[JURIST] German border police arrested [press release] Rwandan war crimes suspect Callixte Mbarushiman on Wednesday as he was preparing to travel to Russia. Mbarushimana, a Hutu, was an employee of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) [official website] in Rwanda during the the country's 1994 genocide [HRW backgrounder], and was arrested in Frankfurt after Interpol issued an alert [Interpol notice]. He is suspected by Rwandan authorities of being responsible for the deaths of a number of Tutsis during the genocide, including some fellow UNDP employees. Reuters has more. Deutsche Welle has local coverage.

In 2005, the UN asked France to bring genocide charges [JURIST report] against Mbarushimana, who was then in the country under refugee status. Carla Del Ponte, the former chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website], refused to charge him and said the ICTR did not file an indictment against Mbarushimana because it lacked sufficient evidence against him.

[JURIST] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) [advocacy website] Monday filed bar complaints [press release] against two former US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] officials, alleging that Michael J. Elston and Esther Slater McDonald [bar complaints, PDF] improperly considered applicants' political affiliations when reviewing applications for DOJ jobs and summer internships. Both McDonald and Elston were named in a June report [PDF text; JURIST report] released by the DOJ Office of the Inspector General [official website], which found that the DOJ had granted preferential treatment to conservative candidates under 2002 and 2006 screening programs.

The June report found that political officials played a significant role in the department's hiring processes, supporting accusations that the Bush administration has politicized the supposedly nonpartisan department. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned [JURIST report] last year amidst related allegations concerning the alleged firing of US Attorneys for political reasons [JURIST news archive]. On Monday, former DOJ intern Sean Gerlich announced he was seeking class action status for a suit against the DOJ for discrimination based on political affiliation [PDF complaint; JURIST report]. In the suit, Gerlich alleges that he was denied a position in the department's Honors Program [DOJ materials] because of his earlier work with a human rights group and a democratic campaign. The Office of Special Counsel [official website] has also announced that it will be conducting an investigation into whether or not disciplinary measures are warranted for employees involved in the illegal screening of applicants. Legal Times has more.

[JURIST] Two Swiss nationalist parties gathered enough signatures on their initiative against the construction of minarets [initiative website, in French] to force a national referendum [Federal Council press release] on whether the country's constitution should be amended to ban the structures, the Swiss government announced Tuesday. Officials for the right-wing Swiss People's Party (UDC) and the Federal Democratic Union (UDF) [party websites, in German] introduced the initiative in May 2007 in an effort to amend Article 72 of the Federal Constitution [text, PDF] to include that "[t]he construction of minarets is prohibited." Supporters have said that the Islamic towers are not inherently religious and would not prevent the free exercise of religion, meaning that they are not protected for religious reasons under the constitution. They also have said that the towers are more accurately symbols of religious and political power and suggest a stronger deference to Islam than to the Swiss political and legal systems. More than 114,000 people signed the initiative, but the Federal Council said that it will continue to advise against adopting the initiative. The Guardian has more.

In June the UDC supported another referendum [question text, in German] that would have given municipalities control over the granting of Swiss passports without providing an appeal process for applicants. Voters rejected the initiative [JURIST report], but the UDC had urged the referendum to reduce the influence of outside cultures on Switzerland and ensure better-integrated immigrants.

[JURIST] Thailand's opposition Democrat party Wednesday announced it would launch an impeachment bid against Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] after a series of court decisions against key officials in the government and Samak's People Power Party (PPP). On Wednesday, the Thai Constitutional Court [official website, in Thai] dismissed Thai Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsup from office after finding he had violated finance laws by not declaring certain assets held by his wife. On Tuesday, the court had ruled [JURIST report] that a June cabinet communique signed by Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama in support of a World Heritage site on Thailand's border with Cambodia was unconstitutional [PDF press release, in Thai]. Opposition parties have since announced plans to seek Noppadon's impeachment. Also Tuesday, the Thai Supreme Court found ranking PPP official Yongyuth Tiyapairat guilty of voter fraud related to last December's election. Experts say that the ruling could clear the way for further legal actions against the PPP, including a possible bid for the party's dissolution. AFP has more. TNA has additional coverage. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

