The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on Thursday rejected an appeal by relatives of victims of the 1940 Katyn Massacre to reopen investigations into the killings. The court reasoned that the Soviet-era criminal code to be applied to the killings places a ten year statute of limitations on the proceedings. A decade-long official inquiry [...]

A judge for the National Court of Spain ordered an investigation Thursday of former Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and six soldiers under his command for alleged crimes against humanity committed in a 2002 attack in the Gaza Strip. Judge Fernando Andreu issued the order in response to a complaint brought by the Palestinian Center [...]

US President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 into law Thursday, extending the deadline for employees to sue their employers for unequal pay discrimination. The law's "clarification" of equal pay protections effectively overturns the 2007 decision of the US Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. , [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed deep concern Thursday over the deteriorating conditions for a quarter of a million Sri Lankans trapped in the conflict-ravaged north, calling for investigations and prosecutions of killings and other human rights abuses. Pillay said she is concerned over reports of human rights abuses, disproportionate displacement, masses [...]

Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman major general Abdel Karim Khalaf said Thursday that the country would not renew a contract allowing Blackwater Worldwide private security forces to operate within the country. Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) , which became effective this month and was signed by the US and Iraq in December, the country has [...]

Former Bosnian Serb leader and war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic requested Thursday that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) shorten his indictment in order to expedite his trial. The request came as a response to a motion by ICTY prosecutors last September, seeking to amend Karadzic's indictment and simplify the trial. That amendment [...]

The trial of former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga resumed Thursday after the first witness to testify withdrew his testimony Wednesday, causing the inaugural war crimes trial of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to adjourn temporarily to assess witness safety. The witness, who remains unidentified, initially testified that he was recruited by Lubanga's soldiers to [...]

A judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Wednesday that the US may continue to hold Yemeni detainee Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility. Judge Richard Leon held that the government had met its burden of proving, by a preponderance of evidence, that Al Bihani is [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist S.R. Subramanian of the Hidayatullah National Law University in Raipur, India, says that recent UN Security Council endorsement of a law enforcement mechanism called a "shipriders agreement" represents a significant step forward in the new international fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia… Maritime piracy is one of the oldest international [...]

Japanese defense minister Yasukazu Hamada on Wednesday ordered the country's Maritime Self-Defense Force to prepare to travel to the waters surrounding Somalia to combat piracy in the region, despite concerns that combat could be prohibited by the country's constitution. Hamada has said the plan is designed to protect the country's commercial interests, but opposition lawmakers [...]