[JURIST] A New Jersey state court jury on Wednesday rendered a split verdict after two days of deliberations in a joint trial [JURIST report] that pitted two state residents who took the painkiller Vioxx [Merck Vioxx Information Center website; JURIST news archive] against New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Merck [corporate website]. The jury found that Merck did not warn either of the men of potential dangers of heart attack and stroke [FDA public health advisory] associated with use of the drug, but awarded different amounts to each plaintiff. Finding that the drug significantly impacted 77-year-old John McDarby, who suffered a heart attack and deteriorating health from taking Vioxx, the jury awarded him $3 million and his wife $1.5 million. But the same jury found that the drug was not the only or main factor in Thomas Cona’s stroke and awarded him only $45 to repay him for his Vioxx expenditures.

On Thursday, the jury will hear evidence on whether the plaintiffs should receive punitive damages. A separate New Jersey jury found Merck not liable [JURIST report] in a Vioxx case last November, but this case is the first where the facts involved long-term use. Merck faces over 9,650 lawsuits in state and federal court over Vioxx. Merck lost a $253 million verdict [JURIST report] in the first Vioxx state claim in Texas, which is currently being reviewed on appeal. Merck was cleared of responsibility in the first federal trial [JURIST report; complaint] and another trial is currently underway [JURIST report] in Rio Grande City, Texas. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday that jurors in the sentencing trial [case docket] of Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] will be allowed to hear the cockpit tape and read the transcript of United Airlines Flight 93 [National Park Service website], hijacked and downed in Pennsylvania on September 11 [JURIST news archive]. Brinkema suggested that the recording, which has so far only been heard by the victims’ families, be released to the public after it is heard at trial, but indicated she would refrain from public release if any family members objected in writing. Read Brinkema's order [PDF].

As jurors found Moussaoui eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report] earlier this week, the trial will proceed Thursday to a second phase to determine whether capital punishment should be imposed. During this the prosecution plans to present evidence about the cruel abuse suffered by all the victims of 9/11 and their families and the economic harm caused by the hijackings. Defense attorneys intend to prove that Moussaoui has schizophrenia and suffered through an impoverished childhood in an attempt to avoid his execution in favor of life imprisonment. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Belarus government has charged close to 600 people who participated in the protests that followed the March 19 presidential election [JURIST report] that returned incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile] to a third term in a landslide, according to Belarus prosecutor general Pyotr Miklashevich on Wednesday. Last week, Miklashevich indicated that there would be trials for the protesters [JURIST report], who were mostly arrested during police raids on opposition demonstrations [JURIST report]. Both the US and the European Union have condemned the police action and plan to seek sanctions based on an independent report that the election was severely flawed [JURIST report]. RIA Novosti has more.

Also on Wednesday, a lawyer for prominent opposition leader Alexander Kozulin [CFR profile and interview] said the politician will be detained for at least two more months while an investigation takes place. Belarusian authorities arrested Kozulin [JURIST report] at a protest in Oktyabrskya Square on March 25 and have charged him with several public disorder crimes. Kozulin, who could be fined or sent to prison for up to six years for the charges, has pleaded not guilty. RIA Novosti has more.

[JURIST] French judicial officials have begun an investigation of the 172 French companies implicated in the UN oil-for-food scandal [JURIST news archive] by the October 2005 report [JURIST report] of the UN Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) [official website] chaired by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. French magistrate Philippe Courroye, who has been probing French involvement in the scandal for three years, distributed parts of the IIC report and other documents to prosecutors in Paris. At the outset, the investigation will only cover French companies that paid surcharges on contracts for trucks, and medical equipment and supplies.

Under the massive UN Oil-For-Food Program [official website] which ran from 1996 to 2003, Iraq was allowed to sell oil and use the proceeds to buy humanitarian goods to help citizens cope with the UN sanctions placed on the country. The IIC report [PDF] also found that Iraqi leaders able to award the oil contracts denied contracts to American, British and Japanese companies due to their government's support for the sanctions, while they favored Russia, France and China. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage [in French].

[JURIST] Unauthorized immigrants who arrived in the United States before an as-yet-undetermined cutoff date would be allowed to apply for permanent residency provided they pay fines and back taxes and learn English under the latest alternative immigration reform [JURIST news archive] proposal advanced by a group of conservative senators Wednesday. Under the plan, those who had been in the country for at least five prior to the cut-off would be bureaucratically favored for citizenship. On the other hand, illegals who arrived after the cut-off date would be ineligible for citizenship while remaining in the country.

Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed a bill [JURIST report] based on the so-called McCain-Kennedy immigration plan [Kennedy fact sheet, floor statement] that would place illegal immigrants in the US since January 7, 2004 on a fast track towards citizenship, so long as they maintain employment and pay taxes. The bill was scheduled for a final vote by the end of this week, but Senator John McCain (R-AZ) [official website] said Tuesday that the bill as presented was unlikely to get the 60 votes needed to overcome the expected procedural maneuverings of GOP hardliners who oppose it as effective amnesty for wrongdoing. AP has more.

[JURIST] French union leaders said Wednesday that there is only one "plausible response likely to end the conflict" over the controversial First Employment Contract (contrat premiere embauche, CPE) [text, in French] and gave French President Jacques Chirac [official profile] until April 15 to withdraw the law, which allows workers under 26 years old to be fired without cause during the first two years of employment. Labor and student leaders last Saturday rejected [JURIST report] a compromise offered by the French president on the highly controversial legislation. Labor leaders had hinted [JURIST report] on Monday that they might be willing to re-enter negotiations with the French government.

Despite widespread opposition to the CPE [official backgrounder; JURIST news archive], members of France's parliament, including Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, have continued to refuse to abandon the new law altogether, hoping instead to come to a compromise over the legislation. Labor leaders have been emboldened by ongoing protests against the law [JURIST report], and have demanded that the government drop its proposed changes to rules governing how employees are hired and fired. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Nineteen-year-old Canadian Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive] refused to take part in military commission proceedings [JURIST news archive] during a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] Wednesday, claiming that he was mistreated [JURIST report] and sent to solitary confinement for no reason. Khadr currently faces charges [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] of murder and conspiracy to commit war crimes stemming from a 2002 incident in Afghanistan where he allegedly killed US Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer with a grenade during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound.

Members of the Khadr family [CBC backgrounder] emigrated to Canada from Egypt in 1977 and are suspected of having ties to Osama bin Laden and Khadr is also accused of receiving al Qaeda training. Lawyers for Khadr, however, claim that he had no al Qaeda involvement, and say that since he was fifteen at the time of the murder, the military commission violates international law. Khadr is being tried as an adult, and will face a life sentence if convicted. The US is currently working on plans to seek the extradition [JURIST report] of Omar's brother Abdullah Khadr, who has been charged [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] with procuring weapons for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Reuters has more.

3/6/06 9:02 AM ET - Khadr's lawyer on Wednesday asked presiding judge Col. Robert S. Chester to stop the military commission proceedings until the government can clarify what rules govern proceedings. In a separate proceeding Tuesday, Chester seemed unsure of what laws would be applied [JURIST report] in the Guantanamo detainees' trial, but said that military criminal law and federal criminal laws and procedure could govern. In the Khadr proceeding, the Canadian's lawyers expressed frustration over a lack of clear procedural rules, and after Chester indicated that he wasn't sure whether a Canadian lawyer was allowed to appear in the military courtroom Khadr's military lawyer asked that proceedings be halted "until the government gets the rules together." AP has more.

[JURIST] The African Union (AU) [official website, JURIST news archive] says that it will "take all necessary measures to establish the facts" concerning accusations of rape and child abuse brought against members of its peace-monitoring forces in Sudan's Darfur region [JURIST news archive] and will form an independent panel to probe the matter. AU forces, numbering over 7,000, have entered Darfur to observe an uncertain cease-fire stemming from the Sudan Liberation Army's (SLA) violent takeover and occupation of more than 90 villages in the Gereida area. The SLA takeover has resulted in deaths in the tens of thousands and has forced two million into camps, prompting Washington to call the situation a genocide [HRW materials].

The underfunded AU mission in Darfur is already the focus of international criticism, with other states, international agencies [JURIST report] and rights groups calling for a UN takeover of the Darfur operation, currently scheduled for September 30 [JURIST report]. The Sudan government has thusfar rejected that option [JURIST news report] as a challenge to the country's sovereignty. Reuters has more. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Council of Europe [official website] on Wednesday repeated its calls that Russia officially abolish the death penalty [JURIST news archive]. There have been no executions in Russia for over ten years as the result of a moratorium imposed by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin [Wikipedia profile] as part of Russia's entry agreement with the COE. COE monitors, however, on Wednesday called for an official end to capital punishment as Russia prepares to assume the six-month chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers [official website], the COE's decision making body. Russia is expected to take the chairmanship next month.

