The Iraqi Cabinet has approved a revised draft oil law and the Iraqi Parliament will begin debating the proposal Wednesday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday. Several amendments to the draft law were made after an earlier version of the law was opposed in parliament . Kurdish lawmakers said in April that [...]

US Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has questioned President Bush's classification of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 30-month sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice as "excessive" , saying Monday that Libby's sentence "was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country." Bush's comment accompanied his commutation of Libby's prison sentence [...]

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) has charged Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky on suspicion of plotting a violent coup against President Vladimir Putin, Berezovsky's lawyer said Monday. The charge is related to an interview Berezovsky gave to Britain's Guardian newspaper in April in which he said he was planning to forcefully remove [...]

Lawyers for Rabei Osman el Sayed , the alleged mastermind behind the 2004 Madrid train bombings , demanded Monday that Osman be acquitted, accusing prosecutors of trying to convict him "based on nothing, and with an astounding frivolousness." El Sayed was convicted in Italy for belonging to a terrorist group and was extradited to Spain [...]

US President George W. Bush spared former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from prison Monday, commuting his punishment to the $250,000 fine and the two years of supervised release ordered by the court. Bush said that although he respected the jury's verdict, the 30-month sentence was "excessive" and said commuting the jail term was [...]

The trial of suspects allegedly involved in the January murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink began in Turkey on Monday, with several humanitarian groups calling the case a "test" for the Turkish judiciary. Amnesty International called for authorities to "leave no stone unturned" and said that the murder was part "of an increasing pattern of [...]

Lawyers for former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky filed a lawsuit Monday against Russian deputy chief prosecutor Viktor Grin and prosecutor Salavat Karimov, alleging that the two officials are ignoring a March court order to transfer Khodorkovsky from a Siberian penal colony in Chita Oblast to a detention facility in Moscow. The transfer order, which was [...]

Grant of Executive Clemency, President George W. Bush, July 2, 2007 . Read the full text of the grant. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Multinational Force-Iraq (MNF-I) announced Monday that US Army Sgt. Evan Vela has been charged with premeditated murder, obstruction of justice, wrongfully placing weapons with the remains of deceased Iraqis, and making a false official statement in connection with the killing of three unarmed Iraqis in three separate incidents between April and June 2007 in [...]

United States of America v. I. Lewis Libby, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, July 2, 2007 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.