[JURIST] Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons [official website] is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly failing to report gifts and payments given by a defense technology company that received secret military contracts while Gibbons was still a US congressman, an anonymous FBI source confirmed to the AP Thursday. The investigation is focusing on allegations that Gibbons' longtime friend, Warren Trepp, the owner of eTreppid Technologies [corporate website], may have exchanged gifts for lucrative contracts [Business Wire report]. Testimony in a civil suit between one of Trepp's former employees against him claimed that in exchange for assisting the company in obtaining the contracts, Trepp gave Gibbons a large sum of cash and casino-chips while on a well-documented Caribbean cruise [WSJ report] last year. E-mail messages between Trepp and his wife also allude to secretive payments to Gibbons. Both Trepp and Gibbons deny the allegations.

Trepp's various businesses and holdings gave Gibbons approximately a combined $100,000 during his campaign for governor, most of which came on the same day and have the same mailing address listed. While Nevada law prohibits individual and corporate donations of more than $10,000 to a candidate in a single election cycle, Gibbons and Trepp both assert that the donations were legal because the individual gifts of the maximum amount came through different corporate entities. AP has more.

[JURIST] Chief of the Russian Military General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky [official profile] told Russian media Thursday that Russia might unilaterally opt out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) [text; US State Dept. backgrounder] if the US continues efforts to establish missile defense systems in Central Europe. Baluyevsky has previously criticized the establishment of the missile defense bases [UPI report] in Central Europe. Just last week at a security conference in Munich, Russian President Vladimir Putin [BBC profile] said that the INF no longer serves Russia's interests [Financial Times report].

Russian-US relations have been strained of late. Russia distrusts what they see as overreaching US foreign policy, and the US is wary of Russia's human rights record [JURIST reports]. Both nations still have huge nuclear arsenals. Weapons makers in Russia say they are prepared to start making intermediate range missiles if Russia abandons the treaty. AP has more.

[JURIST] Canada's conservative government [party website] retreated Thursday from earlier statements that the government would ignore a bill (C-288) [legislative history] passed by the House of Commons [official website] Wednesday requiring the government to establish a plan within 60 days for greenhouse gas emission cuts mandated by the Kyoto Protocol [text; BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. While Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official website] initially announced that he would not support the legislation, which still must be passed by the Canadian Senate [official website] to become law, he told Parliament Thursday that the government would respect the bill "if and when [it] becomes law," but said that the bill was so poorly constructed that it would have no effect on government policies.

The drafter of C-288, Pablo Rodriguez [official profile] of Canada's Liberal Party [party website], likened Harper's initial comments that the legislation would be ignored to an attack on democracy, that by choosing which laws to respect and which to ignore the prime minister was in essence acting as a dictator. On Monday, Harper unveiled the government's own plan [press release] for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The judiciary committee of the Montana Senate [official website] endorsed a bill [PDF text] Thursday that would abolish the death penalty [JURIST news archive]. By an 8-4 margin, the committee voted [hearing minutes, recorded audio] to send the SB 306 to the full state senate for consideration. Similar legislation has been introduced in the past three Montana Senate legislative sessions without success. Montana has executed three prisoners since the national death penalty was reinstated and currently has two prisoners on death row.

The death penalty has been recently challenged in several states over concerns about cruelty and procedure. The New Mexico House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal the death penalty [JURIST report] this week and earlier this month, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen issued an executive order [JURIST report] directing the Tennessee Commissioner of Corrections to review the manner in which death sentences are carried out and granted temporary reprieves to four inmates on death row. In January, a North Carolina state judge issued an injunction [JURIST report] blocking two executions until Governor Mike Easley hands down new procedures to execute capital defendants without the presence of doctors. Capital punishment has also been suspended in Florida and California [JURIST reports]. In early January, the New Jersey Death Penalty Commission [official website] recommended abolishing the death penalty [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] contacted Italian intelligence about the possibility of performing extraordinary renditions [JURIST news archive] in the days following the September 11 attacks, according to testimony during Italian judicial proceedings against US and Italian agents on Thursday. The proceedings center around the alleged 2003 kidnapping [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] and extraordinary rendition of Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile]. Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, says he was tortured after being grabbed off a street in Milan and ultimately sent to Egypt. Hearings [JURIST report] to decide the legal fate of some 30 operatives started last month after a December request by Italian prosecutors that Judge Caterina Interlandi issue indictments [JURIST report] against 26 CIA agents and five officials from the Italian Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official website], including former SISMI chief Nicola Pollari. Officials in Switzerland said Wednesday that they are launching a criminal probe [JURIST report] into the alleged unlawful use of Swiss airspace by US agents to transport Omar from Milan to Germany.

