[JURIST] Carla Del Ponte [official profile], chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website], once again [JURIST report] on Monday strongly criticized Serbia's lack of progress in the capture and arrest of war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and discouraged the European Union [official website] from resuming membership talks with Belgrade. Del Ponte called Serbia's erstwhile efforts to arrest the former Bosnian Serb commander, a key participant in the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [BBC backgrounder, JURIST news archive], a "smokescreen" without "real political will or investigative will." She said Mladic should be among seven Bosnian Serb military and paramilitary officers currently on trial [JURIST report] for charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the incident.

Mladic has escaped capture for years and his fugitive status has been a sticking point in Serbia's membership negotiations with the European Union [JURIST report; EU materials]. Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia and in June Del Ponte said she would ask the UN Security Council to grant the ICTY power to apprehend Mladic itself. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo [JURIST backgrounder] has recommended that three ex-employees of Anvil Mining [corporate website], an Australian company, be tried for complicity in war crimes committed by Congolese government soldiers in 2004. The crimes alleged to have been facilitated by the ex-employees, a Canadian and two South Africans, include summary executions, rape, torture, and looting carried out by soldiers led by Colonel Ademar Ilunga in 2004 after the bombardment of the town of Kilwa during a small rebellion in Congo's Katanga province. At least 100 people are said to have died [ABC Australia report; recorded video; timeline].

A court document obtained by Reuters states that the men "voluntarily failed to withdraw the vehicles placed at the disposal of the 62nd Brigade in the context of the counter offensive [on] October 2004 to recapture the town of Kilwa" and "knowingly facilitated the commission of war crimes by Ilunga Ademar and his men." In June 2005, an Australian law firm acting on behalf of Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) [advocacy website] and Congolese NGOs asked the Australian Federal Police [official website] to determine if there was sufficient evidence of Anvil's involvement in crimes against humanity or war crimes under Chapter 8 of the Australian Criminal Code Act of 1995 [text] which reflects the law of the International Criminal Court [official website]. That investigation is ongoing. Anvil has insisted that any allegations that it assisted in or had knowledge of any wrongdoing are unfounded [Anvil press release, PDF]. Reuters has more. RAID has issued a press release on the court recommendation and has additional background on the Kilwa incident.

[JURIST] US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III appeared in military court Monday to contest charges of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian in April. Hutchins was the leader of an eight-man squad in Hamdania [JURIST news archive] that allegedly took Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia backgrounder] from his home and shot him without provocation. A total of eight US military personnel were initially charged [JURIST report] in the incident, in which they are said to have shot Awad and then made it seem that he was an insurgent planting a roadside bomb by placing a shovel and rifle next to his dead body. According to one of Hutchins' squad members, the men were searching for an alleged terror suspect who lived next door to Awad. When Hutchins became frustrated with the search, he randomly selected Awad and executed him.

A military judge is reviewing unspecified documentary evidence and testimony of Hutchins' squad members to determine if he will order a general court-martial [UCMJ text]. A Navy medic, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, one of the members of Hutchins' squad, agreed to a plea bargain [JURIST report] last week in which he agreed to testify at his own court-martial as well as other proceedings about what he witnessed in Iraq in return for a 12-month prison sentence. Hutchins is the seventh Marine to face an Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder] in connection with the incident. Hutchins is also being investigated for assault against three Iraqi civilians. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Dr. Lester Crawford [official website], a veterinarian who served briefly as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [official website] last year, will plead guilty to failure to disclose his financial interest in companies regulated by the agency, his lawyer said Monday. Crawford is scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday to enter guilty pleas to charges of false writing and conflict of interest - misdemeanors with a combined maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment. The charges [criminal information, PDF] resulted from a grand jury investigation [JURIST report] begun after the New York Times reported [text] that financial disclosure forms from Crawford and his wife showed they had sold shares in FDA-regulated companies, such as Embrex, Sysco, Teleflex and PepsiCo [corporate websites]. In fact, Crawford's lawyer said Monday, the couple retained ownership of the shares, resulting in "errors and omissions" on the disclosure forms.

