Ex-Kosovo PM pleads not guilty before war crimes tribunal News
Ex-Kosovo PM pleads not guilty before war crimes tribunal

[JURIST] Former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj Monday pleaded not guilty in his initial appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Haradinaj, who resigned his post and turning himself over to the court last week, plead not guilty to all 37 counts of war crimes [ICTY indictment] including murder, persecution, and rape. His lawyers are seeking a provisional release pending trial. Haradinaj was a senior commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian guerrilla force which opposed Slobodan Milosevic during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.