[JURIST] A French judge has charged two police officers connected to a case that sparked three weeks of rioting [JURIST news archive] outside Paris and in other parts of France in 2005. The officers were charged Wednesday with “non-assistance to people in danger”, and face up to 5 years in prison and up to a $97,400 fine for their roles in the electrocutions of two immigrant teenagers in a suburban Paris power substation. As determined by an internal investigation [JURIST report] in December, the police officers chased the teenagers into the substation before they were killed, a claim the officers and the Interior Ministry initially denied. The report concluded that officers should have notified French energy company EDF [corporate website, in French] as soon as the youths entered the power station, and by not doing so, the officers exhibited a "lack of thought."

The deaths of the teens exposed deep-seated tensions in France’s poor suburbs, where neighborhoods of immigrants feel alienated from French society, and scores of Muslim and black youths commonly clash with police. As the riots spread to poor immigrant neighborhoods around the country, the French government authorized emergency powers [JURIST report] for local governments struggling to control the violence. The state of emergency was only lifted [JURIST report] in January 2006. AP has more. Le Figaro has additional coverage, in French.

[JURIST] Former Baathist military operations officer Rashid Hussein Mohammed claimed during his genocide trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] Thursday that he was just defending his country against Iran during the Anfal campaign [JURIST news archive] of the late 1980s, and called for US military commanders to be tried for their crimes in the current Iraq war. Mohammed questioned the legality of America's presence in Iraq, while denying that Kurdish ethnic cleansing occurred during the Anfal campaign. He further testified that extreme measures needed to be taken against the Kurds to prevent Iran from destroying dams in northern Iraq.

Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] was one of the original defendants in the Anfal trial but was tried and executed at the end of December for his retaliation against Shiites following a failed assassination attempt in the town of Dujail in 1982. AP has more.

[JURIST] The prosecutor in the genocide case against former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Miriam [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] announced Thursday that he is appealing last month’s sentence of life imprisonment [JURIST report], and will again push for the death penalty. Of the three sentencing judges, one opted for the death penalty, while the other two felt life sentences were more appropriate given the health and ages of the various defendants involved in Mengistu's case. Including Mengistu, 73 former officials were charged with genocide, imprisonment, homicide, and illegal confiscation of property for crimes committed during the 1977-78 "Red Terror" [US Department of State backgrounder], when thousands of Mengistu's political opponents were executed. All but one of the defendants were convicted [JURIST report], although 14 died during the 12-year case, and 25, including Mengistu, were tried in absentia.

It is believed approximately 150,000 university students, intellectuals and politicians were killed during Mengistu's rule from 1974 to 1991. Mengistu has been in exile in Zimbabwe since rebels forced him from power in 1991. He is likely to avoid serving his sentence as Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile] has continually said he will not deport Mengistu [JURIST report] if he refrains from participating in political activity. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for the three recently re-charged Guantanamo detainees [JURIST report] renewed their condemnation of new military commission rules [manual, PDF; JURIST report] Thursday, telling the Associated Press that the tight deadlines established by the rules will prevent extended investigation into the reliability of the evidence brought against their clients. Navy lawyer Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift [AOG profile], appointed to defend Yemeni Salim Ahmed Hamdan [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive; 2004 charges, PDF] said he has been barred from interviewing any of about 70 government agents who contributed statements expected to be used as evidence against his client. The new rules allow convictions based on hearsay and coerced evidence, while the defense may not present classified evidence unless the government approves its use. Swift deplored the ability of the government to introduce written hearsay statements from interrogators. US Marine Corps Maj. Michael Mori [Wikipedia profile], military lawyer for Australian David Hicks [JURIST news archive; 2004 charges, PDF], criticized the fact that the government has only allowed defense attorneys one and a half weeks to deal with the new rules.