The COE's statements were met with some resistance in Russia. Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian Duma [official website], said Wednesday that there was not enough support in parliament to abolish the death penalty. Leaders of two influential national parties and members of the communist party have recently called for the re-instatement of the death penalty. The European Convention on Human Rights [text] outlaws the death penalty [COE backgrounder], and the COE has encouraged non-European states to abolish the practice [JURIST report] as well, most recently calling on the US and Japan to set an example for other countries by abolishing capital punishment. AFP has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Massachusetts lawmakers have approved a sweeping health care plan [House No. 4850 text; summary, PDF] that would require all residents to have health coverage or face penalties. Massachusetts is the first state to approve a health insurance reform [IssueSource backgrounder] plan of this nature; Maine's health care plan was considerably expanded under a 2003 law [PDF text; overview], but the Maine scheme is based on voluntary compliance. The bill proposes to provide health coverage to nearly 95 percent of the half-million state residents without insurance before the year 2009 by offering the lowest earning residents low or no cost plans, with state-paid premiums and co-pays. Individuals who can afford their own health coverage will face tax penalties if they do not choose a plan before July 1, 2007. If they continuously fail to enroll in a health plan, they will be required to pay the state half of the price of the lowest plan.

In order to help residents more easily afford health insurance, insurance agencies will also be required to expand their coverage with state subsidized low cost plans and reduced benefits. The bill will also pass responsibility to businesses, requiring those with more than ten employees to provide health care coverage or pay a $295 fee per worker. The nearly unanimous decision by the state legislature, the Massachusetts General Court [official website], comes in response to a growing nationwide concern over an increasing number of citizens who cannot afford the rising costs of health care. The bill was passed by the state House 155-2 and was passed unanimously Tuesday by the state Senate. Governor Mitt Romney [official profile] has indicated that he will sign the legislation. Reuters has more. The Boston Globe provides a brief summary of the legislation.

[JURIST] Nepal's royal government on Wednesday arrested 13 lawyers for holding peaceful rallies demanding peace and restoration of democracy in the Himalayan Kingdom on the eve of a general strike called by the opposition. The group was released later in the evening, a few hours after the Supreme Court of Nepal [official website] ordered the government to present the lawyers in person before the court before 12 PM Friday. Earlier in the afternoon, the court had sought written replies from the government over the arrest of lawyers in response to a habeas corpus petition filed at the court.

The arrested lawyers included Nepal Bar Association (NBA) [profession website] President Shambhu Thapa, who said after his release that "the King should withdraw his anti-democratic move and respect rule of law." The lawyers were arrested while holding rallies in a prohibited area [JURIST report] with other professional organizations. Journalists, doctors, engineers and university teachers were also arrested along with the lawyers. All were released in the evening.

Meanwhile, lawyers in Nepal boycotted courts based in Kathmandu on Wednesday in protest of the arrest of their colleagues. Authorities also arrested 24 journalists from a demonstration Wednesday afternoon, organized to protest the arrest of lawyers and other professionals in the morning. The journalists were released in the evening.

3:55 PM ET - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday expressed concern [statement] over the Nepal government's ban on protests and arrests of opposition members, saying:

While maintenance of law and order is the responsibility of the State, security considerations should not be the basis for denying citizens their right to peaceful protest -- a right for which virtually all avenues seem to be closing.

[JURIST] UK Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer of Thoroton [official profile] who under the UK's traditional governmental structure served three roles as Speaker of the House of Lords, the head of the UK's judiciary, and a minister in the British government, has resigned his judicial post as part of the constitutional reform process instigated by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers [BBC profile] has taken Lord Falconer's judicial position. Read the UK Department of Constitutional Affairs press release on the transition. BBC News has more.

The ongoing constitutional reforms also envisage the creation of a new independent commission that will take over responsibility from the Lord Chancellor for appointing judges to the bench, and the institution by 2009 of a new national Supreme Court. Also this week the Judiciary of England and Wales has launched a new website [official website] that includes current court rulings, information on the history of the UK's judiciary, and a variety of learning resources intended to educate the public on how the UK court system functions. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Dutch investigators on Wednesday released their final report [press release] on their independent investigation into the death of Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive], saying that the former Yugoslavian leader died of a heart attack on the morning that guards found him dead in his cell at The Hague [JURIST report]. The report confirms earlier investigations [JURIST report] concluding that Milosevic died of natural causes, and provides no support for the contention made by Milosevic's family that the former leader had been poisoned. Fausto Pocar, chief of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive], said that the Dutch report officially brings the independent probe into Milosevic's death to an end. The ICTY's own internal inquiry while now focus on the medical treatment [press release] Milosevic received while in ICTY custody.

Despite the conclusions of the report, some, including Vladimir Krsljanin of the pro-Milosevic organization that lobbied for his release [advocacy website] claimed that Milosevic's death was the result of criminal negligence on the part of doctors who cared for him while he was detained at The Hague. Others maintain, however, that Milosevic attempted to worsen his condition in order to evade trial. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The international tribunal that is set to hear the case against former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] hit a wall on Tuesday as court administrators struggled to find a country willing to grant Taylor asylum if he is acquitted of 11 counts of war crimes [amended indictment, PDF; summary] allegedly committed during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war. Officials from the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] are seeking to move Taylor's trial to the Hague [JURIST report] due to security concerns; however, the UN Security Council [official website] has agreed not to sign off on the shift until court officials determine where Taylor will be taken after the trial. Although Taylor will likely be taken to a Swedish prison if he is convicted, court officials have had a difficult time finding any country willing to admit Taylor, no matter the outcome of his trial.

