[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] announced [press release] on Friday that the genocide trial for Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic will resume on July 9 after being suspended [JURIST report] earlier this month due to evidence disclosure issues. The suspension came after defense lawyers filed a motion claiming that prosecutors had deliberately misrepresented the status of disclosures. The ICTY has asked that the prosecution file a new witness list by June 26 and "only include witnesses least impacted by any disclosure failures." The trial will take place from July 9 to July 20 and then the tribunal will take a three-week recess.
Mladic is charged with counts of genocide and crimes against humanity including murder, political persecution, forcible transfer and deportations, cruel treatment and taking of peacekeepers as hostages committed during the Bosnian Civil War [JURIST news archive]. The trial had previously been postponed indefinitely [JURIST report] in May because of similar issues with prosecutors' misconduct in discovery. ICTY prosecutors had determined earlier that month that Mladic was mentally and physically fit to stand trial after a medical exam was ordered [JURIST reports]. Mladic pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to all charges against him in April.
[JURIST] The Libyan Observatory for Human Rights (LOHR) on Friday condemned the killing of Judge Jumah Hasan al-Jazwi and blamed the National Transitional Council (NTC) [official website] for the killing. Al-Jazwi was shot on his way to a mosque Thursday. LOHR said [BBC report] al-Jazwi was investigating last year's killing of Gen. Abdel Fattah Younes, who had abandoned former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Younes had been viewed with suspicion because of his past close relationship with Gaddafi when he began leading rebellions against him last year. He was killed in July 2011, and al-Jazwi was at one time a prime suspect in the killing. LOHR said the NTC had been delaying the investigation of Younes's death.
The Libyan government has also been in conflict with the UN lately for its detaining of International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] staff members who were sent to the country to meet with Salif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Last week, Libyan authorities announced that they had begun interrogation [JURIST report] of the ICC members, who are accused of attempting to smuggle documents to Salif al-Islam. The UN Security Council [official website] demanded release [JURIST report] of the officials last week, saying that Libya was required to "cooperate fully" with the Court and Prosecutor under Resolution 1970 (2011) [text, PDF]. However, an anonymous judicial source earlier this month said the ICC members would remain detained for 45 days [JURIST report] while an investigation is conducted.
[JURIST] The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] on Sunday sentenced [press release] two Bosnian Muslim brothers each to six years in prison for the murder of two Serbian civilians during the 1992-1995 Bosnian Civil War [JURIST news archive]. The brothers, Saban and Elvir Djelibasic, were members of the Bosnian army during the conflict. They pleaded guilty to charges that they shot two Serbian civilians following the news that another of their brothers had been killed during the conflict.
Courts continue to pursue cases related to the Bosnian civil war. In April, Rasema Handanovic, a woman accused of killing Bosnian Croat civilians during the Bosnian Civil War, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trial of eight Bosnian Muslims [JURIST report] for their alleged war crimes during the civil war began earlier this month. In January a Bosnian court upheld the original conviction and 31-year sentence of Radomir Vukovic, who was captured earlier that month [JURIST reports].
[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois [official website] on Friday dismissed [opinion, PDF] the patent lawsuit between Apple and Motorola [corporate websites]. Judge Richard Posner dismissed the case with prejudice, ruling that Apple cannot seek an injunction against Motorola. Apple had sought an injunction against some of Motorola's phones, alleging that the company infringed upon its patents. Posner criticized Apple's attempt to argue patent infringement based on evidence of customer good will:
[I]n its latest written and oral submissions Apple attempts what I told its legal team at a pretrial conference I would not let it do in the liability trials then envisaged: turn the case into an Apple versus Motorola popularity contest. Apple wanted me to allow into evidence media reports attesting to what a terrific product the iPhone is.
The judge has continuously expressed his frustration about both parties' unclear arguments. As recently as Wednesday, Posner expressed his doubts [JURIST report] about the requested injunction.
Posner revived [JURIST report] the case between the two rivals last week granting [order] a request from Apple to hear its patent infringement case against Motorola. He had tentatively dismissed [JURIST report] Apple's patent infringement lawsuit reasoning that allowing the company to proceed would be contrary to public interest. In February, Apple filed suit [JURIST report] against Motorola in the US District Court for the Southern District of California [official website] seeking an injunction to stop the company from bringing patent claims against Apple in Germany. Apple had brought two separate lawsuits [JURIST report] against Motorola in October of last year alleging that several of Motorola's products infringe six patents owned by Apple.
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Legal news from Sunday, June 24, 2012