Chief Prosecutor Col. Morris Davis (USAF) [official profile, PDF] announced last week that new charges were being drafted against Hamdan, Hicks, and Canadian Omar Khadr [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive; 2004 charges, PDF], including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorists under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) [PDF text; CRS summary; JURIST news archive]. The original charges against the three had to be dropped after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush to be unconstitutional without Congressional authorization [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraq Deputy Health Minister Hakim Zamili [Iraq Ministry of Health website] has been arrested in an apparent security crackdown in Baghdad, according to a report [text] by the US military Thursday. According to military officials, Zamili had been infiltrating members of the Mehdi Army militia [BBC backgrounder], headed by militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr [BBC profile], into the Iraq ministry. Zamili's brother, another Health Ministry employee, has denied the allegations.

Just yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] announced the beginning of a renewed security push [AP report] in the Baghdad area. On Sunday, the US military announced [Reuters report] that a large-scale offensive against militants was set to get underway in the wake of President Bush's announcement last month [AP report] that 21,500 more US soldiers would be deployed to Iraq. A similar effort was made last summer, but was unsuccessful. Critics blamed the failure on a lack of trained troops and Maliki's lack of assertiveness against Sadr and his militia. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Romania [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] must return property it nationalized during the 1950s, or else pay overdue compensation, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled [text, in French] Thursday. The judgment came in two separate cases both filed by plaintiffs alleging that the Communist regime unlawfully seized their buildings and apartments in Bucharest, the capital, and resold them, violating the owners' property rights. The court held Thursday that Romania must either return the property to the owners within 3 months, or pay both pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages. AFP has more.

Romania was under a series of Communist regimes [Wikipedia backgrounder] until 1996, when a centrist government gained power. In December, President Traian Basescu [official website, English version] told the Romanian parliament [JURIST report] that the "criminal and illegitimate" former Communist regime committed massive human rights violations and crimes against humanity, killing and persecuting as many as two million people between 1945 and 1989. The report has strengthened the cases of victims seeking compensation [Reuters report]. Romania gained entrance [JURIST report] into the European Union [official website] last month, following six years of negotiations.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] has achieved marked success in bringing international war criminals to justice, chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [official profile] told a conference on Thursday. Del Ponte, who has served as chief prosecutor for 8 years and is scheduled to step down later this year [JURIST report], said that while six war crimes suspects are still at large, the court has succeeded in putting on trial more than 160 people, including presidents, premiers, and military commanders.

Among those still at large are Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile] and his military commander, Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive], who are wanted by the ICTY for alleged crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, including organizing the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive]. Both Karadzic and Mladic have been charged and indicted [BBC report] at the ICTY in absentia. Del Ponte, who has repeatedly criticized Serbia's lack of progress [JURIST report] in capturing Karadzic and Mladic, expressed hope at Thursday's conference that Mladic would be brought in front of the court before she leaves. Del Ponte has discouraged [JURIST report] the European Union [official website] from resuming membership talks with Serbia until both are arrested and brought to The Hague. AP has more.

The Hague tribunal [BBC backgrounder], established in 1993 by a the UN Security Council resolution, seeks to try individuals who aided in the commission of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Last March, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive] died from heart failure [JURIST report] while his genocide and war crimes trial at the ICTY was in its fifth year. The ICTY is scheduled to finish all trials by 2008 and all appeals by 2010.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] voted 13-6 on Thursday to send a bill to the Senate floor which would permit US district courts to appoint temporary US Attorneys [DOJ backgrounder] when those spots become vacant, reversing a provision in the Patriot Act reauthorization [JURIST report; HR 3199 text, PDF] that allowed the US attorney general to replace fired US Attorneys indefinitely, thus circumventing the usual Senate confirmation process for those positions. The vote followed a Tuesday Committee hearing [press release] on whether the DOJ is politicizing the hiring and firing of US Attorneys. The Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007 [S 214 text, PDF] amends Section 546 of title 28 of the US Code to read:

The United States district court for a district in which the office of the United States attorney is vacant may appoint a United States attorney to serve until that vacancy is filled. The order of appointment by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the court.

