Search Results for: 2014-09-26

Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld most provisions of controversial legislation that imposes a sentence of death by hanging against individuals convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.” In upholding the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the court maintained that though the country’s penal code is “undoubtedly … considered to be a relic from the country’s colonial past,” the bill’s overwhelming [...]

Russia’s Ministry of Justice designated popular fiction writer Grigori Chkhartishvili (pen name Boris Akunin) a “foreign agent” for his criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ministry said Friday that Chkhartishvili “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine.” Chkhartishvili’s cited opposition was a Facebook post written the day Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in [...]

Over 50 rights groups expressed their concerns to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the forcible returns of North Korean escapees detained by Chinese authorities. These groups call upon China to end its forcible repatriation of North Korean detainees in accordance with the non-refoulement principle in international law. The letter addresses the potential forceful repatriation of [...]

Hunter Biden sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Monday for unlawful disclosure of his tax information and for related violations of the Privacy Act. Biden’s complaint mentioned two IRS agents by name: Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. In June, the House Committee on Ways and Means voted to release transcripts of interviews with Shapley [...]

The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) Monday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court of India against certain directions given by the court in a recent case concerning Sikkimese Nepalis. On January 13, the court ruled that under Sikkim Income Tax Manual 1948, “ll persons engaged in business were subjected to tax irrespective [...]

Recently, Thailand passed an important human rights law following significant pressure from many parties including NGOs, victims of torture, relatives of the dead and missing, and investigative journalists. On 24 October 2022, the King signed into law the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearances Act which Parliament enacted on 26 August 2022. This [...]

Following last week’s discovery of a mass grave containing some 450 bodies in the Ukrainian town of Izium, questions of international criminal culpability loom heavily. “Russia left behind mass graves of hundreds of shot and tortured people in the Izium area. In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent. [...]

In October 2021, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that in the event of a conflict between the Constitution of Poland and the treaties of the European Union, the Polish Constitution will reign supreme. The Tribunal concluded that Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union, in conjunction with Article 279 of the Treaty on the Functioning of [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday filed suit against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort for around $3 million for failing to timely report his financial interest in foreign accounts.  In 2018, Manafort pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy against the US, conspiracy to commit money laundering, tax fraud, failing to file Foreign Bank Account Reports and [...]

In a recent interview on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, former French president, François Hollande established a direct link between NATO’s, and particularly the United States’, withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. “If Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine, it was not due to a provocation from the Atlantic alliance . [...]