· July, 2011

Stories about Law from July, 2011

Practicing legal profession in Vietnam

  31 July 2011

Attorney Huynh Van Dong writes about the challenges facing lawyers in Vietnam. He reports that an increasing number of lawyers are now in jail for “expressing their own personal opinion.”

U.S.A., Japan: The US Declares War On The Japanese Mafia

  31 July 2011

Investigative journalist Jake Adelstein reported [en] that US President Obama has officially declared war on the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, as it represents an “extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” Japansubculture.com also published the text of the actual executive order.

Ukraine: Timoshenko Facing the Law

LEvko of Foreign Notes follows up on the trial against former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Timoshenko, and finds that – despite a weak case – the process is likely to end with a guilty verdict for a number of political reasons.

Kenya: Facebook Should Unfriend John Mwau

  29 July 2011

A Kenyan blogger, Daudi Were, has raised an interesting question about whether the U.S. government will be willing to enforce the Kingpin Act against Facebook for apparently doing business with a Kenyan national Mr Harun Mwau who had earlier this year been designated as a drug lord under the Kingpin Act.

Cuba: Call for Justice in Death of Teen

  28 July 2011

Laritza's Laws posts an update about the shooting death of a teen by a retired police officer: “Relatives and neighbors of the victim suspect the police are looking for excuses not to prosecute him, and they are demanding justice for the death of Angel Izquierdo Medina, that it not go...

Ukraine: Timoshenko Case Turning Sour

Levko of Foreign Notes argues that the trial against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko is quickly becoming a liability for President Yanukovich, with mounting international and domestic critique, and the trial in itself giving an additional political platform for Timoshenko.

Belarus: Schengen Visa=Guilty

Pyotr Kuznetsov mentions [ru] a Belarusian police officer who interpreted a Schengen visa in the passport of one of the women detained at a protest rally as a solid proof that she was not a law-abiding citizen. He said this to a colleague who used to know the woman and...

Bermuda: Waiting in Vain for PATI

  27 July 2011

According to Vexed Bermoothes, “there is no sign of ‘freedom of information act’ preparation in any part of Government”, despite the fact that a year has passed since the Public Access to Information Act was passed in the Bermuda Legislature.

Jamaica: Unimpressed with Minaj

  27 July 2011

Active Voice publishes a guest post about singer Nicki Minaj's performance at Jamaica's recent Reggae Sumfest: “Minaj messed up when she displayed such flagrant disrespect to Jamaica by announcing that she was warned about profanity but went ahead merrily, regardless.”

China: Chengguan kill handicapped street vendor in daylight

  27 July 2011

Jing Gao from MInistry of Tofu collects information about a mass incident happened in Guizhou province on July 26, in which two men and one woman from the Chengguan squad, killed a handicapped street vendor in daylight and riot police used tear gas to drive speculators away.

Russia: Megafon/Yandex Text Message Leak

Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes that “one of the largest Russian mobile carriers [Megafon] and the leading Russian search engine [Yandex] need to explain quite a lot of things to their users […] due to an unspeakable data leak as thousands of SMS messages sent via Megafon website got publicly...