[JURIST] US Marine Cpl. Trent Thomas withdrew his guilty plea [JURIST report] in the second day of his sentencing hearing Thursday on unpremeditated murder charges stemming from the alleged murder of Iraqi civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia profile] in the village of Hamdania [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive] in April 2006. Thomas, who pleaded guilty in January, said that he no longer believes he is guilty, but rather that he was following a lawful order from superiors.

On Wednesday, Seaman Recruit Melson J. Bacos testified that Thomas and Cpl. Marshall Magincalda entered Awad's house and dragged him out. Bacos testified that Thomas was the one who grabbed Awad's arm and forced him to march away. The group of eight servicemen of which they were a part allegedly shoved Awad into a hole and shot him, leaving an AK-47 by his head to make him appear to be an insurgent. AP has more.

Thomas was the fifth serviceman to plead guilty in the case, in which all seven Marines and one Navy corpsman were originally charged [JURIST report]. Bacos, US Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., Marine Pfc. John J. Jodka [JURIST reports] and Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson [advocacy website; JURIST report] have also pleaded guilty in exchange for their testimony in the case. All have named US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III [JURIST report] as the mastermind of the plan. Jodka has been sentenced to 18 months in military custody while Jackson and Shumate [JURIST reports] have both received 21-month sentences. Hutchins faces court-martial [JURIST report] for murder, kidnapping and other charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Commission (EC) [official website] unveiled a mandatory CO2 emissions strategy [EC Communication, PDF; materials; press release] Wednesday that would impose mandatory carbon dioxide (CO2) limits on all cars by 2012. Today's average European car emits approximately 160 grams of CO2 per kilometer; the new strategy would curb emissions at around 130 grams per kilometer. The strategy is a compromise agreement between the EC's Environmental and Industry Commissioners reached at a Wednesday Commission meeting [agenda, PDF], and while auto industry leaders say the limits could impact job growth, environmental advocates hailed the limits as an important step toward addressing climate change [EC materials]. If the 130 g/km standard is enacted, Europe's emissions standards would be the most stringent in the world. The EC will now begin drafting the law, and a vote is expected either this year or early next year. EUObserver has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Meanwhile EC Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini [official website] is set to announce a "green crimes" proposal Friday which would criminalize nine environmental offences, including waste dumping, releasing toxic chemicals, causing significant environmental depletion, and possessing endangered animals. The most serious offenses could be subject to between one and ten years imprisonment and to fines up to €1.5m. The Independent has more.

[JURIST] The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website, English version] urged the US Thursday to cooperate with proceedings initiated against a US soldier in the shooting death of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq. An Italian judge Wednesday ordered New York Army National Guard [official website] soldier Mario Lozano [Wikipedia profile] to stand trial [JURIST report] on charges of voluntary homicide in connection with the death of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari [BBC profile] at a US checkpoint in Iraq in March 2005. While Italy has not yet moved for Lozano's extradition, officials are concerned that the US has failed to provide them information about Lozano or to pass on to Lozano documents involved in the investigation. US and Italian officials have failed to agree [JURIST report] on details surrounding Calipari's death and a Pentagon spokesman has said that the US would not hand Lozano over for trial, which is scheduled to begin April 17. Talks are scheduled later Thursday between Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema and US Ambassador to Italy Ronald P. Spogli [official profiles], with Italy hoping that the US will agree to bilateral cooperation according to the mutual legal assistance treaty [State Dept. backgrounder] that is in effect between Italy and the US.

Calipari was shot to death in 2005 while driving to the Baghdad airport after securing the release of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena [Wikipedia profile] from Iraqi kidnappers. A second Italian agent, Andrea Carpani, was also wounded when US soldiers perceived the car as insurgents speeding through a security checkpoint. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal district judge issued an order [PDF text] Wednesday giving the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) [official website] until the end of June to finalize a proposed rule removing the American bald eagle [FWS backgrounder] from the federal endangered species list [FWS materials]. US District Judge John R. Tunheim of the District of Minnesota originally set a deadline of Feb. 16 after a property owner won summary judgment in a lawsuit [order, PDF] seeking to force the FWS to comply with deadlines mandated by the Endangered Species Act [text; summary]. The FWS proposed delisting the bald eagle in 1999 [FWS materials; press release] because the bald eagle population had surged from about 500 mating pairs in the 1960s to more than 5,000. Landowner Edmund Contoski, represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) [advocacy website], sued the FWS in 2005 after Minnesota environmental officials him ordered him not to develop his property within 330 feet of a bald eagle nest. PLF is threatening to seek sanctions [press release] against federal officials if they fail to meet the new deadline.

