[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced Thursday that a Korean executive at Samsung Electronics [corporate website] has pleaded guilty [press release] to a large conspiracy that fixed the price of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), affecting the cost of personal computers worldwide. Il Ung Kim, former VP of Marketing for Samsung's Memory Division, will pay a $250,000 fine and serve 14 months in a US prison under the terms of the plea agreement. Kim is the sixth Samsung executive to plead guilty in the criminal anti-trust investigation that brought charges against a total of 18 individuals and four companies. Kim was indicted [text] in October, along with another Korean Samsung executive, and a US executive for Hynix Semiconductor [corporate website]. His 14-month sentence is the longest ever given to a foreign defendant charged with price fixing. Other individuals who have pleaded guilty to manipulating the DRAM market received similar fines [JURIST report], but approximately half the jail time.

Criminal penalties against the DRAM cartel have so far reached over $730 million. Samsung paid $300 million [JURIST report] under the terms of its settlement in December of 2005. Hynix settled for $185 million [JURIST report] in April of that year. Of the 18 individuals charged with price fixing, 15 have been convicted, with trials against the remainder pending. In February of this year, Samsung settled a civil suit [JURIST report] for $90 million. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] on Thursday sought the dismissal [press release] of all pending Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee habeas corpus cases in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website]. The motion to dismiss was filed in response to the US Supreme Court denying petitions for certiorari [JURIST report] earlier this month on two cases challenging the Military Commissions Act (MCA) [text, PDF; JURIST news archive]. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit had upheld the habeas-stripping provisions of the act [JURIST report] in February. In Thursday's motion, the DOJ argued that February's motion, and this month's denial of cert, means that all litigation should be in the DC Circuit. The DOJ stressed that lawyers will continue to be allowed to meet with their clients during a "reasonable transition period," but in the future, client-visit priority will be given to lawyers who are pursuing litigation in the DC Circuit court.

The MCA, signed into law [JURIST report] last October, denies federal courts the right to hear habeas corpus petitions. Shortly after the bill was enacted, the DOJ notified the DC Circuit that it no longer had authority to hear such cases [JURIST report]. The court had stayed the almost 200 cases affected by the act, pending the legal challenges to the MCA. AP has more.

[JURIST] The state of Washington emerged as another opponent to the REAL ID act Thursday, with Governor Chris Gregoire [official profile] signing state legislation [PDF] rejecting the controversial federal law. Washington is now the fifth state to pass such a measure, joining Maine [JURIST report], Arkansas, Idaho, and Montana. Montana's Governor Brian Schweitzer [official profile] just signed anti-REAL ID legislation into law earlier this week. The Washington legislation passed both state houses with strong support, as legislators railed against what they considered an "unfunded mandate." The measure dictates that the state not spend money implementing the REAL ID act unless privacy and security concerns are addressed, unreasonable costs and record-keeping burdens are not placed on citizens, and the state receives federal money to put the act’s requirements into effect. Further, the bill also allows the state attorney general, with the approval of the governor, to challenge the constitutionality of the act. The Washington State Department of Licensing [official website] estimates it would cost $96.7 million over the next two years and $93.4 million in 2009-2011 to implement the REAL ID act. Washington is already developing procedures and technology to make its driver's license secure enough to act as a border-crossing document.

