednesday for a law that would shield the press from giving information to a federal entity unless certain conditions are met. The push for legislation [Politico report] comes in response to an incident in which the US Department of Justice (DOJ) obtained journalists' records. In a press conference, Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) called the DOJ's search [The Hill report] for the source of leaked information in April... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/us-lawmakers-urge-media-shield-law.php Thu, 23 May 2013 09:56:49 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/us-lawmakers-urge-media-shield-law.php Kimberly Bennett ... [JURIST] The Japanese parliament [official website, in Japanese] approved a bill on Wednesday adopting the Hague convention on resolving cross-border abductions of children. Parliament unanimously passed [BBC report] the treaty in response to international pressure for Tokyo to address concerns that Japanese mothers from broken international marriages can take children away from foreign fathers, leaving the fathers without any recourse for the children's return. Countries that are party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/japan-lawmakers-approve-international-child-abduction-treaty.php Thu, 23 May 2013 08:33:01 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/japan-lawmakers-approve-international-child-abduction-treaty.php Kimberly Bennett ... [JURIST] Several groups filed a lawsuit [complaint] Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of a new Connecticut gun control law [GA Bill 1160, PDF]. The new law expanded the firearms banned as "assault weapons" under existing state law. It also limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds. The complaint alleges these new requirement are overly vague which makes them too difficult to follow. The lawsuit is seeking an immediate injunction of enforcement of the law. The plaintiffs allege that the new restrictions unconstitutionally... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/connecticut-gun-control-law-challenged-in-federal-court.php Thu, 23 May 2013 08:30:23 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/connecticut-gun-control-law-challenged-in-federal-court.php Matthew Pomy ... [JURIST] A report [text, PDF] released Tuesday by the Kenyan Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) [advocacy website] names President Uhuru Kenyatta [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and Vice President William Ruto [JURIST report] as having contributed to human rights abuses that took place after the 2007 election. The report alleges the two officials helped fund and plan violence. Kenyatta and Ruto [ICC case materials] have already been charged with crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/kenya-report-connects-president-vp-to-post-election-violence.php Thu, 23 May 2013 06:46:55 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/kenya-report-connects-president-vp-to-post-election-violence.php Matthew Pomy ... [JURIST] The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Tuesday approved S. 744 [text], an immigration reform bill. The bill, entitled the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, is intended to help create a 13-year path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million current undocumented immigrants, contingent upon strengthening security along the Mexican border. The bill also proposed an improved process for allowing high-skilled immigrants into the country's workforce. After a five-day deliberation, the bill passed by a vote... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/senate-judiciary-approves-immigration-bill.php Wed, 22 May 2013 12:45:32 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/senate-judiciary-approves-immigration-bill.php Addison Morris ... [JURIST] Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday signed the country's new constitution [text] into law, clearing the path to pivotal elections later this year. The new constitution limits future presidents to two five-year terms. The provision limiting presidential terms will not apply retroactively, so the 89-year-old Mugabe will be able to run in the next election [Reuters report] and potentially continue to serve as president for the next decade. Mugabe has been Zimbabwe's president since... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/zimbabwe-president-signs-constitution-into-law.php Wed, 22 May 2013 11:09:46 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/zimbabwe-president-signs-constitution-into-law.php Addison Morris ... [JURIST] The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that the Arizona law banning abortions at 20 weeks violates women's rights, making it "per se unconstitutional." The opinion, authored by Judge Marsha Berzon, focused on balancing fetal viability and a woman's right to medical autonomy. The state defended the statute [text, PDF] by arguing that it was not an outright ban because it permitted procedures in the event of a medical emergency. The court... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/ninth-circuit-strikes-down-arizona-20-week-abortion-ban.php Wed, 22 May 2013 09:47:10 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/ninth-circuit-strikes-down-arizona-20-week-abortion-ban.php G. Redd ... [JURIST] The House of Commons of the UK Parliament [official websites] voted 366-161 on Tuesday to approve the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill [HC Bill 3]. The legislation was introduced in January [JURIST report] and will effectively extend the application of the Marriage Act of 1949 [materials] to same-sex as well as opposite-sex couples. The bill allows for an exception for any religious institutions that do not wish to perform same-sex weddings. Same-sex couples in England and Wales have been... http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/uk-house-of-commons-approves-same-sex-marriage-bill.php Wed, 22 May 2013 08:37:22 -0500 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/uk-house-of-commons-approves-same-sex-marriage-bill.php Theresa Donovan ...