Crawford resigned after only three months as FDA commissioner [JURIST report] amid criticism that he delayed a decision to authorize over-the-counter distribution of emergency contraception [product backgrounder]. Crawford and supporters argued that his refusal was grounded on scientific and legal concerns rather than political ideology [JURIST report], but a Government Accountability Office report [PDF text] characterized the FDA's review as procedurally "unusual" [JURIST report]. The existence of the criminal investigation was disclosed during proceedings in a civil suit against Crawford [JURIST report] brought by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights in response to the debacle. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Army prosecutors argued in a hearing Monday that an officer overseeing interrogations at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] should face a court-martial for his willful blindness toward prisoner abuse, while a defense attorney countered that most of the military police officers who abused prisoners were not under his client's command. Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive], former director of the Joint Interrogation Debriefing Center [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], is the highest-ranking officer charged with crimes [JURIST report] at Abu Ghraib, including three counts of dereliction of duty, two counts of making false official statements, two counts of willfully disobeying orders and one count of cruelty and mistreatment [UCMJ text].

Jordan's Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder] - the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury proceeding - is expected to last up to six days, with testimony from about 50 witnesses. If court-martialed and convicted on all 12 counts, Jordan could be sentenced to a maximum of 42 years in prison. While 11 soldiers and lower-ranking officers have been convicted in connection abuses at Abu Ghraib, superior officers have so far only received punishments such as reprimands, fines and being relieved of command [JURIST report]. A 2004 Army report [PDF text; JURIST report] recommended that Jordan and his superior officer be punished for their role in the abuse scandal. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Missouri [JURIST news archive] on Monday affirmed a trial court decision [JURIST report] striking down a state law [SB 1014 text, PDF; summary] requiring voters to show Missouri-issued photo identification at the polls [Missouri Dept. of Revenue backgrounder]. In a per curiam opinion [summary and text], a 6-1 majority held that requiring voters to present ID cards [JURIST news archive] violates the equal protection and voting-rights clauses [text] of the Missouri Constitution [text]. Applying strict scrutiny analysis, the court found that requiring Missourians to obtain IDs imposes more than a minimal burden on their voting rights [JURIST news archive], noting that it requires "time, funds and advance planning." The court also held that the provision was not narrowly tailored to the compelling state interest of preventing voter fraud, noting that

[i]n fact, the only specific instance of possible fraud that has occurred since 2002 of which the witnesses were aware involved an attempt (whether intentional or accidental is not clear) by a person who had voted absentee to then vote in person. This conduct would not be affected by SB 1014 and was discovered and prevented prior to the implementation of the Photo-ID Requirement.

[JURIST] The European Union [official website] on Monday formally signed an interim agreement [press release, PDF] giving the United States access to passenger name record data from European airlines conducting transatlantic flights. The US is expected to formally sign the deal later Monday while the EU will still need to submit the deal for all 25 EU member states to ratify at the national level. The interim deal, which was agreed upon on October 6, faced problems after EU and US officials failed to reach agreement [JURIST report] by a court-imposed October 1 deadline on how to share passenger information [Reuters report; DHS press release] without violating EU privacy laws. Since the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive], the US has required airlines landing in the country to supply the name, address, telephone number and credit card details of every passenger. In May, however, the European Court of Justice [official website] struck down the agreement as illegal [JURIST report] under EU law, forcing the US and the EU to begin negotiating a new deal [JURIST reports].

The new passenger name record agreement [BBC Q&A; DHS press release] also requires the US Department of Homeland Security [official website] to ask for passenger data, rather than receiving the data automatically upon departure. The interim agreement is slated to expire in July 2007, as EU and US officials struggle to come to a long-term agreement with the US likely arguing for more extensive data sharing [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Convicted civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart [defense website] received a sentence of 28 months Monday. Stewart was convicted [JURIST report; JURIST video] of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists [18 USC 2339A text] for helping imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman [Wikipedia profile] communicate with his terrorist followers. Stewart was also convicted of defrauding the government for violating rules that had been put in place to prevent Abdel-Rahman from communicating with the outside world following his 1995 conviction of seditious conspiracy for plotting to blow up several New York city landmarks. A federal judge upheld Stewart's conviction [JURIST report] late last year, dismissing her arguments that Abdel-Rahman was engaging in protected speech when he expressed opinions about an Egyptian ceasefire which Stewart passed along in a press release.

Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence [JURIST report] for Stewart of 30 years, claiming Stewart deserves severe punishment for her "egregious, flagrant abuse of her profession." Stewart, however, repeatedly claimed that she "is not a traitor" in a letter [PDF text] written to District Judge John Koetl of the Southern District of New York [official website], maintaining that she was only advocating for her client, Abdel-Rahman. AP has more.

