The National Assembly of Serbia voted 219-5 on Tuesday to refer to Kosovo as an "integral and historic" part of Serbia in Serbia's forthcoming constitution, voicing its opposition to efforts by Kosovo to form a fully independent nation. UN-sponsored talks over the Kosovo issue began in February ; in July Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica [...]

Former US Attorney General John Ashcroft , who resigned from the post in November 2004, told an audience at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Tuesday that President Bush has done less harm to civil liberties than any other wartime president in US history, and said that Bush administration efforts to combat terrorism, including [...]

The US military will not pursue the death penalty against US Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. in the fatal shooting of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania , a military prosecutor said Tuesday during an Article 32 hearing. Shumate, 21, is accused of firing at Hashim Ibrahim Awad and then providing false official [...]

A lawyer for Momin Khawaja , the first person charged under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act , urged an Ontario Superior Court judge Tuesday to strike down the anti-terror legislation because it is unconstitutionally vague and violates several provisions of the Canadian Charter on Rights and Freedoms . In a second day of arguments, Lawrence Greenspon told [...]

Munqidh Al Faraun, the chief prosecutor in the Saddam Hussein trial requested Wednesday that presiding judge Abdullah al-Amiri remove himself from the case for reasons of bias, specifically, for allowing defense lawyers to make politically-charged statements in court. Al-Amiri was named trial judge in August of the second Hussein trial , this one involving the [...]

The chief US prosecutor for the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told reporters Tuesday that his office has begun preparing charge sheets for the 14 high-profile terror suspects who have been transferred from secret CIA prisons to Guantanamo Bay . Col. Moe Davis also reminded reporters that military lawyers are just beginning to work [...]

UK Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer on Wednesday blasted the US for denying Guantanamo Bay detainees adequate access to the judicial system. In a speech delivered in Sydney, Australia, on "The Role of Judges in a Modern Democracy," Falconer, who also serves as Britain's Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, said: It is a part of [...]

Kingdom of Spain v United Kingdom, Case C-145/04, European Court of Justice, September 12, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty expressed support at a Senate hearing Tuesday for a Department of Justice (DOJ) policy that encourages corporations to turn over confidential records to officials investigating corporate fraud . The 2003 Thompson Memorandum instructs prosecutors that cooperation by officials is one of nine factors to take into account in determining [...]

Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis granted amnesty to 263 prisoners on Tuesday, including full clemency for 237, reduced sentences for 15 and commuting of the death penalty for 11. President Woldegiorgis described the unprecedented amnesty as motivated by the inmates' good behavior and repentance. Ethiopia arrested thousands of protestors after 2005 elections that were perceived to [...]