The REAL ID Act [text, PDF; JURIST news archive], initially drafted after the Sept. 11 attacks and designed to discourage illegal immigration, attempts to make it more difficult for terrorists to fraudulently obtain US driver's licenses and other government IDs by mandating that states require birth certificates or similar documentation and also consult national immigration databases before issuing IDs. The law is also meant to make it more difficult for potential terrorists to board aircraft or enter federal government buildings. After controversy and strenuous opposition from civil libertarians [FindLaw commentary], it finally passed in 2005 [JURIST report] as part of an emergency supplemental appropriations defense spending bill. Other state lawmakers have previously expressed concern [JURIST report] about possible problems expected to accompany the implementation of the REAL ID Act, fearing that they will not be able to comply with the law's requirements before a May 2008 deadline. In March, Homeland Security responded to these concerns by extending the deadline for compliance by 18 months [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Two former administrators at a Texas juvenile prison pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of improper sexual conduct [JURIST report] with six students. Former West Texas State School [official website] principal John Paul Hernandez and former assistant superintendent Ray E. Brookins, who were arrested last week [press release], each resigned in 2005 after an investigation by the Texas Rangers [official website] uncovered allegations of abuse. The case only recently moved forward after Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott [official profile] took it from a local prosecutor who declined to pursue most cases relating to the school from 2005-2006. The investigating Rangers alleged that they presented their findings [WorldnetDaily report] to the state and US Attorney offices as well as the Department of Justice, but that no office showed interest in prosecution. Hernandez has been charged with nine counts of improper sexual activity with a person in custody and nine counts of improper relationship with a student. Brookins faces up to 20 years in prison for charges of an improper relationship with a student and two years in prison for improper sexual activity with a person in custody. AP has more.

A 2006 US Department of Justice report [text, PDF; summary] said that sexual violence in US prisons, perpetrated by both inmates and prison staff, often goes unreported because abused inmates fear a reprisal. Last month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry [official profile] appointed a commission to review the records of approximately 90 percent of the state's juvenile inmates [JURIST report] following allegations by families and community activists that prison officials extended sentences in retaliation for inmates filing grievances. Staff-initiated sexual misconduct constituted 38 percent of allegations. The authors of the report also warned against placing juvenile inmates with the adult prison population, finding that incidents of rape and abuse are five times higher against juveniles. The report, the second in an annual series [JURIST report] required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 [text, PDF; DOJ backgrounder], showed a marked improvement over staff sexual misconduct and harassment since the initial 2004 study.

[JURIST] Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] posted bond and was released from a New Mexico jail on Thursday after ongoing debate about his release. Carriles, 79, a former CIA operative trained by the US for the failed anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, was arrested in 2005 [JURIST report; DOJ press release] for illegally entering the United States and had been under the custody of immigration officials. Earlier this month, US District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Carriles should be released [JURIST report], and set bail at $250,000. Federal prosecutors filed an emergency motion appealing the ruling, to keep him in jail pending his immigration trial. On Tuesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Carriles could post bond and be released [AP report], after ordering a temporary injunction Friday blocking his release [JURIST report] until a final ruling this week. Carriles will remain under house arrest and electronic surveillance, as required by the court order.

Carriles is due to be deported for entering the US illegally. A US immigration judge delayed his deportation in 2005 [JURIST report], after having determined that Carriles cannot be sent to Venezuela, where he is a naturalized citizen, or to Cuba, the country of his birth, for fears that he would be tortured. Carriles is accused of orchestrating the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner [Wikipedia backgrounder], as well as numerous assassination attempts on Cuban President Fidel Castro, and has previously sought asylum in the US. Earlier this week, a lawyer representing the government of Venezuela accused the US of preventing Carriles' extradition [JURIST report] and obstructing justice. Castro issued a statement condemning the district court's ruling [JURIST report]. Carriles is wanted in both countries on terrorism charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] Thursday rejected a call for his resignation made by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the US Attorney firing scandal [JURIST news archive]. Gonzales faced hours of tough questioning from senators during the hearing, but maintained that "nothing improper occurred." In his prepared remarks [text; written statement, PDF], he expressed regret at how the eight fired prosecutors were treated and admitted to making "misstatements" in previous testimony. He further said:

US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. There is nothing improper in making a change for poor management, policy differences, or questionable judgment, or simply to have another qualified individual serve. I think we agree on that. I think we also agree on what would be improper. It would be improper to remove a US Attorney to interfere with or influence a particular prosecution for partisan political gain. I did not do that. I would never do that. Nor do I believe that anyone else in the Department advocated the removal of a US Attorney for such a purpose.

The dismissed US Attorneys have testified under oath that they believe political influence resulted in their being replaced. If they are right, the mixing of partisan political goals into federal law enforcement is highly improper...

