· July, 2006

Stories about Law from July, 2006

DRC: Post-Election Roundup

  31 July 2006

“A Peaceful Election” Congolese at the polls. Photo by Federico, courtesy of Extra Extra. By and large, the voting has ended in the DRC, according to The Salon: With the exception of the three towns that had to continue/report the voting for today, due to numerous arsons (Mbuji-mayi, Mweka and...

Nigeria: Scotland Yard

  31 July 2006

Detectives from Scotland Yard have just arrived in Nigeria to help with the investigation into the murder of politician Funsho Williams who died last week in Lagos, writes UKNaija. “If they fail, I can just imagine the Nigerian government crowing ‘Well, even the experts from Scotland Yard couldn't crack it,...

DRC: Counting of Ballots Has Begun

  30 July 2006

The Salon writes: “Counting has begun in many voting stations in the Eastern part of the country, which is an hour ahead of Kinshasa, and the West. Radio Okapi's live service is reporting an estimated level of participation that is higher than 70% in most of the stations that have...

Martinique: Plane Crash Aftermath

  30 July 2006

Bien Vu writes (Fr):”It's been more than 8 months since 152 Martiniquans died in a crash in Maracaibo [,Venezuela]. Since then, talks at cross-purposes between the Association aux Victimes du Crash Aerien [association of victims of the aerial crash] (AVCA) and the Brazilian insurer of West Caribbean Airways who cannot...

Russia, Ukraine: Stories About Words

Below is the translation of three stories about words: in the first one, they are being banned; in the second, they offend; in the third, there aren't enough of them. LJ user plushev, a Russian radio journalist, writes (RUS) about the government's attack on the name of the controversial National...

Nigeria: Political murder

  28 July 2006

Even sadder and more depressing than the Middle East, writes UKNaija, “is the news of the brutal callous murder of Funsho Williams, the grey bearded affable engineer who had consistently for the past ten years made no secret of his ambitions to rule Lagos State.” Taurean Minx also shares her...

DRC: Last Minute Campaigning and Complaining

  28 July 2006

As Sunday's presidential election approaches, and the campaign period closes today, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) bloggers chronicle last minute campaigning and complaining by some of the 30 or so candidates and other actors. Candidates’ Backgrounds Prince du Fleuve du Congo continues a debate with Christian Geraud about Joseph Kabila...

Martinique, France: Tribu Ka Suspended

  27 July 2006

France's Council of Ministers recently decided to dissolve Tribu Ka, a Black nationalist French group, accusing it of anti-semitism. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy claims the group posted a graphic of a chimpanzee holding a star of David on their website. Martinique's Le Blog de [Moi] agrees (Fr) that Tribu...

Russia: Kremlin's Big Fish Fishing

Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog writes about the current regime's idea of fishing: the “big fish” are Mikhail Khodrkovsky's former business partner Leonid Nevzlin, currently based in Israel, and two London residents – the “oligarch” Boris Berezovsky and “the so-called ‘Foreign Minister of Ichkeria’ Akhmed Zakaev.”

Martinique: More Prison for Wife Burners

  26 July 2006

Bien Vu deplores (Fr) 15 recent cases of women set afire by their husbands in Martinique. Some have been severely injured, others have died reports the blogger. He says: “even after the perpetrators have been found guilty, they remain a danger to their wives. We hope to see these individuals...

DRC: “The Burning has begun”

  26 July 2006

Light in the Heart of Darkness, an english-speaking expat blogger based in the DRC, says Kabila's popularity in Kinshasa is waning and fears that if he is elected, “the country is going to burn.” She points to yesterday's UDPS-led poster-snatching protests as evidence that the burning may have begun.

France, DOM-TOM: Victory against housing discrimination

  26 July 2006

Reunion-based Pierrot Dupuy, himself the father of a victim of housing discrimination in France announces (Fr) advocacy group CollectifDOM’s legal victory in the area of housing discrimination against French citizens from the French Overseas Departments and Territories (DOM-TOM) living in France. From here on, landlords can no longer ask for...

Uganda: Death of detainee

  26 July 2006

Human Rights Watch calls on the Ugandan government to investigate the alleged torture and electrocution of a security detainee in a government “safe house” in Kampala on May 4.

China: Cameras, drunks and forced website closures

  26 July 2006

Kimbo Hu/Hu Defu, a well-known Taiwanese aboriginal folk musician gave a performance at a small bar in Beijing this past weekeknd. In attendance were many prominent bloggers, and here is Ycul blogger Reading Storeroom‘s account of the show, along with the problems he sees as more and more Chinese purchase...