The PPP has been closely associated with former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], now on trial for corruption. Protesters have demanded Samak's resignation, accusing him of being a puppet for Thaksin. On Monday, members of the People's Alliance for Democracy protested [JURIST report] delays in various corruption trials Thaksin is facing, and the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) [official website] said that it may bring more charges against Thaksin without waiting for Office of the Attorney General [official website, in Thai] to file additional indictments. In March, Thaksin pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges stemming from a 2003 land purchase his wife, Pojamarn, made from a government-directed institution despite a ban on officials making business deals with government agencies. The court will determine whether Thaksin abused the authority of his office to influence the deal. The judgment in the trial, which is expected to last about two months, cannot be appealed, and Thaksin could be sentenced to up to 13 years in prison if found guilty.

[JURIST] A former Chinese anti-corruption [Xinhua backgrounder] prosecutor was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for torturing to death a government official in May 2007. Xiong Zhengliang was convicted of killing Liang Jiping, a deputy director of a government electricity utility, while Liang was in custody for allegedly accepting bribes. Xiong and two deputies beat and deprived Liang of sleep [The Beijing News report, in Chinese] in order to obtain a confession, eventually resulting in Liang's death. The two deputies received prison sentences of 10 and 15 years respectively for their involvement in the killing, and Xiong's supervisor received a seven-year sentence for attempting to cover up the incident. Reuters has more.

China has taken a hard line on corruption in recent years, punishing several officials with lengthy prison terms or executions [JURIST report]. In January, the Chinese government issued new anti-corruption rules [JURIST report] for public officials. In December 2007, a former prosecutor received a suspended death sentence [JURIST report] after being convicted of accepting bribes and embezzling money. In September 2007, a former official of the Agricultural Bank of China was executed [JURIST report] for taking bribes and embezzling nearly $2 million. In July 2007, the former commissioner of China's State Food and Drug Administration was executed for accepting $850,000 in bribes [JURIST report].

[JURIST] A pair of Bosnian Serb cousins went to trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; press briefing] Wednesday on charges of murder, extermination and torture. Milan Lukic and Sredoje Lukic [indictment; case backgrounder, PDF] are accused of crimes against humanity related to their actions as part of a paramilitary unit during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, including several incidents in which the cousins allegedly locked Muslims in burning buildings. AP has more.

In 2005, Milan Lukic was arrested [JURIST report] in Argentina. Earlier that year, he was convicted in absentia [JURIST report] by a Serbian war crimes court for his role in the 1993 abduction and killing of 20 Bosnian Muslims. In 2007, the ICTY announced it would conduct a joint trial of the Lukic cousins, revoking a planned referral [press release] of Sredoje's case to the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [JURIST news archive]. The Bosnian War Crimes Chamber was established [JURIST report] in March 2005 to ease the backlog of the ICTY, which is currently trying to complete all its work by 2010.

[JURIST] The US Senate Wednesday voted 69-28 [roll call] to approve a bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive] to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies participating in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. Earlier in the day, the Senate had rejected three proposed amendments [WH fact sheet] to the bill that would have limited immunity. The Dodd-Feingold-Leahy amendment [S.Amndt 5064; ACLU backgrounder], which would have removed all mention of telecom immunity from the legislation, was rejected 32-66 [roll call]. The Bingaman amendment [S.Amndt 5066; EFF backgrounder], which would have suspended immunity pending a decision by the Inspector General on the legality of the warrantless wiretapping program, was rejected by a vote of 56-42 [roll call]. The Specter amendment [S.Amndt 5059; ACLU backgrounder], which would have limited immunity to instances where a court found that the associated intelligence operation was constitutional, was rejected 61-37 [roll call]. On Tuesday, President George W. Bush called on Congress [JURIST report] to pass legislation granting telecom companies retroactive immunity, promising to veto any bill that did not include such provisions. AP has more.

