US and British agents assisting Mladic manhunt News
US and British agents assisting Mladic manhunt

[JURIST] Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Stankovic [profile, in Serbian] said Saturday that US and British intelligence agents are helping with the search for indicted UN war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic [ICTY backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The Serbian government holds that it has done everything in its power to locate Mladic, and recently announced that Mladic had been hiding in Serbia [JURIST report] until last year, but has thus far been unable to find him. Details about the exact role of the US and British agents were not revealed.

Mladic is wanted by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] for allegedly organizing the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive], Bosnia. The US has cut off financial aid to Serbia [JURIST report] due to its failure to arrest Mladic. The European Union also suspended membership talks [JURIST report] with Serbia last month for the same reason. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.