In October, Italian prosecutors said they had completed their investigation [JURIST report] into the incident and would once again press for the extradition of the 26 American agents [JURIST report] believed to be involved in the case. If extradition is denied, Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro has said he would be forced to try the US agents in absentia [JURIST report]. A judicial decision is expected Friday on whether to indict the American and Italian agents for kidnapping. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian police arrested 72 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] on Thursday morning, according to security officials. The government accuses the organization of trying to create an Islamic theocracy, but the Brotherhood claims the crackdown is meant to quell opposition to constitutional amendments [JURIST report] proposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile; JURIST news archive] last year. Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] Middle East Director Sarah Leah Whitson on Thursday called [press release] for the release of over 200 members of the group who are currently being detained. Whitson said:

This escalation in the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has worrying implications for anyone who peacefully campaigns for change ... By trying to crush Egypt's largest opposition movement, the government has shown once again that it cannot tolerate any criticism.

[JURIST] US Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official websites] Thursday introduced [press release] a bill that would ban federal funds for the use, sale, or transfer of cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder; Cluster Munition Coalition advocacy website]. The Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007 [PDF text, via CR] would allow an exception for bombs to be used against "clearly defined military targets and not where civilians are known to be present." Introducing the bill on the Senate floor, Leahy said:

The Feinstein-Leahy bill does not prohibit the use or export of cluster munitions. Rather, it would set a standard for reliability that is the same as what the Pentagon now requires for new procurements of these weapons.

The President may waive this requirement if he certifies that doing so is vital to protect the security of the United States, and he submits a report describing the steps that will be taken to protect civilians and the failure rate of the cluster munitions to be used or sold.

[JURIST] Prosecutors in East Timor [JURIST news archive] said Thursday they are seeking a seven-year jail term for Rogerio Lobato, former head of East Timor's Ministry of the Interior [official website] on charges of misappropriating public property, misuse of public funds, and the unauthorised importation or use of firearms to disturb public order. The charges stem from allegations [JURIST report] that Lobato provided weapons, ammunition, and police uniforms to an illegal civilian militia. Lobato's trial was delayed for several months [East Timor Law Journal backgrounder] when Lobato missed an initial hearing date due to security concerns.

East Timor descended into violence in 2006, when former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri [BBC profile] dismissed 600 striking members of the armed forces, causing riots [BBC report] in April and continued violence throughout May [JURIST report]. Alkatiri resigned in June, and in October, an independent United Nations commission recommended criminal investigations [JURIST report] into Alkatiri, Lobato, and three other former government officials in relation to the May violence which left 37 dead. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A German court on Thursday sentenced anti-Semitic writer Ernst Zundel [ADL profile; CBC profile] to five years in prison after finding him guilty on 14 counts of incitement, libel and disparaging the dead [JURIST report]. Holocaust denial constitutes a crime under Section 130 (3) [text] of the German Federal Criminal Code, which provides:

Whoever publicly or in a meeting approves of, denies or renders harmless an act committed under the rule of National Socialism of the type indicated in Section 220a subsection (1) [genocide], in a manner capable of disturbing the public piece shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than five years or a fine.

[JURIST] Romanian President Traian Basescu [official website, English version; BBC profile] has called for a national referendum to allow citizens to vote on amendments to the constitution aimed at reducing corruption. In a speech [PDF text, in Romanian] to parliament Wednesday, Basescu said he would like to amend the Romanian constitution [text] to allow citizens to vote for lawmakers based on their name, rather than by party. Following its entrance into the European Union [official website] and the accompanying mandate to reduce corruption, such an amendment, according to Basescu, would make politicians more accountable. Last March, Romania allowed prosecutors to pursue corruption investigations into legislators and ministers by passing a law which eliminated their immunity. Bloomberg has more.

