Mikhail Khodorkovsky , the former owner of Russian oil giant Yukos convicted of tax fraud and now incarcerated in a Siberian prison , has appealed to the Russian Supreme Court against Siberian prison regulations which restrict prisoners' access to lawyers. Khodorkovsky's press service says that Khodorkovsky is allowed meetings with his lawyers for up to [...]

Russia's most senior judge has predicted that the Kremlin's growing power will eventually result in a dictatorship if it remains unchecked by the country's judiciary. Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Valery Zorkin made his comments in a Reuters interview following criticism that the country's judiciary is weak, incompetent, and willing to [...]

Jury selection is slated to begin Tuesday in Rio Grande City, Texas, in the latest wrongful death case involving the painkiller Vioxx . The family of Leonel Garza is suing Merck Pharmaceutical Company after he suffered a fatal heart attack in 2001, one month after he discontinued using Vioxx. Outside council for Merck claims that [...]

In a statement issued Monday, Uzbek opposition group Sunshine Uzbekistan called on authorities to hold open proceedings when opposition leader, Sanjar Umarov goes on trial. Umarov, a business man with ties to the United States, was arrested in October and faces charges of embezzlement, hiding foreign currency, tax avoidance, bribery, and other economic crimes. The [...]

Several family members and former employees of former Chilean president General Augusto Pinochet were indicted Monday on tax evasion charges. Judge Carlos Cerda issued arrest warrants for Pinochet's wife, four of his children, daughter-in-law, former attorney and secretary, following the release of indictments that all filed false tax returns. Pinochet faces tax evasion and corruption [...]

Six non-US citizens who were arrested and detained on visa violations as "persons of interest" in terror investigations after the Sept. 11 attacks return to the United States this week to give depositions in a lawsuit filed against detention guards and top government officials. The lawsuit brings allegations of abuse by guards in the Brooklyn [...]

Turkish state prosecutors have set January 18, 2010 as the date when Mehmet Ali Agca , the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, will be released from jail. Agca was freed from a Turkish prison earlier this month for a brief period of time amidst protests and a legal challenge against his [...]

Newly-elected Bolivian president Evo Morales addressed the nation during his inauguration speech Sunday and promised to promote justice for indigenous Bolivian Indians, saying that they had been discriminated against and "never recognized as human beings." Morales, who became the first indigenous person elected president of Bolivia in December, is the third president in recent years. [...]

The chief investigative judge for the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal ) announced Monday that judge Ra'uf Rashid will replace former chief judge Rizgar Muhammad Amin in the Saddam Hussein trial . Amin's resignation earlier this month was followed by a period of confusion about the fate of the lead tribunal [...]

Sudanese security forces released nearly 50 human rights delegates attending the African Union summit in Khartoum Monday. Members of the Sudanese Organization Against Torture , Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International and the International Bar Association were temporarily detained after forces raided their meeting and took the delegates into custody without explanation late Sunday. Many, including the [...]