ICTY trial begins for former Kosovo prime minister accused of KLA war crimes News
ICTY trial begins for former Kosovo prime minister accused of KLA war crimes

[JURIST] The trial of former Kosovo prime minister and Kosovo Liberation Army [FAS backgrounder] commander Ramush Haradinaj [BBC profile] and two Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighters, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj [Trial Watch profiles], began Monday before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive]. In her opening remarks, chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [BBC profile] called Haradinaj a warlord and a mobster in uniform who committed "ugly, cruel and violent crimes." The defendants face 37 counts of war crimes, including murder, persecution, and rape [amended indictment, PDF], but Haradinaj pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to all charges before the tribunal late last week.

Haradinaj was a senior commander of the KLA, the ethnic Albanian guerrilla force that opposed Slobodan Milosevic [advocacy website] during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Haradinaj, who was indicted [initial indictment, PDF] by United Nations prosecutors in 2005, originally appeared with Balaj and Brahimaj before the ICTY last year, where they pleaded not guilty to the original 37 charges entered against them [JURIST report]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

President Harding signed "anti-beer bill"

On November 23, 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed the Willis-Campbell Act, popularly termed the "anti-beer bill," prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.

Convention on Cybercrimes opens for signature

On November 23, 2001, the Convention on Cybercrime was opened for signature in Budapest, Hungary, before entering into force on July 1, 2004. The Convention seeks to coordinate the Internet laws of signatory states and promote international enforcement of cybercrime laws. Learn more about the Convention on Cybercrime from the Council of Europe.