Prosecutors in the UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) filed an immediate appeal on Friday of the court’s decision to release Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Thirith after finding her unfit to stand trial. The judges found, based on the opinions of a geriatrician and four psychiatrists , that Ieng’s incapacity to remember [...]

A jailed former Sri Lanka army chief was sentenced on Friday to an additional three years in prison for reportedly implicating his country’s defense secretary in war crimes at the end of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war . In the High Court ruling, two out of three judges found that the comments made to [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday denied a request to block the release of names on Washington state petitions for Referendum 71 (R-71) opposing domestic partnerships. Last month, the Washington secretary of state began to release the names after a federal judge lifted an injunction against their release. The release [...]

Philippine authorities arrested former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday in response to a warrant issued that same day on charges of corruption and election fraud occurring during her time as president. Arroyo was arrested in her hospital room where she was being treated for a bone ailment. She was previously unable to seek medical [...]

Russian lawmakers in the city of St. Petersburg on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved an initial reading of a bill that would impose fines against people convicted of promoting homosexuality, including gays or lesbians who are open about their sexuality. The legislation, which was supported by the ruling United Russia party , would ban gay pride parades, [...]

The White House released a statement of administration policy on Thursday praising the work of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 but warning that President Barack Obama could veto the bill if it “challenges or constrains the President’s critical authorities to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, protect [...]

The California Supreme Court ruled 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 Northern District of California , then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former [...]

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 national, and then converted the fine into [...]

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 push out the al-Shabaab rebels after [...]

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 between April 6 and April 20, [...]