On February 23, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the impossibility for a partner in a same-sex relationship to obtain a residency permit in Croatia violates the European Convention on Human Rights. According to the press release, the case concerned Danka Pajić, a national from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who had been discriminated against because of her sexual orientation when applying for a residency permit in Croatia, where her partner lived. Pajić’s lawsuits in Croatia proved unsuccessful, as the Croatian courts ruled that “given the limited legal effects of a same-sex...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
On February 23, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled (judgment only available in French) that that the CIA’s abduction and extrajudicial transfer to Egypt of imam Abu Omar violated the European Convention on Human Rights. According to the press release, the case concerned the extrajudicial transfer of Egyptian imam Abu Omar, from Italy to Egypt, effected by CIA agents with the cooperation of Italian authorities. Omar, who had been under investigation for ties to radical Islamist groups in Italy, was detained in secrecy for several months and stated he was interrogated and...
On February 23, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) held that Russia is responsible for the unlawful detention of a criminal suspect under inhuman conditions in Transdniestria. According to the press release, Boris Mozer, a Moldovan national, was living in the Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria (MRT), an unrecognized separatist entity that split from Moldova in 1990, when he was arrested on fraud charges by MRT authorities. After Mozer was forced to sign various confessions, the MRT court sentenced him to prison, a sentence the Supreme Court of the Republic of Moldova quashed...
On February 16, 2016, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen the cooperation between the institutions. According to the press release, the memorandum sets out the terms of the cooperation, focusing on “assistance by exchanging knowledge, experience and expertise inherent to the conduct of their respective mandates, subject to observance of their respective applicable legal regimes.” The two courts will “maintain contact with each other, including through the exchange of visits, the cooperation...
On February 12, 2016, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court reversed an earlier decision in the Ruto and Sang cases that had granted admission of prior recorded testimony pursuant to amended rule 68 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE). According to the press release, the rule was adopted by the state parties to the Rome Statute in November 2013, while the trial of Ruto and Sang started on September 10, 2013. Noting that the rule had therefore been applied retroactively, the Appeals Chamber found “that the application of the amended rule resulted in (i)...
On February 15, 2016, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Italy announced a joint task force of experts focusing on the conservation of cultural heritage in conflict zones. According to the press release, “UNESCO will be able to ask the Italian Government to make experts of the Task Force available for deployment for the conservation of cultural heritage affected by crises.” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said, “The agreement is a major and innovative step in our effort to gain recognition for the importance of cultural heritage in...
On February 15, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court) ruled (judgment not available in English) that EU law allows an asylum seeker to be detained for national security or public order reasons. According to the press release, J.N. had first applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 1995, and had continued to submit applications after he had been denied asylum and received an entry ban following twenty-one convictions and several prison sentences. The Dutch court sought a preliminary ruling to determine whether “an asylum seeker may be detained when the protection of...
On February 10, 2016, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) reached a settlement with Barclays Bank for apparent violations of the Zimbabwe sanctions regulations. According to the enforcement notice, “Barclays processed 159 transactions totaling approximately $3,375,617 to or through financial institutions located in the United States . . . for or on behalf of corporate customers of Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe . . . that were owned . . . by a person identified on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s . . . List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons.”...
On February 5, 2016, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. According to a news report, Assange has been detained since December 2010, when Swedish authorities charged him with rape. In its statement, the Working Group noted that Assange had been “subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty: initial detention in Wandsworth prison which was followed by house arrest and his confinement at the Ecuadorian...
On February 5, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Dominican Republic United Nations envoy Francis Lorenzo cannot claim diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution on bribery charges. A news article describes Lorenzo’s participation in the alleged bribery stating, “he was involved in paying off [former UN General Assembly President John Ashe] to introduce business before the U.N. that would further a businessman’s real estate project.” According to a second news report, the court found that Lorenzo’s status as a permanent resident of the U.S. and a...