[JURIST] Russia's December parliamentary elections were riddled with corruption and fraud, corruption watchdog Transparency International and Russian human rights group Golos [advocacy websites] said Tuesday. The agencies cited instances of official pressure on voters and suspiciously high turnout figures in a Moscow news conference questioning the integrity of the election. They said that in some instances, election officials were punished or fired if they failed to secure high voter turn-outs in their districts. Witnesses also reported seeing officials stuffing ballot boxes before the polls were opened. Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia [party website, in Russian] party won a landslide victory with more than 64 percent of votes, a result that the Kremlin insists is an honest reflection of Putin's popularity. Reuters has more.

Earlier this month, election observers from the Council of Europe (COE) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) [official websites] said the elections were "not held on a level playing field" in a joint statement [text; JURIST report] delivered by OSCE President Gordan Lennmarker. The COE and OSCE noted special concern over a strong media bias [NYT report] in favor of Putin and the United Russia party leading up to the election, widespread reports of harassment of opposition parties, and a new election code that made it more difficult for smaller political parties go gain the seven percent of the vote necessary to serve on the State Duma. Last month, Amnesty International [advocacy website] flagged concerns about repression and rights violations in the run-up to the elections, alleging that the Russian government had interfered with opposition parties' rights of freedom of expression and free assembly [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Ayodele Fayose [Wikipedia profile], the former governor of the Nigerian state of Ekiti [official website] has been arraigned on corruption charges in Nigeria [JURIST news archive], court officials said Tuesday. Fayose is accused of embezzling 1.2 billion naira in state funds, among other charges. He was arrested last week after surrendering himself to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) [official website]; Fayose had been in hiding overseas since he was impeached [Online Nigeria report] for corruption last year. The EFCC has said it is currently investigating about 15 former state governors for alleged corruption [JURIST news archive], endemic in the populous west African state. The chairman of the commission said in October at least six would be charged [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo [official website; BBC profile] declared a state of emergency in Ekiti [JURIST report] last year after Fayose's impeachment. Obasanjo called Fayose's removal unconstitutional because lawmakers also replaced the chief judge who had been presiding over Fayose's corruption trial. After confusion began over who would assume the acting governor role, Obasanjo suspended Fayose as well as the state assembly and appointed a retired major-general to handle Ekiti's affairs for the next six months, saying the move was necessary to avoid a breach of order and safety.

[JURIST] The Hungarian parliament [official website, in Hungarian] Monday voted 185 to 164 to recognize civil partnerships between same-sex couples, giving them the same inheritance, tax, and financial rights as married heterosexual couples. Same-sex couples will not, however, be able to adopt children. Nine parliamentarians abstained from voting. The new law will take effect in January 2009. Reuters has more.

Same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] per se is not recognized in any of Europe's former eastern-bloc states, although the Czech Republic and Slovenia do recognize registered same-sex partnerships. In February 2006, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus vetoed a bill [JURIST report] that would have provided same-sex partners with access to medical information, property inheritance, and the right to raise children equal to that of married couples, among other things. Klaus said that the bill extended "state interventions into people's lives." The Czech Republic eventually legalized same-sex partnerships [Radio Prague report] in July 2006.

[JURIST] The UN General Assembly [official website] Tuesday voted 104-54 with 29 abstentions [press release; UN debate summary] in favor of a resolution [text] calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty [JURIST news archive]. Though non-binding, supporters of the resolution believe international opinion against capital punishment is growing. The US voted against the resolution, joining with Syria, Iran, China and other nations against Israel, the European Union and other anti-death penalty states. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the vote [statement text] as "a bold step by the international community." Amnesty International and anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain [press releases] also welcomed the news of the resolution's passage.

