[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] pleaded guilty to a charge of supporting terrorism [JURIST report] at an appearance before a US military commission Monday after the presiding judge unexpectedly disqualified two of his three lawyers. Judge Colonel Ralph Kohlmann barred civilian lawyer Joshua Dratel [firm profile] from the court because Dratel had not signed a form saying he would conform to the regulations governing proceedings. Rebecca Snyder, a military reserve lawyer, was also disqualified because she had not been called to active duty to defend Hicks. Kohlman said the two could remain in the court room as "advisors," but both left when Hicks said he only wanted them as his lawyers. Dratel argued against Kohlman's decision, saying he could not sign the required form because the regulations governing the conduct of lawyers had not yet been created by the Secretary of Defence and he did not want to sign a "blank check" for his ethical obligations. US Major Michael Mori [ACLU profile], Hicks' remaining military lawyer, argued that Kohlmann was biased because he had effectively ruled against Hicks' entire defence team. Kohlman ruled that he was impartial. The tribunal will reconvene Tuesday for a formal verdict on the disqualifications.

Australian opposition politicians quickly condemned the dismissals, saying they were further evidence that the proceedings are biased against Hicks. Australian Greens leader Bob Brown [personal website] compared the process to show trials conducted in the former Soviet Union [press release]. Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] that the tribunal was "fundamentally flawed" [press release]. Hicks is the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried [JURIST report] under the new Military Commissions Act [PDF text] that revived the tribunals after the US Supreme Court threw out the previous system created by an order from US President George W. Bush. The Sydney Morning Herald has more. The Australian has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] announced [text] Monday that suspected Al Qaeda [JURIST news archive] operative Abdul Malik had been transferred to the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prison over the weekend. According to the statement, Malik has confessed to participating in the 2002 Paradise Hotel attack [PBS attack] in Mombasa, Kenya, in which 13 people were killed when an explosive-filled SUV drove into the hotel lobby. He also admitted he attempted to shoot down an Israeli Boeing 757 civilian airliner carrying 271 passengers near Mombasa.

Malik is the first terror suspect to be transferred to Guantanamo since September 2004. The DOD release did not reveal his nationality or the details of his arrest. A review tribunal will now determine if Malik has enemy combatant [JURIST news archives] status. According to a statement from an anonymous senior defense official, Malik was not held in any secret CIA prisons [JURIST news archive] with the 14 "high-value" terror suspects [DNI profiles, PDF; JURIST news archive] transferred to Guantanamo last fall. The official also said that Kenya turned Malik over to US authorities in the past few weeks. DOD estimates that there are now approximately 385 detainees at Guantanamo Bay. AP has more.

[JURIST] Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine [official website] announced Monday that he has vetoed five bills [press release] promoting the death penalty [JURIST news archive]. House Bill 2750 and House Bill 2347 [bill summaries] sought to make the murder of a judge and the murder of a witness in a criminal case, respectively, into capital crimes; Senate Bill 1116 [bill summary] proposed a similar measure. House Bill 2348 and its counterpart Senate Bill 1288 [bill summaries] would have made accessories to first degree murder eligible for the death penalty. Kaine acknowledged the seriousness of the targeted offenses but said he did not believe that it was necessary to expand the death penalty "to protect human life or provide for public safety needs."

Kaine, a Democrat and a Roman Catholic, ran his 2005 campaign as an anti-death penalty candidate, but said he would not disrupt the current state laws. Monday's vetoes are expected to be overturned by the predominately Republican Virginia General Assembly [official website] during a vote on April 4. Virginia currently has the second-highest number of executions in the US after Texas. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Monday in the case of Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-480 [docket], in which a clothing manufacturer requests the Court to overrule a 1911 Supreme Court decision, Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co. [text] that held any minimum price agreement to be per se illegal and anti-competitive. In the present case, manufacturer Leegin ceased supplying goods to retailer PSKS after PSKS lowered its prices beneath the minimum set by the manufacturer. Leegin argued that such agreements foster competition among smaller retailers by preventing large retailers from setting extremely low and predatory prices. The trial court found that Leegin's actions violated the Sherman Antitrust Act [text] and awarded PSKS treble damages. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] affirmed [opinion, PDF] the decision in favor of PSKS. Associate Justice Stephen Breyer [OYEZ profile] speculated that dropping the per se rule would raise prices, while Associate Justice Antonin Scalia [OYEZ profile] suggested that some consumers prefer to pay more in return for greater customer service. AP has more.

The Court also heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Monday in the case of Bowles v. Russell [Duke Law case backgrounder; merits briefs], 06-5306 [docket], in which the court will consider whether an appeals court has the authority to dismiss an appeal as untimely if the appeal was timely filed according to a district judge's order, which set an incorrect deadline. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] that the timeline established in Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(6) [text, PDF] controlled the timeliness of the appeal notwithstanding the mistake in the district judge's order.

