Appeal court cases

FILE PHOTO: A protester with her mouth covered with tape takes part in a demonstration against a Spanish court which sentenced five of six men accused of gang-raping a 14-year-old girl to 10 to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing the minor, but acquitted them of rape, outside the Justice Ministry in Madrid, Spain November 4, 2019. In June, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court decision, ruling that the five men were guilty of rape and sentenced them to 15 years in prison. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge on Tuesday sentenced a 39-year-old man to a year and a half in prison for creating a website that mapped out a notorious 2016 gang rape at a bull-running festival. The website, whose name translated as “Tour of the Wolf Pack”, laid out the route taken in Pamplona by five men who attacked an 18-year-old woman early in the morning at the San Fermin festival in 2016. The site was created in December 2018, months after a … [Read more...] about Spanish court jails man for website mapping out ‘Wolf Pack’ gang rape

The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar said his recourse to the court over the 2019 presidential election was to ensure that “votes of Nigerians count”. Abubakar in a statement he issued on Friday in Abuja, said it was also to ensure that democracy was seen to be done in Nigeria. He said that “nothing good comes easy”, and that hard work was needed in the task to rid Nigeria of the forces of fascism. Besides, PDP presidential candidate said that the route he had adopted for reclaiming his mandate was also for the full restoration of the rule of law and democracy in Nigeria. “I owe so much to this great land of Nigeria that took me from the streets of Jada, where I sold firewood, to the heights I have attained, by God’s benevolence, in the civil service, incorporate Nigeria, and in public service. “If I do not play my part in making it possible for other orphaned children, indigent youths and the … [Read more...] about Atiku reveals why he is appealing tribunal judgement

With the Supreme Court set to hear the case on continuing vacancies at the Central and State Information Commissions on December 16, the Centre has filed its progress report in a sealed cover.The Commissions are the courts of appeal under the Right to Information Act and continuing vacancies lead to long delays in settling cases. At the Central Information Commission — which has four vacancies — there are more than 33,000 pending cases.On November 6, the Supreme Court issued a show-cause notice to the Centre and the governments of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha, Karnataka and Telangana on their progress in making timely and transparent appointments to the Commissions. It asked them to submit a status report on the vacancies and a compliance report on the transparency orders issued by the court in February. As of Saturday, only Odisha and Karnataka had filed their affidavits, according to a Supreme Court office report. The advocate for the … [Read more...] about Centre files transparency case affidavit in sealed cover

ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s ruling parties are on a collision course over a proposal to relax time limits on the prosecution of crimes, threatening the future of the fractious, three-month old government. FILE PHOTO: Alfonso Bonafede arrives at Quirinale Presidential Palace, before being sworn in as Italy's justice minister, in Rome, Italy September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Ciro de Luca/File Photo Italy has long been dogged by a dysfunctional, painfully slow justice system, but the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party (PD) have differing ideas on how to fix it — and neither seems willing to back down. 5-Star, for whom the fight against corruption has always been a clarion call, says much of the blame lies with the so-called statute of limitations, which wipes out trials if a verdict is not reached within a set limit. The party’s Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede has proposed scrapping the statute of limitations rule after an initial … [Read more...] about Trial reform looms as new threat for Italy’s fractious government

PARIS (Reuters) - Former police officer Mario Sandoval, accused of crimes against humanity during Argentina’s “Dirty War” four decades ago, was arrested by French police on Wednesday after years of legal tussles, a lawyer representing the Argentine government said. The lawyer, Sophie Thonon-Wesfreid, told Reuters he was arrested just hours after France’s top administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, rejected Sandoval’s appeal against his extradition. He was being held near Paris. Sandoval, who moved to France after the fall of Argentina’s seven-year military dictatorship and obtained French citizenship in 1997, is accused by Argentine prosecutors of more than 600 human rights violations including torture. A former federal police officer, he is accused of committing crimes at a secret prison where he was a specialist in fighting what the military called “subversive elements”. He denies the charges. As many as 30,000 people were … [Read more...] about French police arrest former Argentine policeman over Dirty War crimes: lawyer

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to Justice John Tsoho, acting Chief Judge (CJ) of the Federal High Court, urging him to use his offices and leadership position to “ensure expeditious hearing of Omoyele Sowore’s application not least because of his constitutional right of access to justice, liberty, fair trial and status as a prisoner of conscience.”The Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday refused to grant the motion filed by Omoyele Sowore, Convener, ‘RevolutionNow’ protests, challenging his detention for 45 days by the State Security Service (SSS). Justice Nkeonye Maya declined all applications by Mr Sowore and sent the case back to Justice Taiwo Taiwo for further hearing. Justice Karatu’s treatment, example of assault on independence of judiciary(Opens in a new browser tab) In the letter dated 29 August 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: … [Read more...] about SERAP writes Chief Judge of Federal High Court, seeks expeditious hearing of Sowore’s application