[JURIST] Sudan is merely going through the motions with its planned probe [JURIST report] into Darfur human rights violations, said International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official website] in an interview [text] with the Sudan Tribune on Monday. Moreno-Ocampo commented that Sudan does not have the political will to bring human rights offenders to justice, noting that an earlier Sudanese investigation into genocide claims was led by Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun [JURIST report], himself wanted by the ICC:

They did it many times. They end up investigating no one. They even appointed Haroun to head a committee on Darfur human rights. This is part of the cover up and they have been saying this for years. The only individuals prosecuted are those who resist illegal instructions to attack people in Darfur such as pilots or soldiers.

[JURIST] The Philippines House of Representatives [official website] passed a bill [HB 4253 text] on Monday to create a new national commission meant to guarantee the rights of Muslims citizens. The bill creates a National Commission on Muslim Filipinos to replace the existing Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA) [official website], created in 1987. The new commission will be responsible for addressing complaints of rights violations brought by Muslim citizens, for overseeing the development and distribution of lands traditionally held by Muslim Filipinos, and for advising the president on issues relevant to the country's Muslim population, as well as other duties previously held by the OMA. House Speaker Prospero Nograles praised the measure [government press release; House of Representatives press release] as a way to "ensure the rights and well-being of our Muslim brothers." The Philippine Daily Inquirer has more.

The government of the Philippines has been engaged in a long-standing conflict with Muslim rebels in the country's southern provinces. In July, the government reached a peace agreement with rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front [group website; BBC backgrounder], granting expanded boundaries to the country's southern Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) [official website]. The two sides said they had also reached tentative agreements [AFP report] on the distribution of mining revenues from the region, a timeline for local elections, and the implementation of new regulations. The government first suggested [JURIST report] that it might agree to increased autonomy for the region in 2005. Earlier this month, a judge for the Supreme Court of the Philippines enjoined [ruling, PDF; JURIST report] government agents from signing the peace agreement.

[JURIST] Georgia is forcibly detaining Russian citizens within its borders in violation of international law, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev [official website] said in a Monday communication with Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev. In the communication, Medvedev instructed Nurgaliev to ensure that the rights of ethnic Georgians in Russia are protected:

I have received information, and you have probably also heard this, that the Georgian authorities are forcibly detaining Russian citizens on Georgian territory. This is, of course, in complete violation of international law. I do not know why they are doing this. Maybe they think they can use these people as a human shield. This is a completely unacceptable situation.

I also want to say - and I want you to take this under your personal control – that all citizens of foreign states, who are legally in Russia, must not be subjected to any kind of discrimination and can remain in Russia in accordance with the agreements that our country has with the countries from which these people have come. Supervision of these matters is the Ministry of Internal Affairs' responsibility and I ask you to ensure it is carried out.

According to the reliable information held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Russian servicemen and separatists carry out mass arrests of peaceful civilians of Georgian origin still remaining on the territory of the Tskhinvali region and subsequently concentrate them on the territory of the village of Kurta.

Georgia appeals to the International Red Cross and other humanitarian and international organizations and the international community as a whole to immediately take decisive and effective measures for the evacuation of this population from the conflict zone.

[JURIST] Pakistan's Punjab Provincial Assembly [official website] on Monday voted [PTI report] to ask President Pervez Musharraf [official website; JURIST news archive] to resign or face possible impeachment by the country's parliament. Of the body's 371 members, 321 voted for the motion, including the majority of Musharraf's own Pakistan Muslim League-Q [party website] party. In response to the vote and impeachment plans [JURIST report] led by the country's coalition government, Musharraf stated he will fight the allegations of wrongdoing and asserted that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) simply wants to impose their rule [PTI reports] over his own. For the potential impeachment to succeed, it would require the endorsement of two-thirds of legislators in a joint session of parliament. The lower house of parliament was scheduled to meet later on Monday [Hindustan Times report] to consider the move. BBC News has more.

PPP and coalition partner Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PMNL-N) leaders have disagreed [JURIST report] on how to limit or amend Musharraf's powers, with the PML-N generally favoring resignation or impeachment and the PPP favoring working with Musharraf to improve the country's political system. PPP leaders took a tougher stance in June, stating that Musharraf was only president by default and warning that if he did not step down, the parliament would impeach him [The News report]. The PML-N then called for Musharraf's impeachment [JURIST report] and released a "charge sheet" outlining misuse of presidential authority, including the dismissal of the country's superior court judges. Also in June, PML-N leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [JURIST news archive] called for Musharraf to be tried for treason [JURIST report], labeling him a traitor disloyal to Pakistan and saying he should be punished for the "damage" that he has done to the country in the years since he led a military coup [BBC backgrounder] and unseated Sharif in 1999.