As Taylor continues to assemble is defense team [JURIST report] and as court officials and diplomats work on a deal to determine the Taylor's post-trial fate, Amnesty International [advocacy website] on Wednesday called for a fair trial [press release; AFP report], saying that proceedings should comply with international standards and that Taylor should be treated humanely. AP has more.

[JURIST] United Nations member states have begun announcing their candidacies for membership on the newly-formed Human Rights Council [official website; UN materials; FAQ] in preparations for elections scheduled May 9. The UN General Assembly [official website] approved the creation of the new rights body last month to replace the widely criticized Commission on Human Rights [official website]. According to the list of candidates [official website] available from the General Assembly Wednesday morning, 32 member states have so far announced their candidacies, including Iran [CNS report]. In opposing [JURIST report] the resolution [JURIST document] creating the Human Rights Council, the United States expressed concern that there were inadequate checks to ensure that countries, such as Iran, that have not demonstrated a commitment to human rights would be able to win seats on the Council.

US officials have not decided whether to seek a spot on the 47-member rights body, though US Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist [official website] has introduced a resolution [PDF text; press release] opposing US participation on the panel and other US support of the Council. UPI has more.

[JURIST] Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle [official website; personal website], the Texas prosecutor in the criminal case against US Rep. Tom DeLay [official website], has said that DeLay's resignation from Congress [JURIST report] will not affect the case. DeLay currently faces money laundering charges [JURIST document] and a request [JURIST report] to have criminal conspiracy charges [JURIST document] against DeLay reinstated is pending before the Texas Third Court of Appeals [official website]. In a statement Tuesday, Earle said that DeLay's "political status has nothing to do with the criminal charges against him" and that "His criminal cases will proceed just as they would for any other defendant."

DeLay announced his intention to resign from Congress [press release] Tuesday and in an interview [transcript] with Fox News repeated his assertions that the charges against him are politically motivated [JURIST report]. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Tom DeLay | Op-ed: Tom DeLay's Challenge to Texas Grand Jury Process

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] on Wednesday defended his signing of a 1984 execution order [text] as prosecutors began their cross examination of the former dictator before the Iraqi High Criminal Court [official website; JURIST news archive] at the resumption of his trial [JURIST news archive]. Hussein insisted that he approved the death sentences of 148 Shiites who had participated in an assassination attempt based upon his lawful reliance on the judgment of his Revolutionary Court [JURIST report]. He also denounced the current Iraqi Interior Ministry [Reuters report], saying that the department has tortured and killed thousands of Iraqis. The Iraqi Interior Ministry has come under scrutiny for alleged human rights violations [JURIST report], and Hussein's statements seem likely to stir up tensions between Iraq's religious and ethnic groups.

Hussein Wednesday ignored new warnings from Chief Judge Ra'uf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile] against making political speeches; during the last trial session Abdel-Rahman closed proceedings [JURIST report] after Hussein called on Iraqis to end sectarian violence and focus their efforts on attacking American troops. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nepal's royal government has made its anti-terrorism law more stringent by introducing a fifth amendment to the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance (TADO), published in the official gazette on Monday. National and international human rights organizations are concerned that independent media and even parties fighting for democracy in this country hard hit by the 10-year Maoist insurgency could fall within the ambit of the new version.

Under the amended law, those who are in contact with the Maoists [BBC backgrounder], who have been labeled as terrorists by the Nepalese government, will be treated as accomplices, and the activities of those accomplices will be considered to be a "crime related to terrorism and disruption." This new provision could implicate pro-democratic parties currently in close contact with the Maoists that have entered into a written understanding with them to fight against what they called an "autocratic king."

The latest TADO, which received royal approval on March 26 before being publicly released, has also made dissemination of Maoist-related information punishable. This provision could implicate media and journalists who have been facing troubles since King Gyanendra [official website; BBC profile] assumed executive power and suspended democracy [JURIST report] in a bloodless coup on February 1, 2005.

"An individual who disseminates the information of the terrorists could face one to three years of imprisonment or Rs 10,000 (around $150 US) to Rs 50,000 (around $750 US ) in fine or both," reads a provision on punishment for dissemination of Maoists' information. Under the new TADO, authorities can also prosecute Maoists accomplices even if real culprit is identified or arrested. This provision was not in the earlier version of the law [text].

Kiran Chapagain is a special correspondent for JURIST writing from Nepal. He is an Assistant Senior Reporter for the Kathmandu Post.