FWS sought the delay after it reopened the public comment period [JURIST report] last February on the delistment process, resulting in an outpouring of reaction. On Wednesday, National Public Radio broadcast a report [text and audio] revealing that FWS Director Dale Hall wrote a memo [PDF text] to his superiors in the Interior Department [official website] suggesting that continued protection under other statutes would be "very difficult to enforce without evidence of a dead or injured eagle." He argued for a broader definition of activities that "disturb" bald eagles. That definition is key to how the bald eagle is protected under statutes other than the Endangered Species Act, including the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act [text; summary] and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act [text; summary]. The Star Tribune has more.

This report was prepared in partnership with the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

[JURIST] Comments by the commander of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] that Australian detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] continues to be a dangerous terrorist [ABC Australia report] were cited by one of Hicks' lawyers Thursday as an example of why Hicks will not receive a fair trial. Rear Admiral Harry Harris [official profile], commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay [official website] and head of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, told ABC's PM program [recorded audio] that there are no innocent men being held. Harris also added that it is the right of any nation at war to detain enemy combatants without the expectation that they be charged or tried. Echoing the growing concern [JURIST report; ABC Australia report] in Australia about the handling of Hicks' case, Hicks defense lawyer David McLeod noted that in the Australian criminal court system the suggestion that a prisoner is guilty would lead to a mistrial.

Hicks is one of three high profile Guantanamo prisoners facing new charges [JURIST report] announced by the US last Friday. The original charges against Hicks, Canadian Omar Khadr and Yemeni Salim Hamdan [Trial Watch profiles] and other detainees had to be dropped after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system was unconstitutional as initially constituted [JURIST report]. The new charges must still receive formal approval, a process expected to take another two weeks. Hicks was picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 while allegedly fighting for the Taliban. US prosecutors claim that he trained at up to four terrorist camps. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] Legitimate asylum seekers in the US may be ignored or detained for months or even years given the current expedited removal [JURIST report] practices of domestic security officials, according to a report card [text] released Thursday by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF) [official website], a bipartisan commission established by Congress in 1998. The report finds fault with current procedures for conducting "credible-fear" interviews, where agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has jurisdiction over asylum-seekers, determine whether an immigrant has a credible fear of torture or a fear of returning home, which in turn expedites the process for the asylum seeker, whose case will then be heard before an immigration judge.

The report card was released to assess how well government agencies have complied with recommendations made in a 2005 CIRF report [text; press release], which found that there were serious flaws in implementation of the expedited removal process and alleged that asylum seekers are often subjected to inhumane treatment. According to CIRF:

[T]wo years later, most of the Study's recommendations have not been implemented. The Commission's overarching recommendation was that Expedited Removal not be expanded until the serious problems identified by the Study—which place vulnerable asylum seekers at risk—were resolved. Despite this recommendation, and the failure to resolve the problems cited in the study, DHS has in fact expanded Expedited Removal from a port-of-entry program to one that covers the entire land and sea border of the United States. DHS has also moved to expand Expedited Removal to include most Salvadorans who are otherwise entitled to special procedural protections at the border due to a long-standing court injunction in the Orantes v Gonzales case.

[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] accused Mexico [JURIST news archive] in a report [text] released Wednesday of having a "gravely flawed" criminal justice system in which human rights abuses are perpetuated and criminals are rarely punished. The report cites evidence of arbitrary detentions, torture, fabrication of evidence and unfair trials and claims that the victims are often indigenous Mexicans, the poor, women and children. Inherent in the flawed criminal justice system, the report concludes, is a a lack of trust in police officers, judges and lawyers. One of the greatest concerns [press release] is that "the explicit right to the presumption of innocence is absent in Mexico's constitution. In practice most individuals accused of a crime are presumed guilty. Lack of access to effective defence counsel further undermines the right to a fair trial."

