Wednesday, 25 February 2009

News Round-Up

A trio of legally-related stories...

Mexico
: armed forces should keep their right to stand trial in military tribunals, even in human rights cases, according to the Defense Secretary.
In 1998 the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture issued a report on Mexico, in which he affirmed that “military personnel appear to be immune to civil and criminal justice and generally protected by military courts.” The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) has also criticized the systematic and absolute use of military tribunals to judge military personnel: “independence and impartiality are clearly compromised (…), producing de facto impunity.”

Mexican Defense Secretary Opposes Civilian Trials for Military Human Rights Abusers (Narconews)

Colombia: Human Rights Advocates Detained without Just Cause (Impunity Watch)

Plus, in Guatemala,
Amnesty said no high-ranking officials or officers have yet been brought to justice over the atrocities and the few investigations which have taken place have been "deplorably slow and inadequate".

Call for Guatemala War Justice (BBC)

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