Bulgaria and Romania officially became the EU's newest members [JURIST report] on January 1, 2007, after six years of accession negotiations. The entrance date had been set for the former Eastern bloc nations since 2005 [JURIST report], but the EU had issued warnings [JURIST report] that accession could be delayed if corruption and human rights violations were not addressed. After efforts to comply with EU standards, the EU approved the 2007 entry [EC press release] of the countries in September of 2006. The European Commission has emphasized that both nations will be expected to show additional progress in the areas of "judicial reform, [the] fight against corruption and organised crime," to be demonstrated through biannual progress reports. Failure to comply could result in EU intervention and potential loss of economic aid under Articles 36 to 38 of the Act of Accession [text], which lay out safeguard mechanisms in the event of problems posing a threat to the functioning of the Union.

[JURIST] A law is currently being drafted in the Rwandan Parliament [official website] that would limit families to having three children in order to curb increasing poverty levels [UN backgrounder], an official said Wednesday. Although the law as drafted does not include punitive measures for families who violate it, it would includes incentives for families who limit themselves to three children. Since the 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder] of 800,000 Rwandans, the country has had one of the highest birth rates in Africa in attempt to re-populate the country. Rwandan women average six children each and, according to official reports, the country now has the highest population density in Africa - 343 people per square kilometer.

With the rapid growth in population comes a corresponding growth in poverty. According to Francois Sekamondo, an officer at the Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning [official website], an annual 3 percent population growth translates to a 93 percent rise in poverty. The Rwandan proposal resembles China's Family Planning Law [China.org backgrounder], which mandates one child per family. China's law, in combination with other family planning efforts, has successfully restrained population growth. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Serbian Parliament [official website, English version] voted Thursday to reject a United Nations plan released by the United Nations that calls for Kosovo's autonomy and for the right of Kosovo [JURIST news archive] to govern itself as a multi-ethnic society. The plan by Special Envoy for the Future Status Process Marrti Ahtisaari [official profile] was rejected by 225 of 244 deputies of the newly elected parliament, who voted to adopt the outgoing parliament's resolution [PDF text] to condemn the proposal:

The statement is equally offensive to Serbia, the Serb people, and the international community as a whole. The National Assembly considers this view to be contrary to principles upon which international order is founded, democratic values, and principally, to the very mandate of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General.

[JURIST] A federal court in California sentenced two former Enron [JURIST news archive] executives Wednesday to probation for their roles in Enron's manipulation of electricity supplies during the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis. Timothy Belden [Wikipedia profile], former head of Enron's West Coast power trading who pleaded guilty [plea agreement, PDF; WSJ report] to deliberately submitting false data to California electricity operators to drive up Enron's profits, was sentenced to two years of probation. He must also pay a $10,000 fine. Another former Enron employee, Jeffrey Richter, was also sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for conspiracy.

A third former Enron trader, John Forney, pleaded guilty in 2004 [JURIST report] for conspiracy to commit similar profit drives. He is expected to be sentenced next month. Belden, Richter, and Forney are the only three ex-Enron traders to be charged with manipulating the California market. The Houston Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [official website] and drug manufacturer Merck Pharmaceuticals [corporate website] reached a $2.3 billion agreement on Wednesday that will settle all outstanding tax disputes from 1993 to 2006. According to an IRS statement, the settlement, one of the largest in recent history, resolves federal taxes, interest after deductions, and penalties on many issues, including three arising out of Merck's transactions in minority equity interest financing. The IRS had originally expected to fine Merck upwards of $3.8B, but according to a statement released by Merck "the Company concluded that given the theoretical amount in disagreement, it was in the Company's best interests to reach this settlement so as to remove the uncertainty and cost of potential litigation."

The settlement of the tax disputes with the IRS marks just one closed item in the company's potential liabilities. Merck has yet to settle a $1.76 billion dispute over tax returns between 1998 and 2004 with the Canada Revenue Agency. Merck also awaits the resolution of multiple suits concerning the painkiller Vioxx [JURIST news archive]. Most recently, a jury in California was unable to reach a decision [JURIST report] concerning Merck's liability, and an Alabama jury found Merck not liable [JURIST report] for the heart attack suffered by a plaintiff seeking over $5 million in damages. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Nigerian House of Representatives [official website] held public hearings Wednesday on a proposed bill to criminalize homosexuality [JURIST news archive]. The bill would authorize a maximum five-year sentence for any person found to be openly gay or practicing homosexual acts. Religious groups say the bill is necessary to protect public morality, but gay activists said it will violate human rights. According to a BBC correspondent, political insiders in Nigeria predict the bill could pass both the House and Senate by the end of March. BBC News has more.