[JURIST] A national of Bahrain, two Pakistani nationals and one Iranian were transferred from US custody [press release] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] into the hands of their home governments over the weekend, the US Defense Department confirmed Monday. As expected [JURIST report], in addition to the Pakistanis released from Guantanamo, US forces freed six other Pakistanis from the US-controlled Bagram airbase [GlobalSecurity.org backgrounder] in Afghanistan.

The US released 17 detainees [press release] to Afghanistan and Morocco last week and several of the detainees sent to Afghanistan alleged that they had been subjected to mental torture [JURIST report] while held at Guantanamo. Last month, the US released two Kuwaiti nationals after releasing five Afghanistan nationals in August [JURIST reports]. Approximately 435 detainees remain at Guantanamo, with 110 of them deemed eligible for transfer or release. AP has more. IANS has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] on Monday announced the launch [press release] of the Initiative for Safer Communities, responding to growing concern about the increase of violent crime in American cities. In the first increase since 2001, violent crime rose 2.2 percent in 2005 [JURIST report], according to the FBI's 2005 Uniform Crime Program [backgrounder], and under Gonzales' new initiative the Department of Justice will examine recent trends in gang violence, drug trafficking and prison release rates. The new DOJ review, announced in a International Association of Chiefs of Police in Boston, comes on the heels of a Police Executive Research Forum report [draft report, PDF; press release], which fueled concern about the increase of violent crime when it announced that murder, robbery and assault crimes rose [USA Today report] significantly in several cities at the beginning of 2006.

The DOJ will implement the comprehensive study in three phases, including observing crime increases in cities, analyzing observed crime rates for potential trends, and pinpointing current and potential federal programs that can help reduce violent crime rates. AP has more. USA Today has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The brother of a prosecutor assigned to the second Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] was assassinated Monday morning in front of his house in West Baghdad. Imad al-Faroon was pronounced dead immediately after the shooting, which his wife witnessed. His brother, Muqith al-Faroon, is a chief prosecutor in the genocide case [JURIST report] against Hussein, where he is alleged to have ordered the killings of 100,000 Kurds during the so-called "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] of the late 1980s. Last month, the brother-in-law of the chief judge presiding over the Anfal trial was killed [JURIST report], and several other relatives of the judge were injured. In the past year, three lawyers representing Hussein and his seven co-defendants have been killed [JURIST report], and international observers have questioned whether the defendants will receive a fair trial amid the violence.

Also on Monday, the Iraqi High Tribunal announced [JURIST report] that the next hearing in the Anfal case will be on November 5, though the court refused to say whether a verdict will be handed down at that time. AP has more.

[JURIST] The family of a Brazilian man who was shot and killed by London police [JURIST report] filed an appeal Monday with the UK High Court challenging a July decision by prosecutors not to bring individual charges [JURIST report] against the police officers involved in the shooting. Lawyers for the family of Jean Charles de Menezes [advocacy website] said the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) [official website] not to prosecute the officers should have been given to a jury, and that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) [official website] should have released their report on the shooting to the public.

In September, the London Metropolitan Police [official website] pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to criminal charges under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act [text; backgrounder] for "failing to provide for the health, safety and welfare" of the public in causing the death of de Menezes. A hearing in that case is scheduled for January. De Menezes was shot two weeks after the July 2005 London subway bombings [JURIST news archive] when police mistook him for alleged terrorist Hussain Osman [BBC charge summary]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso [official website] told the press on Sunday that he intends to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring justice to those who killed independent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya [BBC report] on October 7 in her apartment building. Barroso implied that it would reflect poorly on Russia's international reputation if Politkovskaya's killers are not prosecuted.

Politkovskaya [BBC obituary], who had covered the crisis in Chechnya [BBC Q&A] for Novaya Gazeta [media website, in Russian; tribute, in Russian] since 1999, described torture in Chechnya [JURIST report] in a report published posthumously by Novaya Gazeta last Thursday. Journalists have been skeptical [AFP report] of Putin's promises to bring her killers to justice, with the head of Reporters without Borders in Europe noting that Russian investigators have failed to solve any of the 21 cases where journalists have been killed in connection with their reporting since Putin assumed power in 2000. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Israeli police have recommended that the Israeli attorney general indict President Moshe Katsav [official profile] on charges of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts using force, and indecent acts without consent following their three-month investigation of at least 10 complaints against Katsav brought by former employees. A police source told the press Sunday that at least four or five of the cases are strong enough to support an indictment, and that evidence also exists to bring charges of grand larceny, fraud and breach of trust, and illegal wiretapping. Katsav's lawyer expressed surprise [Jerusalem Post report] at the scope of the charges, and said the president will resign if indicted [Haaretz report]. The lawyer also reminded the press, however, that the police have recommended charges against every prime minister investigated over the last 10 years, though none were ever brought to trial.