[JURIST] Italian general prosecutor Piero De Petris asked an appeals court in Milan Monday to sentence former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to five years in prison for bribing judges to stop the auction of the SME state-owned food company to a rival in 1985. Berlusconi, who denies the allegations, was acquitted [BBC report] of the charges by a trial court in 2004. Before resigning as PM in 2006, Berlusconi pushed through legislation [text, in Italian] precluding an appeal of the verdict. Last month, the Italian Court of Cassation [official website, in Italian], the country's high court, ruled [JURIST report] that Berlusconi should face trial, following a decision by the Italian Constitutional Court [official website] that the law violated the Italian constitution.

Berlusconi and former lawyer David Mills currently face trial [JURIST report] on charges of corruption arising from Berlusconi's alleged payment of $600,000 to Mills for favorable testimony at trials in the 1990s. In 2006, he was ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud, money laundering, and giving false testimony [JURIST reports] at trials involving his broadcasting company Mediaset [corporate website, in Italian]. Last month, a judge threw out some of the tax fraud charges [JURIST report] against Berlusconi because the statute of limitations had expired. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The trial of Desiré Munyaneza [Trial Watch profile] began Monday in Montreal where the former Rwandan militia commander faces seven charges in connection with the 1994 Rwandan genocide [HRW backgrounder; BBC backgrounder], including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The first witness, who remained anonymous for her protection, testified [Montreal Gazette report] Monday that Munyaneza, a Hutu, assisted in rounding up Tutsi men to be killed. The trial marks the first war crimes trial to take place in Canada in 15 years and the first criminal charges tried under the country's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act [text] that was passed in 2000.

The trial follows five weeks of preliminary hearings in Rwanda. Munyaneza faces life imprisonment for each charge and, if convicted, he most likely will be imprisoned in Canada. Munyaneza lived as a fugitive in Canada from 1997 until his capture by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) [official website] in 2005. He filed for refugee status in 1997, but the Canadian government rejected his claim in 2000 as well as two subsequent appeals before his 2005 arrest and arraignment. CTV News has more.

[JURIST] David Stockman [official profile], former director of the US Office of Management and Budget [official website] during the Reagan administration, was charged [DOJ press release, PDF] Monday with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false statements. The indictment [PDF text], which also listed three others as charged, relates to his time spent as CEO of auto parts manufacturer Collins & Aikman Corp. [corporate website]. The government alleges that Stockman was personally involved in a scheme to mislead creditors and investors about the financial status of the company.

According to a prepared statement [PDF text] by Manhattan US Attorney Michael Garcia, the case is about

systematic, purposeful lies told to a company’s auditors, creditors and investors about how much money the company was making. It is about fake documentation created at the direction of Stockman and his coconspirators, designed to hide the truth from auditors. And it is about Stockman’s increasingly desperate attempts to avoid C&A's bankruptcy, by repeatedly lying to the public and the company’s lenders, to get them to throw good money after bad.

[JURIST] Few Egyptians voted Monday in a referendum on proposed constitutional amendments [JURIST report] in the face of a boycott by opposition parties that regard them as an attempt to take away basic rights. Most participating voters were either gathered by the government or were government employees granted breaks to vote. Amnesty International [advocacy website] has condemned the amendments [press release], calling them the "greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years."

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile; JURIST news archive] Saturday defended the amendments [JURIST report] - which include provisions prohibiting religious political parties and giving the state sweeping power to prosecute terror-related offenses in special courts - as being necessary to shield Egypt from the dangers of religious sectarianism and terrorism. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] granted certiorari Monday in two cases [order list, PDF]. US v. Williams (06-694) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], on appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website], considers whether part of the federal anti-child abuse PROTECT Act of 2003 [PDF text] is unconstitutional for criminalizing speech protected by the First Amendment. The Eleventh Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that "non-commercial, non-inciteful promotion of illegal child pornography, even if repugnant, is protected speech under the First Amendment." AP has more.

In Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific Atlanta (06-43) [docket], the Court will determine when a "secondary" actor in securities fraud can be treated as a "primary" actor in terms of shared liability for the actions. The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website] had dismissed [opinion, PDF] claims for liability because the defendants had been found to be aiders and abettors to securities fraud, not primary violators. AP has more.

[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website, in Japanese; BBC profile] expressed his sympathy and apologized Monday for the "situation" faced by so-called Korean and Chinese "comfort women" [Amnesty backgrounder] who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II. Abe stopped short of explicitly acknowledging the alleged roles of the wartime military and government in Japan [JURIST news archive] in facilitating the practice. Until this point, Abe has been one of a number of politicians pushing for the government to revisit an official apology [text] issued to victims in 1993 that was never ratified by the Japanese parliament.