In November, South Africa enacted a civil unions law [JURIST report], becoming the first African nation to recognize same-sex unions. That law was passed after the South African Constitutional Court [official website] in October 2005 ruled [summary; JURIST report] that the 1961 Marriage Act [1997 extension text, PDF], effectively precluding same-sex marriages, violated the South African Constitution [text].

[JURIST] The trial of 29 people suspected of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings [JURIST news archive] that killed 191 people began Thursday in the National Court of Spain. The defendants [BBC backgrounder], mostly of Moroccan descent, are charged with 192 counts of murder and upwards of 1,800 counts of attempted murder related to the March 11, 2004 bombings, which prosecutors say were motivated by al-Qaeda's demand that Spain be punished for supporting the Iraq war. Only seven are charged with murder and belonging to a terrorist organization, while charges for the other 22 include collaborating with a terrorist group and handling explosives. The first suspect to testify was Rabei Osman el Sayed [CBC profile], who was convicted in Italy [JURIST report] for belonging to a terrorist group and was extradited to Spain for the Spanish trial. Prosecutors allege that Osman, also known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," masterminded the attacks and recruited others to help. Reuters has more. Bloomberg has additional coverage.

Spanish prosecutors in November promised to seek consecutive life sentences [JURIST report] for the suspects that will extend well beyond their lifetimes. Spanish law requires prosecutors to request jail terms amounting to thousands of years because Spain does not allow life sentences without the possibility of parole.

[JURIST] Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters will escape jail time after a defense lawyer for BALCO founder Victor Conte admitted [DOJ press release, PDF] Wednesday in court filings that he allowed reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada [SF Chronicle profiles] to see transcripts of the grand jury testimony of several baseball stars, including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield, regarding the steroids investigation into the now-defunct Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) [SF Chronicle coverage]. Attorney Troy Ellerman made the admission as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors, pending judicial approval, where prosecutors will drop the case against Williams and Fainaru-Wada in exchange for two years of prison and a $250,000 fine from Ellerman. The plea hearing is yet unscheduled. The San Francisco Chronicle has more. AP has additional coverage.

In September 2006, a federal judge threatened Williams and Fainaru-Wada with jail time [JURIST report] for refusing to reveal the source of the leaked grand jury transcripts. The reporters were set free pending the resolution of their appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In an August 2006 order [PDF text; JURIST report] denying Williams and Fainaru-Wada's motion to quash the subpoenas, the judge cited Supreme Court precedent for the proposition that no one may refuse to testify before a federal grand jury. The reporters had previously argued that the First Amendment protects the rights of journalists to protect their sources. Similar arguments made by New York Times reporter Judith Miller were struck down [JURIST report] last year by a federal judge who ruled that "the First Amendment does not protect news reporters or news organizations from producing documents when the news reporters are themselves critical to both the indictment and prosecution of criminal activity."

[JURIST] On the same day the defense rested in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive], US District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Wednesday ruled against Libby on several issues after it became clear that Libby was not going to testify in his self-defense, as defense lawyers had previously said he would. Libby's defense theory has been that he was told Plame was a CIA agent by Vice President Dick Cheney on June 12, 2003, but that he forgot this information in the milieu of the other issues he dealt with on a daily basis as Cheney's chief of staff and national security advisor. US Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald [official website] had agreed to tell the jury about some of the national security threats Libby dealt with around June 2003 on the condition that he could cross-examine Libby on the subject of his memory. Walton, upon learning that Libby would not testify as expected, barred all evidence on Libby's state of mind, and told the jury to ignore a statement made by Cheney they had already heard, that Libby "worked long hours, received daily intelligence briefings and attended many meetings concerning important matters of national security." Closing arguments begin next Thursday. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

On Monday, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak testified [JURIST report] that Libby did not leak Plame's identity to him. It was Novak's July 2003 column that publicly outed Plame, thus igniting the CIA leak scandal [JURIST news archive]. Libby is not charged with leaking Plame's identity, but instead faces perjury and obstruction of justice charges [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] in connection with the investigation into the leak. The prosecution rested [JURIST report] its case in the trial late last week.