Last month, the US House of Representatives passed [roll call] a compromise version of a bill [HR 6304 materials] amending FISA and including a controversial provision granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The bill also grants the FISA court [governing provisions] authority to review a wider range of wiretapping orders, would prohibit the executive branch from overriding the court's authority, and orders the Department of Justice [official website] and other agencies to issue a report on the country's use of wiretapping orders. Earlier versions of the bill without the immunity provisions had also passed in the House, but President Bush has said he will veto [JURIST reports] any version of the bill without the language. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week and has already approved similar legislation including the immunity clause [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Israeli rights group Yesh Din [advocacy website] published an update [data sheet, PDF] Tuesday to its 2006 report [text, PDF; summary, PDF] detailing the lack of investigations and prosecutions of Israeli settlers who commit crimes against Palestinians [JURIST news archives]. According to the report, Israeli police have issued indictments in less than 10 percent of complaints filed by Palestinians monitored by the group, and most of the complaints filed were for assault or criminal trespass. The group said the way police investigate these claims has not changed since the 2006 report was released:

[V]ictims' complaints and testimonies were recorded in Hebrew rather than Arabic, the language in which they were given; the police investigators rarely visited the crime scenes, and in the cases when they did arrive on site, defects were noted in documenting the events; in many cases testimony was not collected from key witnesses, including suspects and both Palestinian and Israeli eyewitnesses of the incident; live identification lineups of Israeli civilian suspects were hardly ever carried out; confrontations between victims and suspects were also rarely staged; in none of the investigation files checked by Yesh Din, in which the suspects offered claims of an alibi, were their claims verified before the case was closed; the contents of about one third of the investigation files were very sparse, and indicated a hasty closure of the case shortly after the complaint was received; in a number of cases a decision was made to close the investigation, even though the material accumulated in the case file indicated sufficient prima facie evidence to prosecute the suspects; and an examination of cases closed on grounds of "no criminal culpability" raised questions about the decision to close cases on those grounds, given that the closure was executed on the basis of insufficient investigations.

[JURIST] Attorney General Michael Mukasey denied Wednesday that proposed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] guidelines would allow agents to open terror investigations based solely on a person's race, religion, or ethnicity. Testifying at a meeting [notice of hearing] of the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website], Mukasey said that travel to foreign terror "hot spots" would be one of many factors to be considered but refused to discuss hypothetical situations that might lead to an investigation. In a prepared statement [text], Mukasey focused on DOJ efforts to ensure a smooth transfer of power in the upcoming presidential election and called on Congress to pass an amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive], saying that it was vital for national security:

It is also important that we do everything we can to give our national security professionals, who will be confronting the al Qaeda threat in this Administration and the next, the tools they need to keep us safe. Nothing is more important in that regard than the effort to reform and update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The ability to intercept and to analyze the electronic communications of our country’s enemies is the best defensive weapon we have, and I appreciate all the efforts of the members of this Committee and your colleagues in the Senate in this regard.

The recent report from the Department's Inspector General confirms what our oversight efforts have uncovered about the politicizing of hiring practices at the Department. It confirms our findings and our fears that the same Bush Justice Department officials involved with the firing of United States Attorneys were injecting partisanship into the hiring of young attorneys. I expect further reports from the Inspector General will shed additional light on the extent to which the Bush administration has allowed politics to affect – and infect – the Department's priorities, from law enforcement to the operation of the Civil Rights Division to the Department's hiring practices.

The Department of Justice is not the President’s legal defense team any more than the Attorney General is his lawyer. The Attorney General is not the White House counsel and should not act as one. The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency, not a partisan political operation. These are the truths that have been overridden in the last seven years.

[JURIST] The chief judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [court website] said Tuesday that the US government should make detention appeals by Guantanamo detainees a top priority, and devote all necessary resources to ensuring that the appeals reach trial in a timely manner. Judge Thomas F. Hogan [official profile] made the comments at the first hearing concerning coordination issues for the habeas corpus [JURIST news archive] appeals of several terrorism detainees now being held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Hogan will be establishing deadlines for the government to turn over evidence on the detainees to their lawyers, and told the Department of Justice [official website] to put other cases on hold while complying with these requests. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Judges at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) [court website] Wednesday denied the bail request [decision text, PDF] of former Khmer Rouge minister for social affairs Ieng Thirith [JURIST news archive], finding that she could be criminally culpable for her actions and that she is still dangerous to society. The ECCC ordered Ieng Thirith into provisional detention [order, PDF] in November 2007 on charges of crimes against humanity on the basis that the detention was necessary to ensure a timely and fair trial. Her lawyers appealed [text, PDF], arguing that the court's Internal Rules [Rule 63(3) text, PDF] did not warrant detention. The appellate division upheld the order, saying:

There are well-founded reasons to believe that the Charged Person was, in her capacity as Minister of Social Affairs, in a position to prevent the enslavement and other inhumane acts to which the civilian population was allegedly subjected and that she failed to do so. The Charged Person might therefore be responsible for these alleged crimes of enslavement and other inhumane acts which, in the context of a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population, can be characterized as crimes against humanity.