Last month, the UN General Assembly's Third Committee [official website] on Thursday voted 99-52 to pass the resolution. Opponents of the resolution [text; JURIST report], including the US, Singapore, Egypt, Nigeria and Botswana, argued [JURIST report] before the committee that it would infringe on nations' sovereignty. Two previous attempts to pass somewhat similar resolutions failed to win a majority in the 192-member Assembly. This time, however, the resolution called for a suspension, rather than a complete abolition, of capital punishment. AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Court of Justice [official website] ruled [judgment, text; press release, PDF] against a Swedish trade union Tuesday, finding that it illegally blocked a Latvian construction company from completing a job in Sweden when the company refused to pay its Latvian workers higher Swedish wages. The Court held that unions cannot force foreign companies to observe local wage deals, a decision lamented by Scandinavian officials as a shock for the "Nordic social model," which places high emphasis on the rights of workers to obtain better deals through collective bargaining. The court found that collective action to force foreign companies into pay negotiations was a restriction on "the freedom to provide services," but that collective action intended to protect worker rights already guaranteed in national law is permissible under EU law. EUobserver has more.

Earlier this month, the ECJ ruled [opinion; JURIST report] that labor unions can try to prevent employers from hiring cheaper labor from other EU countries, but limited workers' right to strike. The court found that workers were entitled to strike to protect existing jobs or to preserve existing employment conditions, but that they could not prevent companies from moving to new bases of operation. The ECJ ruled that striking is legal "only if it pursues a legitimate aim such as the protection of workers."

[JURIST] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] Tuesday voted to relax media ownership rules [FCC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], overturning a 32-year-old rule barring media companies from owning both a newspaper and a television station in any one of the top 20 media markets in the nation. Passed in 1975, the original rule was intended to foster competition and ensure a diversity of media voices. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin [official profile; press statement] and two Republican panel members voted in favor of repealing the ban, while the commission's two Democrats voted against it. Numerous Congress members have opposed the change, but the White House has indicated that it will fight any Congressional attempts to overturn the FCC vote. Also Monday, the FCC approved a cap that would bar any single cable television service from holding 30 percent or more of the national pay television audience.

In 2004, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit overturned [opinion, PDF] a previous FCC effort to relax the media ownership rules. The appeals court found the commission did not sufficiently justify or use reasoned analysis to arrive at some of the proposed rule changes. The US Supreme Court let the decision stand without comment [JURIST report]. Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps [FCC profile; press statement, PDF], who has been steadfast in his opposition to relaxing the media rules, said Martin's plan to change the rules risks another reversal by the Third Circuit. AP has more.

[JURIST] A US military judge ruled [order, PDF] Monday that Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive] is due a hearing to settle his alleged status as a prisoner of war (POW) under the Geneva Conventions [text] and that the determination by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) that he was an "enemy combatant" was no substitute for that. In a POW hearing Military Commission Judge Keith J. Allred would consider whether Hamdan had been captured in connection with an international armed conflict as defined in Article 5 [text] of the Convention. If Hamdan were found to be a POW, he would be unlikely to face trial under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text; JURIST news archive]; Article 102 of the Convention holds that a POW can only be punished for a crime if convicted under the same procedure that a US serviceman would face for a criminal military trial. A finding of POW status, however, would also establish the right of the US to detain Hamdan indefinitely until the resolution of the relevant conflict.

In October, the US Supreme Court declined to review Hamdan's appeal [JURIST report] challenging the constitutionality of the military commission system. Hamdan was allegedly a driver for Osama bin Laden before his capture and incarceration at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and last year successfully challenged President George W. Bush's military commission system when the Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that the commission system as initially constituted violated US and international law. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, but Hamdan argued that the current law still violates his rights. He had hoped the Supreme Court would consider his case along with those of other detainees challenging their detention at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report]. SCOTUSblog has more.

[JURIST] The Election Commission of Pakistan [official website] has refused to consider an appeal by former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif against an earlier ruling [JURIST report] declaring him ineligible to run in January 8 parliamentary elections [JURIST news archive], Pakistani media reported Tuesday, quoting a commission spokesman. The basis for the appeal's rejection was not immediately made public, but the original ruling cited a 2000 criminal conviction of Sharif arising out of circumstances surrounding the 1999 coup against him led by then General and now Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan's Daily Times, quoting unnamed sources, later reported that the appeal had not been presented to the proper tribunals and had become time-barred. Sharif's PML-N party [party website] denounced the decision to bar its leader as politically motivated. AP has more. The Daily Times has local coverage.

