Anything related to the court system, sentencing of offenders, or incarceration issues
The International Court of Justice was asked today by Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine to issue a ruling against Iran for shooting down a Ukrainian airliner in January 2020 shortly after it took off from Tehran airport. The 176 passengers and crew included 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. [node:read-more:link]
A U.S. district judge appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018 has ordered some federal agencies and officials to stop contact social media companies about certain content. His July 4 injunction was in response to a lawsuit which claimed the Democrat administration had overstepped its mandate to combat disinformation on the coronavirus pandemic. [node:read-more:link]
Countries building cases against senior Russian leaders for the crime of aggression resulting from their invasion of Ukraine, are to be supported by a new international centre in The Hague. While it will not issue indictments or arrest warrants, it is described by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin as “a clear signal that the world is united and unwavering on the path to holding the Russian regime accountable.” The EU agreed July 3 to provide €8.3 million in start-up support. [node:read-more:link]
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro says a Russian member of a major Polish hockey team has been detained on a charge of espionage. Arrested several weeks ago in southwestern Poland, he is one of 14 citizens of countries east of Poland who are suspected of monitoring rail traffic, spreading pro-Russia propaganda and plotting sabotage. [node:read-more:link]
A New Brunswick woman was fined $1,000 and banned from driving for a year after pleading guilty to impaired in 2017 has won a Supreme Court of Canada appeal. Procedural delays meant that the ban stretched out to more than two years, which the court (Docket No. 39997) described as unwarranted “kind of double punishment” and affirmed the Common Law convention that courts can grant credit for time served. [node:read-more:link]
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, unseated in last year’s national election, is being blocked from holding public office for eight years. A majority of electoral court judges ruled today that he had violated election laws by telling foreign envoys to expect a rigged vote. [node:read-more:link]
Accusing Canada of flouting state immunity by permitting the relatives of victims of terrorism to seek reparations, Iran filed a case June 27 with the International Court of Justice. Iran claims “jurisdictional immunity […] under international law against civil claims against it for “alleged support to, or acts of, terrorism” and says Canadian courts should not recognize foreign judgments in terrorism cases linked to Iran. [node:read-more:link]
A UN investigator who visited the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, says that despite some “significant improvements”, its 30 remaining detainees are subject “to ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.” Irish law professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin aired her concerns in a June 26 report about her unprecedented visit, but the U.S. disagreed “in significant respects with many factual and legal assertions” in her report to the Human Rights Council. [node:read-more:link]
Calgary-based Enbridge has asked a U.S. judge for “clarification” about the legal status of a cross-border crude oil pipeline opposed by a Wisconsin indigenous community. District Court Judge William Conley had ordered the line removed within three years but the company is seeking reassurance that it can continue operations until it is rerouted. [node:read-more:link]
Four Chinese companies as well as eight of their executives and employees are facing U.S. Justice Department charges arising from their role in trafficking materials used to make fentanyl. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the new strategy goes beyond targeting Mexican drug cartels by also pursuing their suppliers. [node:read-more:link]
The Minnesota-based chemical industry giant, 3M Company, will pay at least $US10.3 billion to settle lawsuits over contamination of many public drinking water systems with environmentally-persistent compounds used in a wide range of consumer and other products. It confirmed the deal June 22 even as the Canadian government continued to solicit public comment on proposed “forever chemicals” regulations. [node:read-more:link]
Toronto-based Canada Bread, which produces dozens of baked goods brands across the country, agreed today in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Docket No. CV-17-586063-00CP), to pay at least $50 million for its role in fixing bread prices for more than two decades. Formerly controlled by Maple Leaf Foods, the company has been owned by Grupo Bimbo of Mexico since 2014. [node:read-more:link]
Newly re-elected Premier Danielle Smith apologized in the legislature June 20 for having contacted her then justice minister about criminal charges facing a “street preacher” who encouraged a border blockade last year. “Although I had no ill intent, the ethics commissioner found it was improper for me to contact (him) in the way I did,” she said, adding that new legislators will be trained on the structure of government and that she has asked her new justice minister for guidelines on cabinet interaction. [node:read-more:link]
A Calgary man has been remanded in custody on four terrorism-related charges following a national investigation. Zakarya Rida Hussein, 20, appeared in court June 16, charged with two counts of facilitating a terrorist activity and two of participating or contributing to a terrorist group’s activity. [node:read-more:link]
Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley has ruled that the Canada Border Services Agency’s assessment in refusing an elderly Chinese man’s applicant for permanent residency was “dubious” and “over-reaching.” The CBSA had said Liping Geng had trained spies and might be one too, but Mosley (Docket No. IMM-1374-22) has ordered another immigration officer to review his case. [node:read-more:link]
