From: Breaking Legal News
After bitter wrangling, Africa's leaders agreed Friday to denounce
the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's
President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for crimes against
humanity in Darfur.The decision at the African Union summit says AU
members "shall not cooperate" with the court in The Hague "in the
arrest and transfer of President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan to the
ICC."Sudan welcomed the move, and other Africans said it was a
signal to the West that it shouldn't impose its ways on Africa. A
human rights group said the decision was a gift to a dictator.The
13th AU summit of heads of state, which concluded Friday in Sirte,
Libya, also "expresses its preoccupation about the behavior of the
ICC prosecutor" Luis Moreno Ocampo, whom African officials describe
as...
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ICC prosecutor visits violent Kenyan slum
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court met Monday with
members of a self-help group in a Nairobi slum that saw some of the
most brutal acts committed during Kenya's 2007-2008 postelection
violence.Luis Moreno Ocampo said he visited Kenya's crime-prone
Mathare slums to understand the views of some of the victims of
election violence, which killed more than 1,000 people. The Mathare
slum is known for its high crime rates and the widespread
production and consumption of homemade alcohol.The prosecutor has
said he believes crimes against humanity were committed during the
violence. Judges at the ICC last month authorized Moreno Ocampo to
open an investigation."My duty is to understand the views of the
victims," Moreno Ocampo said. "It was a short visit and we saw just
a little grou...
Polanski asks Swiss court to free him from custody
Roman Polanski's legal team fired the first shot Tuesday in a
lengthy battle over his possible extradition to the United States,
asking a Swiss court to release the famous filmmaker from prison
immediately.The Swiss Federal Criminal Court announced the filing
and said a decision would be made "within the next weeks," but
experts said a swift release was unlikely, and it appeared that the
76-year-old director could remain in jail for at least a few
months.Even if the court rules in Polanski's favor, the decision
would probably be appealed immediately by the Swiss government,
extending his incarceration in a Zurich cell.Meanwhile in Poland,
the prime minister urged restraint after two days of heated calls
from government officials for Polanski's release. French leaders
who had also been outs...
Court tosses Washington voting ban for felons
A federal appeals court overturned Washington state's ban on voting
by convicted felons Tuesday in a ruling that could extend ballots
to prisoners in other states where studies showed racial bias in
the criminal justice system.In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the Washington law
violates the federal Voting Rights Act because evidence showed
discrimination against minorities at every level of the state's
legal system: arrest, bail, prosecution and sentencing.If the
ruling survives, it will be binding in the circuit's other eight
states, including California, which denies voting rights to 283,000
convicted felons in prison or on parole, according to a report from
the nonprofit Sentencing Project. About 114,000 are African
Americans, who are dise...
Telangana political issue: Apex court
NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Friday declined to interfere with the
Telangana imbroglio saying that it was a political issue and was
better left to the political bosses. “Why should
this court entertain the PIL at this stage? It is a political
question. No decision has been taken so far. Why should we pre-empt
it,†.... Read the original article : Telangana
political issue: Apex court.
Court: Victims can sue ex-Somali prime minister
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block a lawsuit against a
former prime minister of Somalia over claims that he oversaw
killings and torture in his home country.The high court said it
will allow lawsuits against Mohamed Ali Samantar to go forward
despite his claims of immunity under the Foreign Sovereign
Immunities Act. However, the court warned that the U.S. District
Court will have to decide whether Samantar can access other claims
of immunity that could stop the trial.The court's decision could
have broad foreign policy implications. Allowing lawsuits against
former foreign officials living in the United States could increase
the likelihood that U.S. officials would be sued in overseas
courts. An increase in the number of U.S. lawsuits dealing with
past actions in foreign countri...