Earlier this month, Abe denied allegations of forced sexual slavery [JURIST report] in Imperial Japanese Army [Wikipedia backgrounder] brothels, saying instead that the women were professional prostitutes paid for their services. A Japanese government probe this month also denied finding any evidence of forced prostitution [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Prosecutors in Thailand filed criminal tax evasion charges Monday against the wife of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [JURIST news archive; BBC profile], Pojaman Shinawatra, as well as her secretary and her brother, Bhanapot Damapong. Shinawatra and her brother were arraigned by the Bangkok Criminal Court on two counts of evading taxes based on an alleged failure to pay taxes on their 1997 transfer of stock in Shin Corporation [corporate website; Wikipedia backgrounder], the family business founded by Thaksin in 1983 and formerly known as Shinawatra Computer. The alleged corruption scandal occurred before Thaksin took office in 2001. The Assets Examination Committee in Thailand [JURIST news archive], charged with investigating allegations of corruption by Thaksin Shinawatra and his family, recommended [JURIST report] in February that criminal tax evasion charges against Thaksin's wife, her brother and secretary be filed. Monday's charges are the first to be filed against a member of Thaksin's family. If convicted, Shinawatra and Damapong could face up to seven years in prison and fines up to $5,700.

The Royal Thai Army [official website] seized power from Thaksin in a bloodless military coup [JURIST report] September 19, leading to the imposition of martial law [JURIST news archive]. Since then, the new Thai government has struggled to find evidence [JURIST report] of Thaksin's alleged corruption prior to the coup. The Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] The Miyazaki District Court in Japan [JURIST news archive] dismissed a lawsuit Monday by a group of Chinese men who claim they were forced to work as slave laborers during World War II because the 20-year deadline for filing compensation claims under Japanese law had expired, according to a court spokesperson. The lawsuit sought $1.56 million in damages from the Japanese government and the Mitsubishi Metals Corporation [corporate website] for seven Chinese men who claim they were among the 250 people forcibly brought to the Makimine mine in the town of Hinokage and made to work under severe conditions and with little to no food and often no salary.

In a related ruling March 14, the Tokyo High Court [official backgrounder] held that the present government was not accountable for wrongs committed by Japan's wartime leaders, thereby overturning [JURIST report] a landmark decision that had held both the Japanese government and Rinko Corp. [corporate website] responsible for forcing Chinese citizens into slave labor during World War II. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia (BAKC) Monday denounced a threatened boycott by four international judges appointed to the tribunal set to prosecute former Khmer Rouge [MIPT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] leaders for genocide as a "childish game" and an excuse to delay the anticipated tribunal. The judges from the Extraordinary Chamber of the Courts of Cambodia [official website] said they would not appear for tribunal preparations unless the bar association lifted fees for foreign lawyers who plan to participate [JURIST report] in the trials. The Cambodian Bar has imposed an initial $500 membership application fee for foreign lawyers and an additional $2,000 payment if they are selected to actually represent a client. The judges contend that the fees will hinder victims and those accused of genocide from choosing their own counsel and have threatened to boycott a planning meeting on rules for the tribunal scheduled for next month unless the fee issue is appropriately settled.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) [advocacy website] has also criticized the fee structure [press release], calling the payments "exorbitant" and "immoral," and has accused the bar association of slowing the tribunal process rather than the judges. Cambodia's 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was responsible for the deaths of over 1.7 million people from genocide, disease and malnutrition. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] will be arraigned [JURIST report] Monday as the first prisoner charged under the new Military Commissions Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive] passed by the US Congress last year. Lawyers for Hicks, who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prison camp for over five years, say their client plans to make a statement [BBC report] to the tribunal that will likely address his feelings on the injustice of the military commissions process and the conditions of his detention. Hicks' arraignment is moving forward after a federal judge Friday refused to delay his case until after the US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] hears a legal challenge by detainees who want their cases heard in US courts, not by military commissions. Lawyers for Hicks said he plans to plead not guilty to the charge of providing material support to terrorists [JURIST report], but they are continuing plea bargain negotiations [ABC Australia report] with US prosecutors that they hope will result in a sentence of time already served or will allow Hicks to serve out any further prison time in Australia. The full trial against Hicks is set to begin in July. AP has more.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Hicks continue to seek the disqualification of Col. Morris Davis as the chief prosecutor in the case against him based on comments [JURIST report] that Davis made about Hicks' military lawyer Maj. Michael Mori [NineMSN profile]. Mori has been outspoken in his defense of Hicks, condemning military commissions as "kangaroo courts" and speaking out publicly on the case during seven visits to Australia. Davis responded by questioning Mori's actions as going against the expected conduct of a US Marine and alleged that Mori may have violated a law that criminalizes US soldiers in making "contemptuous" remarks about the president or other top officials. Monday's New York Times has more.