[JURIST] The European Commission (EC) [official website] plans to develop a common fingerprint database that includes data collected from criminals convicted of serious crimes within member states, a spokesperson announced Friday. EC spokesperson Ana-Paula Laiss denied claims made in the London Times that the database would require fingerprints even from people released without charge [Times report]. The fingerprint plan was mentioned as part of the European Union (EU) Counter-Terrorism strategy [factsheet, DOC] last week.

Sharing criminal information, including fingerprints and DNA, was the goal of the 2005 Treaty of Prüm [text, PDF], which was ratified by Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium. On Thursday, Finland announced its support for ratification [press release]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar [official profile, JURIST news archive] filed a lawsuit Friday against the Nigerian electoral commission [official website] after it issued a ruling Thursday prohibiting him from running in the upcoming April presidential. The commission cited the Nigerian constitution [text], which bars presidential candidates indicted for crimes before a court or executive panel, for its decision. In February, a senate panel indicted Abubakar on corruption charges [JURIST report] stemming from the alleged diversion of $145 million dollars of public money to private interests, as well as allegations of receiving more than $4.6 million dollars in bribes. Only Nigeria's Supreme Court [official website] can overturn the electoral commission's decision, according to legal experts. Abubakar denies the allegations and insists they are part of a smear campaign orchestrated by current president and political rival Olusegun Obasabjo [official profile].

Abubakar is currently embroiled in a high-profile feud with Obasanjo. Last year, Obasanjo tried to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third presidential term [JURIST report]. Abubakar opposed the move, indicating that he would be running for president himself. In October 2006, Abubakar was charged with corruption [JURIST report], a charge Abubakar says was retaliatory. In February, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [official website] included [JURIST report] Abubakar on a list of 135 Nigerian politicians considered too corrupt to hold office. AP has more. This Day has local coverage.

[JURIST] British coroner Andrew Walker [Wikipedia profile] ruled Friday that a US A-10 tank-buster "friendly fire" attack on a UK troop convoy that killed UK soldier Matty Hull [Wikipedia profile] "amounted to an assault. It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it and in that respect it was criminal." Walker's civilian inquiry, which had for a while been suspended due to a cited lack of cooperation by the US military, was reopened on Monday. In early February, cockpit video footage of the incident [YouTube video] was leaked to the British press, and subsequently declassified.

Walker's inquiry was the third official examination of the circumstances of Hull's death. A 2004 British Army investigation [report, PDF] released last year made a number of recommendations, but concluded that all involved were "working to the best of their abilities, under intense operational pressure." The US State Department placed no blame on the pilots in its own inquiry, rejecting the idea that the incident was criminal [BBC report]. The UK Ministry of Defense issued a statement [text] saying it will carefully consider Walker's comments, and will do everything possible to avoid similar incidents in the future. Reuters has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Judges appointed to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website] reached an agreement Friday on the most pressing points of contention over the Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] genocide trial rules [2006 draft rules, PDF] after a 10-day meeting [JURIST report; press release, PDF]. In a statement made at the end of the talks, the panel of international and Cambodian judges said that only some fine-tuning remains. Although details of the agreement were not released, it seems to have assuaged the threat of a United Nations walkout from the trials, which were scheduled to begin in mid-2007 before being delayed for several months [JURIST report] due to fighting over rules.

Still at issue is a requirement by the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia (BAKC) that participating international lawyers join and pay a membership fee. The international judges in the ECCC believe this unfairly hinders free selection of counsel by victims and the accused. The Cambodian and international judges of the ECCC plan to resolve remaining differences by the end of April. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former CIA operative Valerie Plame [WP profile] testified before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee [official investigation website] Friday that the White House and US Department of State "carelessly and recklessly" blew her cover in an effort to discredit her diplomat-husband Joseph Wilson [BBC profile] who had criticized US pre-war intelligence on Iraq. Plame's identity as a CIA operative was leaked in a 2003 syndicated newspaper column by Robert Novak after Wilson reported that contrary to Bush administration assertions Saddam Hussein was not trying to buy uranium from Niger. The Congressional hearing was the first time that Plame has publicly answered questions about her role in the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive].

In response to Novak's article connecting her position within the CIA to a trip her husband took to Africa, she said she had no part in sending Wilson to Niger on a CIA fact-finding mission. Although I. "Scooter" Libby [defense website] was recently found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury [JURIST report] related to the investigation of Plame's leaked identity, no charges have been brought against those responsible for the breach in security. AP has more.

[JURIST] The president-elect of Russia's Chechen Republic [official website, in Russian] accused Russian authorities Friday of torturing Chechen detainees. The allegations by Ramzan Kadyrov [BBC profile] came just days after the Council of Europe's European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) [official website] released a report [text] calling on Russia to address claims of human rights violations [JURIST report] in Chechnya [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive].

