Search: self-defense

Milan Markovic Dear Alex, I very much agree with the following: "Prosecutors and defense lawyers play different roles in various systems and will also be accustomed to different practices and customs from their own jurisdictions." But isn't this a very good reason for the OTP to adopt a code of conduct or voluntarily subject itself to the code of conduct that is currently applicable to the ICC's defense counsel? In the absence of such action, it is difficult to assess your claim regarding the "extremely high ethical commitment" of the...

...Prof. David Frakt’s Huffington Post piece of April 29, 2010. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-frakt/new-manual-for-military-c_b_557720.html He was formerly lead defense counsel with the Office of Military Commissions, He writes that three different military judges in three separate commissions at GTMO (Hamden, Jawad & al Bahlul) (Frakt was lead defense counsel for the last two) rejected the government’s argument that “Murder in Violation of the Law of War” under the 2006 MCA is simply any killing by a person whose status is that of an unprivileged belligerent, whether or not the killing itself violates IHL....

...is satisfied that he can read and comprehend English well. I won’t try to defend myself, because that part of my post was obviously ill-advised. What distresses me is the decision itself, which punishes Dr. Karadzic for exercising his right of self-representation. We never claimed that Dr. Karadzic was not able to have a conversation in English; our argument is that, as a non-lawyer, he cannot be expected to understand the Prosecution’s complicated legal arguments in a language that isn’t his own. I don’t think that’s a particularly radical idea...

...to prevent their companies investing in the occupied territories: "Thus, according to the Court, self-determination as a right erga omnes, entailed the duty of every state to promote that right through joint and separate action. Furthermore, the Court opined that all states, while respecting the UN Charter and international law, should see to it that any impediment, resulting from the construction of the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination was brought to an end. … Arguably, that would include at least a duty...

got anywhere. John But it is important that the states be able to repeal treaties (or at least part of treaties) if they find them objectionable. Remember that treaties can be classifed as "self-executing" and "non-self-executing". Non-self-executing treaties require that Congress also pass enabling legislation to give them force. This enabling legislation could then be repealed by the states, so they have a check there. That leaves the problem of self-executing treaties. Someone smarter than me will have to find a way for states to repeal those (especially one that...

...Prime Minister Rabin, claimed to be representing "the Palestinian People". Handmaker's curious claim that "ordinary Israelis and Palestinians should have been provided an opportunity to determine their own future such as by way of referendum in ensuring self-determination" ignores the fact that in participating in the Oslo negotiating process, the Palestinians were indeed exercising their own process of self determination. By the same token, if "ordinary Israelis" were not represented by their government, then who represents them? Most absurd is Handmaker's assertion that "Palestinian political representatives have met most of...

...defends itself using an active defense measure, additional international law implications arise. The principles of necessity and proportionality forbid “retaliatory or punitive actions. . . . [I]n particular, the means employed for the defence have to be strictly necessary for repelling the attack.” Yet the principle of proportionality does not limit “a state, victim of an armed attack . . . to expelling the foreign troops from its territory in exercising its right to self-defence, but [also allows pursuit] across the border into their territory.” The current jus ad bellum...

...as Seselj has done with his trial. Next time, I suggest that Ms. Bogue reply to what I actually said, not what she imagines -- wishes? -- I said. Kevin Jon Heller As for "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin," he or she simply regurgitates the dismissive criticism that is always leveled at defense attorneys. The criticism refutes itself: if every defense attorney took that advice, controversial defendants would receive no counsel at all. But, of course, in "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin"'s worldview, criminal defendants only deserve counsel in an "abstract" sense. That pretty...

...quite explicit that their armies may be used for other purposes. Moreover, soldiers enlist in armies that have a history of engaging in action not for self defense even where that is the nominal purpose of the force. The US, for example, has on quite a few occasions engaged in action for purposes other than self defense, prominent examples being the Mexican War and the Spanish-American war. The present invasion of Iraq was of course not defensive in nature. I doubt that most US soldiers are so naive as to...

Netanyahu, or the Israeli Defense Minister, or some lowly Brigadier, for ordering IDF commandos to shoot paint balls at activists who were breaking a legal(Palmer Commission) blockade? Hostage Re: So the PTC wants the Prosecutors Office to consider indicting Netanyahu, or the Israeli Defense Minister, or some lowly Brigadier, for ordering IDF commandos to shoot paint balls at activists who were breaking a legal(Palmer Commission) blockade? The Palmer Inquiry was the result of the sort of political outcry from the international community that Kevin is talking about. It never was...

...- with historical examples that Professor Ramsey himself injects with a bit of proportionality and necessity discussion. Could the president respond to 9-11 with an attack to prevent further attacks if he believed further attacks are imminent? Yes....for a time...provided he can identify the source of the threat and the attacks are directed at countering it. (If they were not believed imminent, he would basically be conducting a reprisal - which some folks argue still falls within the scope of self defense or preemptive self defense.) Without Congress, could he...

...political, economic, legal, cultural and linguistic pluralism, within the country's integrating process. Art. 2.- Given the pre-colonial existence of the original-peasant indigenous nations and peoples and their ancestral domain over their territories, their self-determination is guaranteed in the framework of the unity of the State, which consists of their right to autonomy, self-government, culture, recognition of their institutions and the consolidation of their territorial entities, according to this Constitution and the Law. Art. 3.- The Bolivian nation is conformed by the totality of Bolivian men and women, the original-peasent indigenous...