Sharif originally said he and his party would boycott the vote, but later changed his mind after he was unable to get rival opposition leader and ex-PM Benazir Bhutto, head of the Pakistan People's Party, to join in. He, moreso than Bhutto, has pressed the case for reinstating Pakistan's superior court judges effectively ousted by Musharraf by virtue of his of his November 3 declaration of emergency rule. It is as yet unclear how Sharif's personal sidelining will affect the political viability of that issue.

[JURIST] A Guatemalan court has ruled that former dictator Efrain Rios Montt and other high ranking military officers cannot be extradited to Spain where they have been charged [JURIST report] with genocide, torture, and other crimes against humanity. In last week's decision, which was not made public until Monday, the court said that Spain does not have jurisdiction over crimes committed during Guatemala's 36-year civil war [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; BBC timeline]. The Spanish case was filed by Guatemalan Nobel Peace Price winner Rigoberta Menchu [Nobel profile] in 1999, based on allegations that Montt and other leaders were responsible for atrocities committed during the civil war, including the murder of eight Spanish priests and a 1980 military assault on the Spanish Embassy that killed 37 people, including Menchu's father.

The Spanish National Court took jurisdiction of the case in 2006 after the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled [JURIST reports] in 2005 that Spanish courts can exercise universal jurisdiction over war crimes committed during Guatemala's civil war. The Constitutional Court decided that universal jurisdiction outweighed national interest in cases of genocide. National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz issued arrest and extradition warrants in 2006, and at that time, Montt dismissed the warrants as unfounded [JURIST report].
VOA has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. said Tuesday that he will hold a hearing to consider whether the CIA's destruction of videotapes [JURIST report] showing the interrogation of terror suspects violated a 2005 court order. Lawyers representing several Guantanamo Bay detainees filed an emergency motion [PDF text; JURIST report] earlier this month asking Kennedy to look into the tapes' destruction in light of his June 2005 order in Abdah v. Bush where Kennedy directed the government to "preserve and maintain all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." Kennedy scheduled a Friday hearing [notice, PDF], though he did not explain his reasons for calling the hearing.

The US Justice Department had urged Kennedy not to proceed with an inquiry [PDF text; JURIST report] in the matter, saying that a judicial inquiry would be inappropriate "in light of the current inquiries by the political branches into the destruction of the tapes that occasioned petitioners' motion." Existence of the videotapes was verified in November after the CIA admitted it had mistakenly denied [JURIST report] that it had recorded interrogations in a court declaration during the trial of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. CIA Director Michael Hayden acknowledged [statement text] earlier this month that the CIA had videotaped the interrogation of two al Qaeda suspects in 2002, but said that the tapes had been destroyed in 2005 amid concerns that they could be leaked to the public and compromise the identities of the interrogators. Since Hayden announced that the videotapes had been destroyed, several investigations have been launched, including a joint DOJ-CIA preliminary investigation [DOJ letter; JURIST report] and multiple congressional inquiries. The Justice Department has also sought the postponement of congressional investigations while it conducts its own probe. AP has more. SCOTUSblog had additional coverage.

[JURIST] Pakistani police used batons and tear gas Monday against protesters attempting to march to the Islamabad residence of ousted Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive], still under virtual house arrest despite the December 15 lifting of President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule. Some 200 lawyers, students and activists chanting anti-Musharraf slogans and calling for the reinstatement of Pakistan's ousted superior court judges were blocked by police and a clash broke out which last about 45 minutes, according to AFP. Police made 21 arrests and 14 police officers were hurt; some media reports claim that as many as 30 people, including protesters, were injured. A rights activist speaking to AFP said the police attack on the demonstrators was unprovoked, but police sources said the demonstrators started pelting police with stones. This was the first serious outbreak of violence since emergency rule was lifted.