Amnesty International met with representatives of Mexico's government Wednesday and has called on Mexican President Felipe Calderon [official website, English version; BBC profile] to introduce reforms in order to address the deficiencies in the criminal justice system. The human rights organization made recommendations for specific reforms to be made in the areas of "international human rights standards; public security and the criminal justice system; accountability; human rights defenders and rights of victims." The report comes in the midst of surge of violence and killings in Mexico that includes murders, kidnappings and assassinations. CBC News has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Two state legislators asked the attorney general of Texas [JURIST news archive] Wednesday to issue an opinion on the legality of Gov. Rick Perry's executive order [text] mandating that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated for the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) [US CDC fact sheet]. The lawmakers also requested that Attorney General Greg Abbott [official website] advise the legislature on actions it can take to override the executive order, which the governor issued last week [JURIST report]. One of the legislators, Sen. Jane Nelson (R) [official profile], has called on Perry to rescind the order. "The public has the right to testify on this issue, and the Legislature has a constitutional duty to be involved in this decision," Nelson said this week in a press release [text]. In response, a spokesman for Perry challenged lawmakers to take action [AP report], agreeing that legislation would take precedence over the executive order. A handful of bills [text] to that effect have already been introduced. Nevertheless, Perry's spokesman defended the order as a proper exercise of the governor's chief executive powers under the Texas Constitution [text].

Perry himself reiterated his support for the vaccine mandate this week in a statement [text] and in the annual State of the State Address [prepared text]. In the speech, the Republican governor said:

I understand the concern some of my good friends have about requiring this vaccine, which is why parents can opt out if they so choose.

But I refuse to look a young woman in the eye ten years from now who suffers from this form of cancer and tell her we could have stopped it, but we didn't. Others may focus on the cause of this cancer. I will stay focused on the cure. And if I err, I will err on the side of protecting life.

[JURIST] Nashville is set to conduct all official business in the English language after the Nashville City Council voted 23-14 Tuesday to amend the City Charter [text] to declare English the official language of the city government. Mayor Bill Purcell is consulting with city attorneys [Tennessean report] to determine whether to sign, veto, or take no action on the bill. He has ten days to act before the resolution automatically becomes law.

The resolution [text] contains an exception for when speaking a language other than English is "required by federal law or when necessary to protect or promote public health, safety or welfare." Opponents of the resolution say this exception would render the resolution a merely symbolic act, albeit one that alienates the immigrant population of Nashville. Nashville has the nation's largest Kurdish community and the city's foreign-born population has increased 350 percent since 1990. It is said to be the first US state capital to adopt an official English law.

The Tennessee Code has already established English as the official language of the State of Tennessee. According to Tennessee Code Annotated 4-1-404 [text]:

English is hereby established as the official and legal language of Tennessee. All communications and publications, including ballots, produced by governmental entities in Tennessee shall be in English, and instruction in the public schools and colleges of Tennessee shall be conducted in English unless the nature of the course would require otherwise.

[JURIST] No formal peace treaty will be concluded between Japan and Russia until Russia relinquishes control of several Japanese islands it has occupied since the end of World War II, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website] told a rally on Wednesday. Possession of the island chain, known as the Kurils Islands in Russia and the Northern Territories [Japan MOFA materials] in Japan, was first transferred from Russia to Japan in 1855 under a friendship treaty. It remained under Japanese control until Russian troops seized the islands during the last days of World War II, an act in violation of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact [text], signed by both nations on April 13, 1941. The dispute over the islands' control has led to the absence of a formal peace treaty [JURIST report] ending World War II hostilities between Japan and Russia.

Abe and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin discussed the return of the islands [Kyodo News report] during an economic summit last year. AP has more.