[JURIST] Qwest Communications [corporate website] will pay an additional $40 million to settle a class action shareholder lawsuit, according to an agreement released Monday in the company's second quarter earnings report [press release; materials]. Of that number, $5 million comes from insurance revenue by former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio [JURIST news archive] and former CFO Robert Woodruff. In 2006, a federal judge approved a $400 million settlement [AP report] that did not include Nacchio or Woodruff, but the two former Qwest officials appealed, arguing that Qwest was required to indemnify them from future litigation. A federal court must still approve the new settlement terms. AP has more.

Federal prosecutors indicted Nacchio in December 2005 on 42 counts of insider trading [JURIST report]. He and other former Qwest executives still face civil fraud charges [JURIST report] brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] on allegations that Qwest improperly reported approximately $3 billion in revenue related to its 2000 merger with US West. Another former Qwest employee, ex-vice president Marc Weisberg, pleaded guilty to wire fraud [JURIST report] in December 2005 and helped prosecutors build their case against Nacchio.
Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] granted [order, PDF] prosecutors' petition for an en banc rehearing on whether Nacchio's insider trading conviction should be overturned. In March, a Tenth Circuit panel struck down [ruling, PDF; JURIST report] Nacchio's previous conviction and ordered a new trial.

[JURIST] Detained Myanmarian democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has met with a lawyer to discuss the legality of her detention, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy party said Sunday. This was apparently the first time in five years that Suu Kyi has been allowed to consult with a legal representative. In May, the ruling junta extended Suu Kyi's house arrest for another year [JURIST report], a decision that has angered many international human rights organizations and activists. The extension is said to violate a Myanmarian law barring the government from detaining a person for over five years without trial, although a June editorial in state newspaper New Light of Myanmar [media website] said that the law authorized detentions for up to six years. AP has more.

Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy, has spent 11 of the past 17 years in prison or under house arrest for alleged violations of an anti-subversion law [text]. Last year, the military government had implied that she might be released [JURIST report] after the country's new constitution was approved. In May, the junta announced that Myanmar's draft constitution [JURIST news archive] had been overwhelmingly approved [JURIST report] in a national referendum after two rounds of voting with 92 percent of votes cast favoring the proposed charter and 98 percent of the country's 27 million eligible voters turning out.

[JURIST] Bolivian national referendum [JURIST reports] results released Monday show that President Evo Morales [official website; BBC profile] won an estimated 63% of the votes on Sunday, enough to stay in office. Morales himself proposed the referendum [JURIST report] last December in response to accusations that his process for rewriting the Bolivian constitution has been illegitimate, and said Monday that he will use his demonstrated support to push for nationalization of major industries and concentration of power in the central government. Despite Morales's claim that the vote would bring unity to the country [press release, in Spanish], opponents of the changes have held protests [BBC report] calling for more autonomy for provincial governments in the country. AFP has more.

In 2006, governors from six of Bolivia's nine states vowed to break off relations with Morales following a bid to give his leftist party more power [JURIST reports] to rewrite the Bolivian constitution [JURIST news archive]. A proposed national referendum on the new draft constitution, which had originally been blocked [JURIST report], was narrowly approved in February by the Bolivian Constitutional Assembly [official website, in Spanish] amid reports that Morales supporters prevented many draft opponents from entering the constitutional building to participate in the vote.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Thailand issued arrest warrants [Bangkok Post report] on Monday for former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his wife Pojamarn Shinawatra [JURIST news archive] after the two failed to return to Thailand from the UK on Sunday. Thaksin and Pojamarn had been released on bail, but recently sent a letter to the Thai government saying they would not be returning from the UK [Bangkok Post report] because they do not believe they could receive fair trials in the current judicial system. The Thai government is reportedly seeking their extradition [Bloomberg report] from the UK and will retain their nearly $400,000 in bail. Late last month, A Thai court convicted Pojmarn [JURIST report] of tax evasion for transferring $16.3 million worth of stock to her step-brother and secretary, and the government brought additional corruption charges [JURIST report] against Thaksin, alleging that he and 47 others were involved in misconduct related to the country's lottery system. AFP has more.

In July, the Thai Attorney General's Office filed corruption charges [JURIST report] against Thaksin for his role in a 2003 resolution that reduced fees paid by mobile phone companies to state telecommunications agencies. In April, Pojmanrn pleaded not guilty to charges [JURIST reports] of conflict of interest and malfeasance stemming from a 2003 agreement with the government-directed Financial Institutions Development Fund [official website] to purchase land said to be worth three times more than the $26 million she paid for it. Lawyers for Thaksin have been jailed [JURIST report] for attempting to bribe court officials in one of Thaksin's cases, and current Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] is facing possible impeachment proceedings [JURIST report] due in part to his party's close association with Thaksin. Thaksin and Pojamarn had been in self-imposed exile from Thailand after Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006, but had returned to the country earlier this year [JURIST reports].