Germany high court finds magazine raid violated press freedom News
Germany high court finds magazine raid violated press freedom

[JURIST] Germany's Federal Constitutional Court [official website] ruled Tuesday that authorities violated the freedom of the press [press release, in German] when they raided the offices of the monthly political magazine Cicero [official website]. In September 2005, investigators searched the offices of Cicero in an attempt to find the source of a leak of confidential papers from Germany's Federal Crime Office [official website] in connection to the financing of Islamic extremists. The court held in a 7-1 vote that the raid was an "unjustified intrusion on the press freedom of the plaintiff" and that there might be ways other than an intentional leak that journalists could learn about state secrets.

Last year, a Potsdam court threw out charges against two Cicero journalists put on trial as accessories to divulging secrets, citing lack of sufficient evidence. AP has more. Cicero had additional coverage, in German.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.