War crimes trial of two Rwandans begins in Belgium News
War crimes trial of two Rwandans begins in Belgium

[JURIST] The trial of two Rwandan men accused of war crimes during the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder] begins Monday in Brussels. Half-brothers Etienne Nzabonimana and Samuel Ndashyikirwa are accused of helping the Hutu militia and are charged under Belgium's universal jurisdiction law, which allows the prosecution of war crimes suspects even if the suspects are not Belgian and the crimes were committed outside Belgium. Belgian courts were flooded with war crimes lawsuits after four Rwandans, including two nuns, were convicted in 2001 of participating in the genocide. Belgium's law has since been amended to require suspects to live in Belgium, as was the case when Nzabonimana and Ndashyikirwa were arrested in 2002. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.