[JURIST] A UK intelligence official said Tuesday that there are "very strong indications" that the Russian government was behind the murder of former KGB agent and British citizen Alexander Litvinenko [JURIST news archive; BBC timeline]. The official made the comments [BBC video clip] anonymously during a television interview with the BBC, and asserted that the type of poison used proves Russia's involvement in the plot. The UK has a strained relationship with Russia, due partly to Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoy [JURIST news archive], the man suspected of actually administering the poison, so that he could stand trial for murder [JURIST report] in the UK. Russian officials say the Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of citizens for criminal trials in other countries [JURIST report]. While the government has offered to prosecute Lugovoi in Russia, it contends that the UK has not yet provided any credible evidence [JURIST report] to link Lugovoy to the murder. BBC News has more.

Litvinenko and Lugovoy, both former employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) [official website], met in London on November 1, 2006, hours before Litvinenko fell ill to radioactive poisoning. UK Ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton has implied [JURIST report] that the Russian constitution should not prevent Lugovoy's extradition, alleging that the Russian government routinely ignores its own laws. Former Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website; JURIST news archive] rebuked the comments, characterizing the UK's demand for the extradition as "a clear remnant of colonial thinking." The two countries have battled politically since Litvinenko's death, with each expelling a number of the other country's diplomats in July 2007 and Russia closing down local offices of the British Council in December 2007 [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] The US government is preventing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] from paying lawyers defending Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspects on trial before US military commissions [JURIST news archive], ACLU director Anthony Romero said Tuesday. Lawyers for the group's John Adams Project [advocacy website] are defending detainees included on the US Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control [official website] list of sanctioned persons [PDF text], but the project must have special licenses in order to pay for the defense [regulatory text, PDF] of the suspects. Romero said the department is unnecessarily delaying the granting of the licenses, and that the project already owes the lawyers more than $200,000 in fees. Treasury Department spokesman John Rankin said the department works as quickly as possible to process all license requests. The Miami Herald has more.

In April, the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers [advocacy website] announced plans to raise more than $8 million to provide private defense attorneys [press release; JURIST report] for high-profile detainees, claiming the US military had not provided adequate financing to defend the detainees with the military lawyers appointed to them. Among the detainees chosen by the ACLU and Criminal Defense Lawyers is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], who has claimed under oath that he planned the 9/11 attacks [JURIST report] and is responsible for 29 other terrorist attacks. In February, the US government announced plans to seek the death penalty [JURIST report] for Mohammed and five other Guantanamo detainees accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

[JURIST] A former British intelligence bureau chief told [transcript] the House of Lords Tuesday that a proposed anti-terror bill [materials; BBC Q/A] allowing authorities to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days [JURIST news archive] is impractical and unprincipled. Elizabeth Manningham-Buller [BBC profile], who resigned as the head of MI5 [official website] last year, said that the bill was unworkable and would not afford defendants the necessary right to a fair trial:

I have weighed up the balance between the right to life — the most important civil liberty — the fact that there is no such thing as complete security and the importance of our hard-won civil liberties. Therefore, on a matter of principle, I cannot support the proposal in the Bill for pre-charge detention of 42 days.

[JURIST] The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) [official website] expressed "great concern" Tuesday over Italy's decision to dissolve the office of High Commissioner against corruption [official website], effective August 25, 2008. In a letter [PDF] to High Commissioner Vincenzo Grimaldi, the president of GRECO, a coalition of European states dedicated to monitoring compliance with the Council of Europe's anti-corruption standards, wrote:

I really fear that Italy is about to move back to a situation in which there is no real political will to fight corruption...the elimination of your Office is not only a loss for your country but also for GRECO. It would appear that your government does not understand that Italy, as a founding member of the Council of Europe, is watched closely by those member States which have more recently joined the organisation. This bad example may well impact on the position of anti-corruption bodies in other GRECO member States, some of which have come under pressure lately.