US Army captain Rogelio Maynulet pleaded not-guilty to charges of murder Monday at his court-martial in Germany. Maynulet, a company commander in the 1st Armored Division , shot an Iraqi male after firing on the vehicle he was fleeing in, mortally wounding him. Maynulet is charged with shooting the man after the medic on the [...]

Israel's Knesset is expected to vote Monday on a national referendum proposal seen as a last-ditch attempt to keep Israeli troops from forcing the withdrawal of settlements and outposts occupied by Israeli citizens in the Gaza region. The referendum on withdrawal is supported by opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, and is [...]

Russian prosecutors are expected to rest their case Monday against former Yukos oil company CEO president Mikhail Khodorkovsky in his trial on charges of tax evasion and fraud. Prosecutors are expected to announce sentencing recommendations as well. Khodorkovsky faces up to ten years in Siberia if convicted. Khodorkovsky and co-defendant Platon Lebedev have maintained that [...]

The Himalayan nation of Bhutan , population 530,000, released the text of a proposed new constitution over the weekend that would transform the system of government from a Constitutional Monarchy into a two-party representative democracy. Bhutan has slowly been working towards a democratic society since the current monarch, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk , stepped down [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Jeffrey Addicott of St. Mary's University School of Law says that it is much better to have deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein put on trial in an Iraqi court than before an international criminal tribunal along the lines of existing models. Eight months after Baghdad fell, Saddam Hussein was captured from a [...]

Legal experts from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will join other high level OSCE officials already in Kyrgyzstan early this week to attempt to resolve the country's current electoral crisis. Kyrgyzstan has been in a continuing state of unrest since contested elections in late February and the run-off elections in mid-March. The [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, March 28. The US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases beginning at 10 AM ET today. In San Remo Hotel v. San Francisco , 04-340, the Court will consider whether a takings claim under the Fifth [...]

Richard Posner, University of Chicago Law School: "Congress is on the verge of passing and the President of signing a major overhaul of the Bankruptcy Code. (See Summary and Changes). The new bankruptcy law, popularly termed the "Bankruptcy Reform Act," has engendered passionate debate inside and outside Congress. The criticisms of the Act bespeak a [...]

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Sunday that Sudan would reject any UN resolution calling for the prosecution of Sudanese nationals suspected of war crimes in a court abroad. The UN Security Council is expected to vote Wednesday on a French draft resolution that would send those charged with war crimes in the Darfur [...]

France's largest Muslim organization, the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF) , has argued at a national conference of French Muslims that the state should reconsider its ban on Islamic headscarves in schools and recognize Islamic holy days. The French Education Ministry ordered the ban on "conspicuous religious signs" in state schools last March, in [...]