Top ten criminal case developments of 2013
As far as worldwide crime fighting goes, 2013 has been an epic year. Zeroing in on the ten most important criminal developments of the year is anything but easy. We compromised on the present list of ten cases based on a series of criteria, including global reach and concrete legal impact.
Khodorkovsky has been pardoned: what’s next?
Khodorkovsky’s pardon would almost certainly make him the winner only if he rejected it immediately and publicly. The certainty is qualified by an “almost” because then he would win many scores as a public figure, but would disillusion some as a simple man of flesh and blood. Less than a day after a shocking statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former oligarch has left his cell. The pardon was like a lightening bolt.
ECHR: Poland grilled on CIA black site allegations
During a speech on September 6, 2006, then US President George W. Bush addressed the nation and the families of those killed in the 9/11 terror attacks. He revealed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was in fact running a secret counter-terrorism program without going into much details about it, and declared the program closed. Bush also assured the American people that torture was not used against those suspected of terrorism captured through the CIA program. He rather described the methods used to extract intel as an “alternative set of procedures”.
Bolshoi Ballet acid attack closing arguments - RAPSI live
RAPSI is hosting a live text broadcast of closing arguments in the case of the acid attack that left Bolshoi Artistic Director Sergei Filin with third degree burns to his face and eyes.
Elucidating the CIA’s post-9/11 justice program
More than a decade has passed since that sunny fall morning when four hijacked passenger planes brought the US to its knees. The coordinated attacks of September 11, 2001 killed nearly 3,000 people, obliterated New York’s Twin Towers, caused the partial collapse of the Pentagon, and unrecognizably altered the face of US national security. The attacks compelled security agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to improvise tools with which to confront a threat unprecedented in the annals of war: worldwide, stateless, ideology-driven terrorism.
John Reynolds on the Russian trend of London litigation
Quite a few cases linked in one way or another to Russia have passed through England’s courts and arbitration tribunals. As a growing number of business contracts stipulate that disputes should be governed by English law, the list continues to grow. Meanwhile, Russia has resolved to draw cases back to its own courts, aiming to tackle some of the judiciary’s more prominent issues. To learn more about this quagmire, RAPSI spoke with John Reynolds, a partner at White & Case and head of its London Litigation Department.
Pussy Riot member Alyokhina's sentencing appeal - live broadcast
The Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) is hosting a live text broadcast of a hearing to settle whether jailed Pussy Riot punk group member Maria Alyokhina will be granted a mitigation for the remaining part of her sentence.
Irina Paliashvili: "Do not put legal business under pressure"
Ukraine's legal services market is an incredibly intimate phenomenon among the former Soviet Union republics, retaining an appealing identity: with some exceptions, it has no place for foreigners, and it is dominated by motivated local legal firms. The biggest shock for the rapidly growing market was the financial crisis, which spread across Ukraine in 2008 and consequences of which are here even nowadays. As a result, the business development model had to be revised. Irina Paliashvili, President of the Ukrainian Legal Group, P.A., explained in the interview to RAPSI that the legal atmosphere has drastically changed and it is time to talk about new reality.
RAPSI reports live from Navalny embezzlement verdict hearing
The Leninsky District Court in Kirov is set to announce its verdict Thursday in the large-scale timber embezzlement case presently pending against renowned opposition activist and Moscow mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny.
15 years on: the ICC and the evolution of international justice
Fifteen years ago today, the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) revolutionized the field of international criminal law by establishing the first permanent, treaty-based international tribunal armed with the power to prosecute the world’s most grave and abysmal atrocities. To better understand the ups and downs the court has endured since dreams gave way to reality with the adoption of the Rome Statute, RAPSI consulted world renowned experts.