Chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo confirmed Wednesday that the Guinean military is under preliminary investigation for the September 28 incident at a Conakry pro-democracy rally in which soldiers allegedly opened fire, killing more than 150 civilians and wounding more than 1,200. Ocampo's preliminary investigation will determine "whether crimes falling [...]

Chilean Subsecretary of the Interior Patricio Rosende announced Tuesday that Chile will use a 1984 antiterrorism law to prosecute indigenous Mapuches for attacks allegedly committed in the southern region of Araucania. The Chilean government has declared that it will apply the measure to criminals regardless of their ethnicity, and that only a minority of Mapuches [...]

Former Hutu intelligence chief Idelphonse Nizeyimana on Wednesday pleaded not guilty in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to charges related to his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide . The ICTR indicted Nizeyimana in 2000 for genocide and crimes against humanity, but the military leader had evaded authorities until his arrest last week. [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in two cases. In Alvarez v. Smith , the Court heard arguments on whether the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires state and local governments to allow probable cause challenges to property seizures, and if so, what the requirements for those hearings should be. Six [...]

An international convention is needed to protect the victims of organ, tissue, and cell (OTC) trafficking, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Council of Europe (COE) and the UN. The report calls for a separate OTC convention in addition to the convention against human trafficking, drawing a distinction between OTC trafficking and [...]

The US Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 to approve a health care reform bill Tuesday. The America's Healthy Future Act, introduced by committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) , would require most US citizens to obtain health insurance and would create tax breaks for low-income families purchasing insurance. The bill would also prohibit insurance companies from [...]

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) dismissed an appeal claiming immunity by former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in a ruling released Tuesday. Karadzic, who stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, argued that the ICTY cannot prosecute him because US diplomat Richard Holbrooke promised him [...]

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon charged two suspected Somali pirates accused of helping take over the Alakrana, a Spanish ship currently under the control of Somali Pirates. The suspects, Abdou Willy and Raagegeesey, were charged with 36 counts of kidnapping as well as armed assault. Neither suspect has admitted to breaking any laws. The two were [...]

Ingrid Burke, Pitt Law '11; and Rick Grubb, Pitt Law '10; attended a University of Pittsburgh speech by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speech during the G-20 summit… Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came to the University of Pittsburgh during the G-20 summit to give some remarks of his own on the 50th anniversary of President Nikita [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in three cases. In South Carolina v. North Carolina , the Court heard arguments on whether additional parties may intervene in a lawsuit between two states, over which the Court has original jurisdiction. A special master recommended that three parties – the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, [...]