If nothing improper was done, people need to stop hiding the facts and need to tell the truth, the whole truth. If the White House did nothing wrong, then show us. Show us the documents and provide us with the sworn testimony of what was done – why, and by whom. If there is nothing to hide, then the White House should quit hiding it.

[JURIST] US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] and other leading members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on Wednesday introduced [press release] the Patent Reform Act of 2007 [H.R. 1908, bill overview], which would overhaul current US patent laws in three major ways. First, it would change the current system of granting patent rights to the first inventor and instead adopt a "first-to-file" system, recognizing patent rights in the first person who actually files for patents. Second, it would amend the system of post-patent review for those seeking to challenge the validity of a patent. Third, the bill imposes more stringent regulations for awarding damages in infringement cases, based on the value of the patent infringement.

Leahy introduced [CNET News report] a similar bill [S. 3818 text] last August, but it did not pass through the last session of Congress. Many industry leaders have called for patent reforms [JURIST report] to curb abusive litigation and protect technological development, but some pharmaceutical companies and smaller inventors say that the proposed changes would give even more patent control to larger companies. IDG News Service has more.

[JURIST] A spokesperson for New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) [official website] said Thursday that the governor would sign a same-sex civil union bill if it is passed by the New Hampshire Senate next Thursday. HB 905 [text], passed [JURIST report] by the state House of Representatives earlier this month, would authorize same-sex couples to enter into civil unions entailing "a legal status equivalent to marriage." The bill states:

All laws of the state of New Hampshire, whether they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other source of civil law, applicable to marriage shall also be applicable to civil unions....

Parties joined in a civil union shall have all the same protections and responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other source of civil law, as are granted to spouses in a marriage.

[JURIST] The European Union Thursday approved a framework decision [PDF text] aimed at criminalizing denial of the Holocaust [JURIST news archive] and other genocides following six years of intense debate. The end product was described as a carefully-balanced compromise by EU diplomats, which allows EU countries to opt out of enforcing the law if national laws do not prohibit similar conduct. The bill authorizes a maximum sentence of three years for:

Publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising: (1) crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes...directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin, and (2) crimes defined by the Tribunal of Nüremberg...directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin.

Publicly inciting to violence or hatred , even by dissemination or distribution of tracts, pictures or other material, directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin.

[JURIST] The Bangladesh High Court Thursday received a petition from a supporter of former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia [Virtual Bangladesh profile] Thursday to halt Khaleda's exile, arguing that the forced expulsion was a violation of her human rights. Government sources said Khaleda had agreed to be exiled from Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] in exchange for leniency for her sons Tareque Rahman and Arafat Rahman [JURIST reports], who had been arrested on corruption charges. Arafat was released 24 hours after he was first detained. On Wednesday, sources close to Khaleda reported that she had changed her mind and now wished to remain in Bangladesh. Some speculated that Khaleda's decision to remain in the country may have been prompted by the announcement that her political rival Sheikh Hasina [Virtual Bangladesh profile] intended to return to Bangladesh despite her own government-imposed exile [JURIST report]. The interim government said Wednesday that security forces and port authorities were ready to take "necessary actions" to prevent Hasina's return.

In recent weeks, security forces have arrested more than 60 politicians [JURIST news archive], mostly members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League [party websites]. Corruption watchdog group Transparency International [advocacy website] lists Bangladesh among the world's most corrupt nations. Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed [official profile] declared a national state of emergency [JURIST report] on January 11 in the face of unrest over upcoming national elections and later cancelled a scheduled national poll. The interim military-backed government has delayed general elections until the end of 2008. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] An incarcerated Chinese activist filed a federal lawsuit [complaint, PDF] Wednesday against Yahoo! Inc. [corporate website], alleging that the Internet giant aided and abetted human rights violations committed by the Chinese government by providing Chinese officials with information, including e-mail records and user ID numbers, that helped them to identify pro-democracy activists. Imprisoned Internet activist Wang Xiaoning brought the suit under the Torture Victim Protection Act [text] and the Alien Tort Statute [text], which states that "the district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." Wang alleges that China violated international law including:

prohibitions against torture, cruel, inhuman, or other degrading treatment or punishment, and arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention, for exercising their right of freedom of speech, association, and assembly, at the hands of Defendants through Chinese officials acting under color of law in the People's Republic of China.