Reacting to news of the police action, Chaudhry was quoted as saying that it was "a barbaric act committed by police and other agencies by torturing peaceful demonstrators. Peaceful protest is the right of every citizen of Pakistan as freedom of expression is enshrined under the 1973 Constitution." AFP has more. PTI has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US federal prosecutions and convictions of law enforcement officers for alleged brutality have significantly increased in recent years, USA Today reported Tuesday, citing unspecified US Department of Justice statistics. The figures indicated that prosecutions for the use of excessive force or other violations of victims' civil rights had risen 25 percent from 224 to 281 in 2001-2007 compared to the previous seven-year period. The DOJ also said that convictions were up 53 percent when compared to the earlier period - 391 compared with 256. USA Today has more.

In a 1998 report [HRW materials] Human Rights Watch called police brutality "one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States." HRW maintains an archive of letters and press releases from advocacy groups on the subject, and has recently raised concerns over prisons affected by Hurricane Katrina [letter] and the use of attack dogs in US prisons [press release].

[JURIST] A Lebanese court handed down sentences Tuesday for two defendants convicted of attempted mass murder for their role in a 2006 plot to blow up trains in Germany [BBC report]. Youssef al-Haj Deeb, currently in custody in Germany, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison and Jihad Hamad was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Three other defendants out of an initial six charged [JURIST report] in September 2006 were found not guilty.

Hamad confessed to participation in the bomb plot, but said that the bombs were meant to cause fear, not kill people. He said the planned bombings were in reaction to cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive], first published in Denmark in 2005 and then republished in several newspapers around the world. The terrorists involved in the plot planted bombs inside suitcases which were left on trains at the Cologne station; investigations show that the detonators went off but failed to ignite the bombs. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Monday that a Senate vote on whether to extend immunity to telecommunications companies [JURIST report] from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive] would be delayed until after the Senate returns from the holiday recess. Reid said that there would not be enough time to fully consider the legislation before senators leave Washington at the end of this week. Instead, Reid said that the Senate would take up the proposal when it reconvenes in January [press release]:

The Senate is committed to improving our nation's intelligence laws to fight terrorism while protecting Americans' civil liberties. We need to take the time necessary to debate a bill that does just that, rather than rushing one through the legislative process. While we had hoped to complete the FISA bill this week, it is clear that is not possible. With more than a dozen amendments to this complex and controversial bill, this legislation deserves time for thorough discussion on the floor.

We will consider this bill when we return in January. In the meantime, I again encourage the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General to make available to all Senators the relevant documents on retroactive immunity, so that each may reach an informed decision on how to proceed on this provision. I oppose retroactive immunity, but believe every Senator must have access to the information to make this important decision.

[JURIST] Hungary became the first EU member to ratify the new Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text] when the Hungarian National Assembly [official website] voted 325-5 Monday in favor of the treaty. Fourteen assembly members abstained from the vote. Leaders from the 27 European Union member countries signed the EU reform treaty [JURIST report] last week, but all member countries must ratify the document before it can take effect.

The Treaty of Lisbon is designed to reform EU operations in order to speed up the decision-making process within EU institutions and allow EU members to take a more active role in global issues. Under the terms of the treaty, the current EU presidency which is rotated among member states will be replaced in 2009 with a long-term president of the Council of the European Union, and the position of an EU foreign policy high representative will be created. A charter of fundamental European rights [EU materials] is also included. EU leaders reached agreement on the text [JURIST report] of the proposed treaty at a summit [EU materials] in Lisbon in October, working through last minute objections by Poland and Italy. EU leaders reached basic agreement [JURIST report] on the treaty itself in June; it is, in effect, a cut-down version of the failed European constitution [JURIST news archive]. The original draft constitution did not receive unanimous approval among all EU states. Voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] rejected the proposal in national referenda in 2005. Only Ireland is planning to hold a referendum on the new treaty. EUobserver has more.