Bosnia court sentences Bosnian Muslim to 30 years for war crimes News
Bosnia court sentences Bosnian Muslim to 30 years for war crimes

[JURIST] The Bosnian war crimes tribunal Tuesday sentenced [press release] a Bosnian Muslim to 30 years in prison for war crimes committed against Serbs in the 1992 – 1995 civil war [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Niset Ramic received the longest sentence yet handed down by the Bosnian War Crimes Chamber. The court found Ramic guilty of murdering four Serbian civilians [PDF indictment] in the town of Visoko during a weapons raid in June 1992.

The War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website], created to investigate and prosecute atrocities committed during the ethnic war between Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, and Croats, was established [JURIST report] in March 2005 to ease the backlog of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website]. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Indian National Congress founded

The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded on December 28, 1885 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. In subsequent decades, the so-called Congress Party would advocate for Indian independence from the UK, which was eventually achieved in 1947. The first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected as a member of the INC. Learn more about the history and founding of the Indian National Congress.

Congress recognized Pledge of Allegiance

On December 28, 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance and encouraged its recitation in schools. The Pledge was supposedly written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day. The words “under God” were added by Congress in 1954. The revised version of the Pledge was the subject of litigation before the United States Supreme Court originally brought by Michael Newdow, a parent who unsuccessfully objected to his daughter's school district policy requiring daily recitation of the Pledge. The court ruled that Newdow had no standing.

Nepal ends monarchy, establishes republic

On December 28, 2007, the Kingdom of Nepal's interim parliament ended the country's monarchy and established the Republic of Nepal. Free elections were held on April 10 of the following year to elect a Constituent Assembly.

Learn more about the rise of democracy in Nepal.