[JURIST] The Romanian Parliament [official website] voted Thursday to suspend Romanian President Traian Basescu [official website, English version; BBC profile] for allegedly violating the constitution [text]. Members of parliament voted 322-108 in favor of the suspension. According to the constitution, Romania must hold a national referendum on Basescu's impeachment within 30 days. The parliamentary vote was brought by the leftist opposition party PSD [party website] and stem from accusations by Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu [official profile] that Basescu was involved in suspicious multi-million-dollar energy deals.

Basescu has denied any abuse of power and promised to resign if he was suspended. His resignation would trigger national elections within 3 months in which Basescu plans to run. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Italian Constitutional Court [official website] ruled Thursday that the Italian government can seek to quash the indictments of 33 American and Italian agents who allegedly kidnapped [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr [Wikipedia profile] in 2003. State lawyers will argue against the indictments on the grounds that investigators considered secret documents in collecting evidence, violating state secrecy laws.

Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized on the streets of Milan, supposedly by CIA agents with the help of Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official website]. 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] in February 2007. The same month, an Italian judge issued indictments [JURIST report] for 26 US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents and five SISMI officials, including former SISMI chief Nicolo Pollari [Cooperative Research profile], for their alleged role in the abduction. The Italian government sought to cancel the indictments [JURIST report] last month. AKI has more.

[JURIST] The trial of Bernard Ntuyahaga [TrialWatch backgrounder], a former Rwandan army major accused of murdering 10 Belgian peacekeepers and the Rwandan prime minister they were charged with protecting in 1994, began in Brussels Thursday. Ntuyahaga faces 16 counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder stemming from the murders, which took place during the first weeks of the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder]. Prosecutors intend to call more than 150 witnesses and expect the trial to last until June.

Ntuyahaga was extradited to Tanzania in 1998 to face genocide and war crimes charges [indictment, PDF] stemming from the same incident, but the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda dropped all charges [decision text] in 1999. Ntuyahaga then voluntarily surrendered himself to Belgian authorities in 2004 after a prolonged extradition attempt. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Constitution Drafting Council in Thailand [JURIST news archive] Wednesday presented the new draft constitution, which will be put to a referendum later this month. The 2007 draft, which would replace the 1997 constitution [text], calls for national elections to take place by the end of 2007. The 35-member drafting committee said the new constitution will prevent graft and restore democracy to the nation; new provisions address abuses of power and appear to limit the power of elected politicians. The draft constitution limits prime ministers to two four-year terms, and reduces the number of parliament members from 500 to 400 and the number of senators from 200 to 160. Under the new constitution, senators will be appointed rather than elected. A new provision also mandates that any lawmaker found guilty of corruption in a criminal or civil court is automatically removed from office.

Thailand is presently governed by an interim constitution [JURIST report] imposed by the military leaders who seized power from former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [JURIST news archive] in a coup [JURIST report] last year. The Constitutional Drafting Council was established [JURIST report] in January and given a six-month deadline to prepare the new constitution. Military leaders have said that if this new draft constitution is not approved by the public, they will impose their own constitution. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official website; BBC profile] Wednesday rejected a demand by Palestinian militants to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners [JURIST report] in exchange for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit [Times backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. In a speech before Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee [official website], Olmert said that the list of Palestinian prisoners, which according to news reports includes between 350 and 1,400 names, created expectations that Israel cannot meet. Last week, Olmert expressed disappointment [press release; JURIST report] that the list purportedly included high-profile names like Marwan Barghouti [[BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and Ahmed Saadat [BBC profile]. Saadat is the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [organization website], a radical group suspected of carrying out the 2001 assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister. Barghouti is the leader of the Fatah party [party website] in the West Bank and was charged with the murder of 26 people after his arrest in 2002.