Legal commentators have called for Katsav's resignation [YNet report], and Israeli Attorney General Menahem Mazuz [official profile] has privately said that Katsav should take a leave of absence until a decision is made on whether Katsav will be indicted. Mazuz will decide whether to bring an indictment after a team of prosecutors reviews the evidence, which could take one month or longer. Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir [official profile] on Monday suggested that if Katsav refuses to resign, the Knesset should initiate impeachment procedures [Haaretz report] against him.

Katsav announced Monday that he will not attend the opening session of Knesset [Jerusalem Post report] to give the traditional opening speech. Knesset members had threatened to boycott if Katsav attended. AFP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Iraqi High Tribunal [JURIST news archive] convened briefly Monday and announced that the next hearing on the crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report] brought against Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] will be on November 5, though the court refused to say whether a verdict will be handed down during the hearing. Jaafar al-Mussawi, chief prosecutor in Hussein's Dujail trial [BBC timeline], expressed optimism that a verdict would be handed down at the November 5 date, though it could be delayed pending further investigation. The verdict was originally expected Monday, but was postponed [JURIST reports] to give the judges more time to review the evidence against the former Iraqi dictator. Prosecutors had expected the court to set a date for the verdict [JURIST report] during Monday's hearing. AFP has more.

Defense team leader Khalil Duleimi told the press Sunday that Hussein was prepared to forgive those who shot his two sons in 2003 [CNN report], and that Hussein himself ordered his defense team to boycott [JURIST report] the ongoing "Anfal" trial, which is scheduled to resume Tuesday. IOL has more.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Hussein [JURIST report] in June for allegedly killing, torturing and illegally detaining Dujail residents, including 148 Shiites [JURIST report]. Hussein faces separate genocide charges [JURIST news archive] for allegedly killing 100,000 Kurds during the so-called "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] of the late 1980s. He is eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report] in the Dujail case, and a US official, speaking anonymously, indicated that the Anfal trial could continue posthumously [JURIST report] should Hussein be executed before proceedings in the second trial conclude.

[JURIST] US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia [LII profile] engaged in a rare televised debate [recorded video, via C-SPAN] Sunday with ACLU President Nadine Strossen [ACLU profile]. The two clashed on issues of constitutional interpretation and fundamental rights, with Scalia defending his "textualist" approach [backgrounder] to constitutional interpretation, which asks what constitutional language meant at the time it was adopted.

In the past Scalia has held that this approach clearly precludes the constitutional recognition of any right to abortion, but he noted Sunday that he actually agreed with the ACLU on several issues, saying for instance that the language of the Constitution clearly prohibits public entities from making distinctions based on race. Strossen nonetheless drew cheers from the crowd when she said, "I'm very distressed about your failure to find protections in the Constitution for the right of consenting individuals in their homes to decide what they see and read, and what type of sexual relations they have." AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers have filed an emergency motion [PDF text; declaration, PDF] in federal court to prevent the US military from surrendering translator and accused kidnapper Mohammad Munaf, a US citizen, to Iraqi officials to face the death penalty. Munaf was convicted and sentenced to death by an Iraqi judge after being arrested in Romania on kidnapping charges [JURIST report] for allegedly kidnapping and detaining three Romanian journalists for 55 days in Iraq. Lawyers for Munaf in the emergency request filed late Friday argued that the Iraqi trial violated Munaf's due process protections as a US citizen because he was not confronted with the evidence brought against him, and he was prevented from presenting his own exculpatory evidence.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] may delay deciding the Munaf case [press release] until the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] decides in Omar v. Harvey [case docket] whether the US may turn over suspected terrorists to Iraqi officials where there is a possibility they might be tortured. Lawyers for Munaf said the government could legally turn Munaf over to Iraqi officials at any time until the request for an order temporarily restraining the US from relinquishing Munaf is granted by the district court. AP has more.