The CPT report detailed the activities of a Russian Ministry of the Interior [official website] unit, called ORB-2 [Amnesty International backgrounder], which controlled a detention facility in Chechnya where detainees were "systematically subjected to torture." Kadyrov vowed to open an investigation into the ORB-2 torture allegations. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry's southern federal district said there would be no official comment on the allegations until at least Saturday. AP has more.

[JURIST] Japanese Internet entrepreneur Takafumi Horie [Wikipedia profile], 34, was convicted of securities law violations on Friday and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Horie, whose rebellious style made him a media celebrity [fan website], received a harsher penalty than the suspended sentence that most convicted executives receive when they plead guilty and show remorse. Horie denies deceiving shareholders of his Internet portal company Livedoor [corporate website, in Japanese] which grew to a market value of US $6 billion. The tough sentence has prompted concerns that young Japanese innovators will be discouraged from pursuing new business ventures in a culture dominated by corporate dynasties.

According to Chief Judge Toshiyuki Kosaka of the Tokyo District Court, Horie created decoy investment funds, falsifying their accounts and profits "for the purpose of evading the law." Since his arrest last year [BBC report], Horie has faulted the company's chief financial officer for the accounting discrepancies. Horie announced plans to appeal the decision. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A bill to repeal the Maryland death penalty [JURIST news archive] failed in the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee [official website] Thursday when the committee members tied in a 5-5 vote. Swing vote Sen. Alex X. Mooney (R) [official profile] voted against the bill after unsuccessfully lobbying for an exemption for prisoners who kill again while serving a jail term. Bill sponsor Sen. Lisa A. Gladden (D) [official profile] said that without the Senate's endorsement she will not call for a vote on the bill in the General Assembly [official website].

The bill, which had the support [JURIST report] of Governor Martin O’Malley (D) [official profile], was debated vigorously after the Maryland Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [JURIST report] in December to suspend executions [JURIST report] while it reviewed the state’s lethal injection [JURIST news archive] procedures to determine if they should be adopted as regulations. The moratorium remains in place. The Baltimore Sun has more.

[JURIST] Italy [JURIST news archive] has asked the Italian Constitutional Court [official website] to cancel the indictments of 34 American and Italian intelligence officials [JURIST report] in connection with the 2003 kidnapping and rendition [JURIST news archive] of Egyptian cleric and suspected terrorist Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [JURIST news archive] from Italy. Lawyers for the state say prosecutors exceeded their authority by using evidence that was protected by the state secrets privilege. Prosecutor Armando Spataro has alleged that 25 Americans working for the Central Intelligence Agency, one United States Air Force colonel, and five Italians from Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official websites] colluded to kidnap Nasr from Milan. Nasr was then allegedly transferred to Egypt and turned over to Egypt's State Security Intelligence (SSI) [Wikipedia backgrounder], where he was allegedly tortured before being released [JURIST reports] on February 12. In response to US refusals to extradite the agents [JURIST report], Spataro has vowed to hold a trial in absentia [JURIST report].

Montasser al Zayat, the lawyer for Nasr, expressed hope that the Court will not annul the indictments [AKI report], which represent the first charges brought in connection with the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi [official website] has refused to issue an extradition request, pressing for a diplomatic resolution to the issue. AP has more. Il Giornale has local coverage [in Italian].

[JURIST] The Supreme Judicial Council of Pakistan [governing constitutional provisions] Friday removed all restrictions [order] on the liberty of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official profile], suspended for misconduct [JURIST report] last week by President Pervez Musharraf [official website; BBC profile]. Chaudhry appeared in front of the Council for an initial hearing [JURIST report] Tuesday and returned Friday to hear its ruling as hundreds of lawyers and political opponents of Musharraf rallied outside the Supreme Court building. Several were arrested when protesters clashed with police. Police also raided the offices of the private Geo TV station [Bloomberg report], whose coverage of the protests the government has sought to suppress.

Pakistani lawyers have boycotted the courts [JURIST report] since Chaudhry's suspension, and street protests by hundreds [JURIST report] have resulted in injuries and arrests. After assuming the position of chief justice in 2005, Chaudhry demonstrated willingness to investigate alleged government abuses involving the illegal detention of political activists. In ordering his suspension last week, Musharraf claimed to have received "numerous complaints and serious allegations for misconduct, misuse of authority and actions prejudicial to the dignity of office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan"; private media reports accused Chaudhry of nepotism. Reuters has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] en banc Thursday that Robert Comer, an inmate on death row, "is competent to waive further proceedings...[and] has chosen to do so voluntarily," paving the way for Comer's desire to allow his execution in Arizona to proceed. Comber, who was convicted in 1988 of one count of first-degree murder, three counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of sexual abuse and three counts of sexual assault, had sought to dismiss his habeas counsel, who had "[argued] instead that Comer's decision to waive further proceedings is involuntary and constitutionally invalid due to harsh prison conditions."