Shalit was captured in Gaza [JURIST report] on June 25, and his detention helped spark the latest round of violence [JURIST news archive] in the region over the summer. Palestinian militants have demanded the large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners from the beginning, but negotiations have not been successful to date. In November 2006, Olmert said that Israel was willing to release many Palestinian prisoners [JURIST report] in exchange for Shalit's freedom, including long-term Palestinian detainees. Israel [JURIST news archive] says Shalit's release is a precondition to any serious peace conditions. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Russian State Duma [official website, in Russian], the lower house of parliament, unanimously approved a bill on Wednesday that would hike the penalty for vandalizing property during political or ideological protests to a maximum of three years in prison. The bill was initially proposed in the wake of a December protest against President Vladimir Putin's rights record by by some 3000 demonstrators in Moscow which led to dozens of arrests. Wednesday's vote came on the heels of additional weekend protests in the Moscow and St. Petersburg in which more than 200 people were arrested [JURIST report], including former chess great and liberal United Civil Front [party website, in Russian] leader Garry Kasparov [personal website, in Russian].

Also on Wednesday, a Moscow City Court judge heard arguments on whether to grant the chief prosecutor's request to label the far-right National Bolshevik Party [party website] as an extremist organization. Prosecutors had previously requested the ban [JURIST report], which would entail a mandatory suspension of party activity, in March. Russia holds parliamentary elections in December and a presidential vote next March. AP has more.

[JURIST] Judge Arthur Hunter [JURIST news archive] of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court [official website] Wednesday suspended the prosecutions of 42 New Orleans indigent criminal defendants who had not been provided adequate legal counsel and ordered 16 of them released without bail. Hunter first ordered suspension of the prosecutions [JURIST report] in March, but then delayed implementation of his ruling until a Wednesday hearing. Representatives from the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office, the public defender's office, the state bar association, and State Representative Daniel Martiny (R) (official website) attended the hearing. The charges against the defendants - mostly drug-related - were not dismissed.

New Orleans' indigent defense program, funded almost entirely from traffic court fines, shrank from over 40 lawyers to six in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. Martiny, a member of a legislative taskforce on indigent defense, says he will submit a bill that would establish a statewide public defender's board to replace the current system of 41 local boards system now in place, an effort to standardize the quality of representation provided to criminal defendants in Louisiana. AP has more.

[JURIST] Most witnesses who have been called to testify in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] will remain anonymous, and some may be forced to relocate to avoid retaliation by Taylor's supporters in Liberia, prosecutor Steven Rapp told AP on Wednesday. Several witnesses in particular are at risk because they were insiders during Taylor's 1997-2003 regime and may be considered traitors. AP has more.

Taylor's trial is scheduled to begin June 4 and could cost upwards of $33 million dollars, though the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] has raised only half of the needed funds [JURIST report].

In January, the Court announced the delay of the trial [JURIST report] until June in order to give Taylor's defense lawyers more time to prepare. The court's order [PDF text] cited the extensive amount of time that Taylor has currently been in pre-trial confinement in establishing the new start date. Taylor was originally indicted [amended indictment text, PDF; SCSL materials] in 2003 on charges of crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law, including murder, rape and the recruitment and use of child soldiers during the war in Sierra Leone. After being captured last year trying to flee Nigeria, where he had been in exile, he was taken to The Hague [JURIST report] to await trial.

[JURIST] Rwanda petitioned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] Wednesday to resolve a dispute with France over an international arrest warrant [JURIST report] issued by France for three Rwandan officials last November, and a request forwarded to the UN Secretary-General that Rwandan President Paul Kagame [official website] stand trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Rwanda cut diplomatic ties with France [JURIST report] over the requests in November. According to the ICJ press release [text], Rwanda has asked the ICJ to find that:

France "has violated, and is continuing to violate, international law with regard to international immunities generally and with regard to diplomatic immunities particularly", as well as "the sovereignty" of Rwanda, and that it is "under an obligation to annul such international arrest warrants forthwith". With respect to the request that President Kagame should stand trial at the ICTR, Rwanda asks the Court to find that France "has acted in breach of the obligation of each and every State to refrain from intervention in the affairs of other States" and "is under a duty to respect the sovereignty" of Rwanda.