[JURIST] The UK Ministry of Defence [official website] has confirmed that British army prosecutors have completed an inquiry into nine more allegations of brutality by British soldiers in Iraq and are contemplating whether to file charges, Sunday's Observer reports. Four of the cases involve the fatal shooting of Iraqis during military operations while two involve non-fatal injuries; three of the cases involve allegations of abuse against detainees. The MoD continues to investigate 48 other allegations of wrongdoing, while 77 cases have been reviewed and closed by army prosecutors. More British soldiers are certain to face court martial proceedings this year in addition to the three now facing a military court [JURIST report], fueling demands for a full public inquiry into army conduct and the government's knowledge of army activities. The Observer has more.

[JURIST] Two American soldiers were convicted Saturday of charges related to the shooting death of an Iraqi woman who was working with them as a translator. A military judge at Camp Liberty in Baghdad found Spc. Charley Hooser of the US 1st Cavalry Division guilty of involuntary manslaughter and making a false official statement to investigators. Read the Multi-National Force Iraq press release. Spc. Rami Dajani,of the same unit, was additionally convicted on a false statement charge. Read the MNF press release. The death occured at an American base last November. The two men were joking around and Hooser shot at the woman, believing the gun to be unloaded. For 15 days, the two told investigators the woman had shot herself. Both soldiers were sentenced to jail terms, reduction in rank, and bad-conduct discharges. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Defense Department Saturday finished Combatant Status Review Tribunal hearings [DOD background briefing] for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following a Supreme Court ruling [Rasul v. Bush, PDF text] last year that held that detainees were allowed to challenge their incarcerations, 558 men were questioned to determine if the government should continue holding them as "enemy combatants" or release them. So far, three men have been ordered released and 327 ordered held, with the rest of the decisions still pending. Neither transcripts of the hearings nor reasons for the rulings have been released to the press. AP has more. In related news, the London Sunday Times says that the last four British detainees at Guantanamo, whose pending release was announced twelve days ago [JURIST report], are scheduled to return home Tuesday [London Sunday Times report] after being held without charge for three years.

[JURIST] A top official in Austria's environmentalist Green Party [official website] said Saturday that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] should lose his Austrian citizenship in the wake of his approval last week of the first California execution in three years [JURIST report]. Peter Pilz cited a nationality law that allows for the revocation of Austrian citizenship in the event that an Austrian "in service of another country substantially damages the interests or reputation of the republic by his or her behavior". Capital punishment is illegal in Austria, and the California execution has been highlighted by the Austrian chapter of Amnesty International [press release in German]. Pilz's call is likely to go politically unheeded, however, given that his party holds only a handful of parliamentary seats and the relevant provision of the nationality law is rarely used. Not even former Austrian president Kurt Waldheim [Slate backgrounder], later connected to Nazi war crimes, was stripped of citizenship. A movement is, however, underway to rename Schwarzenegger Stadium, a 15,350-seat soccer venue near Schwarzenegger's birthplace. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraq's Interior Minister Saturday announced additional security measures for the pending January 30 election as insurgent groups increased their attacks and vowed to disrupt the vote. Baghdad International Airport will now be closed from January 29-30, nighttime curfews already in force in Baghdad and other cities will be extended, travel between provinces will be stopped, citizens will be forbidden from carying weapons and and private cars will be banned from the roads. Falah Naquib acknowledged, however, that there is no guarantee that these measures would be fully effective, even with the promised support of US forces [BBC report]. The UK Independent has more. Meanwhile a new tape supposedly by militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [BBC profile] says his al-Qaeda linked group has "declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it", calling calling on Sunni Muslims to oppose it, which many are already doing by boycotts, a move which is likely to result in formal power shifting to the Shias, a minority in the rest of the Arab world who make up 60% of Iraq's own population. BBC News has more.

In other Iraqi election developments, party campaigning continues on Iraqi media, even if many candidates have hesitated to conduct personal campaigns - or even to disclose their candidacies - because of security concerns. Many parties are pushing their party "number" on the ballot list - for instance, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's coalition [campaign website in Arabic] is 7; the Islamic Daawa Party [campaign website in Arabic] associated with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is 179; the Iraqi Communist Party [campaign website in Arabic] is 324; the Constitutional Monarchy Movement [campaign website in English and Arabic] led by Sharif Ali Hussein, the cousin of the last king of Iraq, is 349. It is, however, unclear what percentage of Iraq's 15 million eligible voters will be able and willing to vote on polling day, although the legitimacy of the results hinges in large part on a good turnout.

[JURIST] Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko [campaign website in Ukrainian] was sworn in Sunday as the new president of Ukraine [official website in Ukrainian], succeeding the outgoing Leonid Kuchma. Yushchenko won a December 26 re-vote against opponent and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych after the results of the original November 19 ballot favoring Yanukovych were thrown out by the country's Supreme Court following allegations of fraud. Yanukovych, asserting irregularities in the latest poll, exhausted his own appeals to the Supreme Court earlier this week but may still appeal to the European Court of Justice. Reuters has more. The Yushchenko campaign is issuing updates on the inaugural proceedings and provides a transcript of Yushchenko's inaugural address.