Last year, a three-judge panel of the court remanded Comer's case to the district court to determine whether Comer was competent to waive further proceedings and whether that waiver was voluntary. The Arizona Supreme Court [official website] will need to formally order Comer's execution before it can proceed. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile] testified Saturday at a military status hearing at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] that he personally "decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in Karachi," according to a statement initially withheld from Wednesday's release [JURIST report] of the hearing transcript [text, PDF] to allow the notification of Pearl's family. The statement, which was read by a representative, described the 2002 kidnapping and subsequent beheading of Daniel Pearl [JURIST news archive] as an operation conducted with the Pakistan Mujahadeen group, unaffiliated with al-Qaeda [JURIST news archive]. Mohammed claims that Pearl had been working for the Israeli Mossad [official website] and maintained a relationship with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official websites]. Former colleagues and government officials have denounced the claims as baseless. Mohammed's statement, which he "admits and affirms without duress," also claims that he was responsible for 30 other proposed and executed terrorist operations spanning over a decade. Several US officials told AP that while there is much truth in Mohammed's statement, that was also a great deal of exaggeration and self-promotion.

The admissions came during Mohammed's first military hearing [JURIST report] before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) [DOD backgrounder] since he was transferred last September from a secret CIA prison overseas [JURIST report] into military custody at Guantanamo Bay. Hearings on whether Mohammed and 13 other top terror suspects [DNI profile, PDF] qualify as "enemy combatants" [CFR backgrounder, JURIST news archive] began last Friday. AP has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A French court convicted a doctor for the poisoning death of a terminally ill cancer patient Thursday. Dr. Laurence Tramois was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence for prescribing a fatal dose of potassium chloride that resulted in the death of Paulette Drualis in August 23, 2003. The case has stirred debate over the issue of euthanasia in the current French presidential race; Segolene Royal [BBC profile], candidate of France's Parti Socialiste [party website], has indicated that she will push for a new law to allow euthanasia under certain circumstances. Nicolas Sarkozy [BBC profile], candidate for the ruling conservative Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) [party website], has also suggested of a future law allowing euthanasia. Francois Bayrou [BBC profile], the candidate of the center-right Union pour la Democratie Francaise (UDP) [party website], has also indicated support for legalizing euthanasia, saying Monday that such decisions are medical in nature and should be reserved for doctors and patients, not the law. France's two-round presidential elections are slated to take place on April 22 and May 6.

On Wednesday, Inmaculada Echevarria, a Spanish women who had suffered muscular dystrophy for 40 years, was allowed to have doctors disconnect her breathing machine in a case that highlighted the issue of euthanasia [JURIST news archive] in Spain, where the practice also remains illegal. Government authorities allowed the procedure because Echevarria's case technically involved a refusal of medical treatment. Assisted suicide has been legalized in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland [reports]. A proposed bill that would legalize the option of assisted suicide in the United Kingdom was set aside by the House of Lords [JURIST report] in May of last year following opposition from the public and two physician groups [JURIST report]. In January of last year, the US Supreme Court upheld Oregon's Death with Dignity Act [JURIST report], the only American state law that allows physician-assisted suicide. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Japanese government has found no evidence that so-called Korean and Chinese "comfort women" [Amnesty backgrounder] were forced into sexual slavery during World War II, according to a cabinet statement [text, in Japanese] provided to a Japanese lawmaker Friday. According to the statement, the government has not come across evidence that "directly shows so-called 'coercion' on the part of the military or constituted authorities." Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website, in Japanese; BBC profile] earlier this month denied that "comfort women" were coerced into prostitution [JURIST report], echoing sentiments by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso [official website] last month that a proposed US resolution urging Japan to apologize for the alleged practice was based on bad information [JURIST report]. Other Japanese politicians have said they will ignore the US resolution [JURIST report].

The proposed US House of Representatives resolution [text; H Res 121 summary] urges Japan to apologize to almost 200,000 Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Taiwanese and Filipino women who say there were forced into sexual slavery in army brothels during World War II. Japanese leaders issued an apology [text] in 1993 for government involvement in the scandal but that apology was never ratified by the Japanese parliament. Ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are currently conducting an investigation into allegation of forced sexual slavery, saying instead that the women were professional prostitutes paid for their services. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Chinese National People's Congress [official website] on Friday approved a landmark law protecting private property [Xinhua report; JURIST news archive] by a 2799-52 vote. Chinese lawmakers have been considering the bill for over 13 years, and the final version grants equal protections to both public and private property and states that the "property of the state, the collective, the individual and other obliges is protected by law, and no units or individuals may infringe upon it."

The absence of clear-cut property laws in China [JURIST news archive] has meant that local officials could expropriate property from businesses and private citizens without compensation and convert it into commercial real estate. The law, which was supported by China's entrepreneurial community, is due to take effect October 1, 2007. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.