UNl Special Rapporteur David Kaye called on Thai authorities Tuesday to cease using royal defamation laws to counter free speech that is critical of the royal family. This report was released as a law student activist awaits trial in detention for sharing a BBC news article on the new King, Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, on his [...]

The trial of eight former Bosnian Serb police officers charged with participating in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre began on Monday before the Higher Court in Belgrade. The court rejected another postponement , as defense lawyers postponed in December due to they demanded to know the prosecution’s protect witnesses. The trial is seen as a litmus [...]

The Syrian government has hanged more than 13,000 prisoners in extrajudicial executions over a five-year period at Saydnaya prison, Amnesty International (AI) reported Monday. The report says that the hangings occurred with alarming frequency, with up to 50 people hanged at a time at least once a week in the middle of the night. Further, [...]

UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng said Monday that violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state could amount to crimes against humanity. Responding to a UN report issued last week, Dieng said the treatment of members of the Rohingya community was “revolting and unacceptable.” Dieng stated: If people are being persecuted based on [...]

South Korea’s special prosecutor indicted former culture minister Cho Yoon-sun and former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon Tuesday for their roles in creating a blacklist of opposition artists. They are charged with coercion, abuse of power and perjury connected to the decision to identify artists critical of the impeached president Park Geun-hye , and [...]

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was ordered Tuesday to face trial over alleged illegal campaign financing during his 2012 run for re-election. France places a limit of €22.5 million for campaign spending. Investigators suspect Sarkozy exceeded that amount by €23 million on big-production, theatrical rallies. The event company, Bygmalion, helped conceal the overspending by false [...]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday announced a $2.2 million settlement with VIZIO over the alleged collection of viewer data without consent. The settlement was in response to an FTC complaint seeking relief under the FTC Act . VIZIO was accused of using deceptive practices, including having their televisions capture second-by-second viewing data, without [...]

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards was sued on Monday over the public defender system over allegations it denies effective representation to the poor . Edwards was sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on behalf of 13 criminal defendants in a suit that is also seeking [...]

Responding to mounting actions by President Pierre Nkurunziza , UN human rights experts condemned on Monday governmental hostility towards non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights defenders. The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights report cites numerous suspensions, including rights organization Ligue ITEKA and governance organization OLUFAD, as part of a troubling pattern [...]

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens signed a bill into law on Monday, making Missouri the most recent right to work state. The law, which will go into effect August 28, prevents employers from requiring union membership or dues to support a union as a condition of employment, making it a misdemeanor to do so. Missouri will [...]