Search Results for: secret detention

Myanmar law students are reporting for JURIST on challenges to the rule of law in their country under the military junta that deposed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Here, one of our correspondents reports on a junta court’s conviction of a Magway University law student to 20 years imprisonment. [...]

For all the talk there has been of the huge increase in crime across the nation, not nearly enough attention has been put on the single greatest reason for the problem: recidivism. It has been fueled by a mindset in our criminal justice system in which levels of crime have arbitrarily been labeled low-level or [...]

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court of Cambodia on Thursday sentenced 20 opposition politicians and activities to five to ten years in prison for incitement, attempting to incite military personnel to disobey, and conspiracy. The 20 individuals were members of the now-dissolved Cambodian National Rescue Party who are in opposition to Prime Minister Hun Sen and [...]

Washington renewed calls for the release of former US Marine Paul Whelan on the third anniversary of his arrest in Moscow on dubious espionage charges. “ traveled to Russia as a tourist and was imprisoned and sentenced on false charges,” the US State Department said Tuesday. The statement called on the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Whelan, along [...]

In the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, the legal doctrines shielding law enforcement from accountability have become increasingly scrutinized, with qualified immunity by far the most well-known (and most controversial). But on November 5, the Supreme Court announced it will hear at least one of three cases that address another form of immunity for [...]

North Carolina has an important connection to the “state secrets” at the center of an October 6 US Supreme Court argument. In this case, Guantanamo prisoner Abu Zubaydah seeks testimony from two former CIA contractors, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, on torture he suffered at a secret CIA prison in Poland. The contractors’ evidence would [...]

The United Nations announced Monday that a fact-finding mission in Libya revealed likely crimes against humanity and war crimes. The UN Human Rights Council ordered the investigation in June 2020 in response to “chaos and conflict” after 2011 ousting of President Muammar Gaddafi. Libya is now controlled by the warring Government of National Accord (GNA) and [...]

Ian Profiri is JURIST’s Staff Correspondent for Canada. He files this dispatch from Calgary.  Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and the US Justice Department officials have reached a deal to resolve the criminal charges laid against her over three years ago that have raised tensions between the US, China, and Canada. As part of the deal, [...]

Canadian citizen Michael Spavor was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in prison by a Chinese court late Tuesday night on charges of espionage and possession of state secrets in a case that most international observers agree is more political than legal. Chinese officials arrested Spavor and Michael Kovrig on “trumped up” charges of [...]

The Supreme Court of Crimea has sentenced Ukrainian Ivan Yatskin to an 11-year sentence on treason charges. The Russian government alleges that Yatskin had transferred secret information of Russian officials to the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU). Despite being Ukrainian, Yatskin was charged under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code due to Crimea’s status as [...]