Malawi VP pleads not guilty to treason, conspiring to murder president News
Malawi VP pleads not guilty to treason, conspiring to murder president

[JURIST] Malawi Vice President Cassim Chilumpha [official profile] pleaded not guilty to treason and conspiring to murder the president as his trial on the charges began Monday. In May 2006, Chilumpha was placed under house arrest [JURIST report] three weeks after police arrested [JURIST report] him in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika [official profile; BBC profile]. Chilumpha says he angered the government by refusing to join the Democratic Progressive Party [Wikipedia backgrounder], established by Mutharika in the wake of his renunciation of the United Democratic Front Party [Wikipedia backgrounder].

Mutharika sent a letter [text] to Chilumpha in February 2006 asking for his resignation, but a court intervened [BBC report], saying the president has no constitutional authority to fire the vice president. Mutharika faces impeachment charges [JURIST report] for allegedly misusing funds and violating the constitution. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Dreyfus convicted of treason

On December 22, 1894, Jewish French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial trial that prompted worldwide allegations of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was later cleared. Learn more about the case of Alfred Dreyfus and read an English translation of the famous public letter J'Accuse...! by novelist and Dreyfus partisan Emile Zola.

US passed Embargo Act, banning foreign trade

On December 22, 1807, the Embargo Act was passed at the urging of US President Thomas Jefferson. The act barred trade with any foreign nations in an effort to avoid American entry into the Napoleonic Wars of Europe. However, the act proved unenforceable and was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act, which barred trade with France and Great Britain. Learn more about the Embargo Act of 1807 from Monticello.org