Posts filed under 'International Law in Domestic Courts'
April 8th, 2008 at 08:44am
On April 1st the European Court of Justice invalidated provisions of a state-supported Flemish health care insurance program that entitles residents of the Dutch-speaking region and the bilingual capital district to reimbursement for health care assistance expenses.
The tripartite Belgian federal system– composed of the Flemish Government, the Walloon Government, and the Government of the French Community– is constructed along ethnic lines, and the Flemish insurance program does not extend to the French or Walloons. The French and Walloon governments brought a suit against the Flemish government in the Belgian Constitutional Court, who then referred questions to the ECJ.
The ECJ reaffirmed that it cannot intervene in purely internal matters and therefore could not address the benefits accorded to French and Walloon Belgians working in Flemish areas who have not come under the purview of Community law by exercising their right to free movement. However, the Court noted that the scheme restricted the free movement of workers in violation of the EC Treaty by denying benefits to nationals of other Member States working in the Flemish area but living in another region of Belgium, as well as to Belgian nationals in the same position who have exercised their right to free movement. The Court found no legitimate justification for the exceptional treatment. It also suggested the Belgian court itself might have cause to invalidate the remaining portion of the law based on its internal discriminatory effects.
For more information, please click here.
Permalink
March 6th, 2008 at 10:26pm
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has found two Bosnian Serbs guilty of crimes against humanity for mistreatment of non-Serb detainees at a detention center in the Bosnian town of Foča. Mitar Rašević and Savo Todović, prison guards at the Foča correctional facility during the Balkan wars in the mid-1990s, were sentenced prison terms of 8.5 years and 12.5 years, respectively.
Rašević and Todović were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), then transferred to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national court system for trial. Although the ICTY still tries the most senior leaders, the ICTY has begun transferring lower-ranking defendants to national courts. This is seen as significant progress in the ICTY’s attempts to strengthen rule of law by forging a partnership with the national judiciary. So far, the ICTY has transferred ten defendants in six cases to Bosnia and Herzigovina’s national courts.
More information can be found here.
Permalink
November 12th, 2007 at 06:41am
Basing its decision on the domestic law of Belize as well as international law in Cal v. Attorney General, the Supreme Court of Belize has held that the national government must recognize and respect the land ownership claims of indigenous Mayan peoples and therefore refrain from any act that might affect the value, use, or enjoyment of this property.
The full text of the decision is available here.
Permalink
March 14th, 2007 at 02:20pm
On March 12, the Seventh Circuit ruled that Article 36 of the Vienna Convention grants private rights to aliens who are in the United States from countries party to the Convention. The opinion noted that, unlike the Fifth and Sixth Circuits, the Seventh Circuit does not regard the Convention’s Preamble as capable of creating ambiguity in the otherwise plain language of the article. The case is Jogi v. Voges, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 5713.
Permalink
March 14th, 2007 at 01:32pm
U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar has ruled that Sudan is legally responsible for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. He indicated that a written opinion, including damages, will be forthcoming. The lawsuit was brought by relatives of sailors who died as a result of the bombing.
Coverage from the Washington Post is here.
Permalink
March 3rd, 2007 at 07:49pm
In 2006, the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed a civil action that had been brought by Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, against a group of defendants that included former CIA director George Tenet, as well as various corporate defendants. El-Masri contended that he had been detained and interrogated in violation of rights under the Constituion and international law. The district court found that the suit could not proceed, because it posed an unreasonable risk that privileged state secrets would be disclosed. On March 2, the Fourth Circuit affirmed that decision.
The case is El-Masri v. United States, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 4796.
Permalink
November 17th, 2006 at 02:09pm
After a federal district court issued a confirmation judgment of an international arbitrator’s award under the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the Third Circuit denied a motion made under Article V of the Convention to adjourn enforcement of the award, and altered the judgment to more closely adhere to the initial arbitration award.
See Admart v. Birch, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 24460 (September 28, 2006).
Permalink
