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  Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian businessman who amassed his fortune in Russia’s gas trade, was indicted on U.S. bribery charges tied to a $500 million Indian mining project in a case he says is politically motivated.   Firtash, 48, allegedly conspired with five other men and met with Indian government officials as part of an effort to pay $18.5 million in bribes to facilitate the project, aimed at generating titanium product sales to firms including an Illinois-based company that wasn’t identified in the indictment.   “Firtash was the leader of the enterprise,”Chicago U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon said yesterday in a statement.   The businessman, who is fighting extradition from Austria, may possess information about deals involving Russian state gas exporter OAO Gazprom (OGZD) that the U.S. would consider corrupt, according to Mikhail Korchemkin, a former…

  [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled 5-4 Wednesday in McCutcheon v. FEC [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that limits on overall campaign contributions by individual donors are unconstitutional. The court previously held in Buckley v. Valeo [opinion] that limits on contributions implicate First Amendment interests but that limits may be imposed so long as they are narrowly drawn to further a compelling governmental interest. The Federal Election Campaign Act [text] limited individual donations to candidates to $2,600 and overall donations to candidates, parties and political groups to $123,200. Though Wednesday's ruling left the cap on individual donations intact, the court ruled [opinion, PDF] that the aggregate limits are unconstitutional as an intrusion "without justification on a citizen's ability to exercise the most fundamental First Amendment activities." Writing for the dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer said that Wednesday's decision, along with the…

Los juristas debaten si la reforma del artículo 23.4 de la Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial se ajusta a la Constitución. El juez Fernando Andreu ha sido el primero en plantear una cuestión de inconstitucionalidad de la reforma de la justicia universal. La última reforma de la justicia universal ha llegado rodeada de polémica. Dejando de lado las discusiones sobre la idoneidad de esta reforma o sobre la amplitud de la justicia universal en España, los juristas debaten ahora sobre si los cambios introducidos en la Ley Orgánica 1/2014, de 13 de marzo, de modificación de la Ley Orgánica 6/1985, de 1 de julio, del Poder Judicial (LOPJ) se ajusta o no a la Constitución española. Las principales dudas, que ya han puesto sobre la mesa los jueces de la…

  SANTANDER, 25 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) – Telefónica ha confirmado este martes que recurrirá en casación ante el Tribunal Supremo la sentencia dictada por la Audiencia Provincial de Cantabria que anuló la cláusula que permitió a la compañía el cobro del servicio de identificación de llamada.   Telefónica considera que la sentencia “incurre en graves errores, pues no tiene en cuenta la normativa sectorial de los usuarios de telecomunicaciones que, al tratar las modificaciones de precios, exige exclusivamente comunicarlo a los clientes con 30 días de antelación, dándoles la oportunidad de darse de baja del servicio afectado por la modificación mediante un método fácil y gratuito”, lo que Telefónica realizó -asegura- “hasta en tres ocasiones”.   Añade que si el contenido de la sentencia se llevara a la práctica, “se…

  Após a retomada do julgamento nesta quarta-feira (2), a maioria dos ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) votou pela proibição de doações de empresas a partidos políticos e campanhas eleitorais. A decisão final, no entanto, foi adiada porque o ministro Gilmar Mendes pediu vista (mais tempo para analisar o tema).   Quando o julgamento for retomado, o que não tem previsão para acontecer, caso a proibição das doações empresariais seja confirmada, os ministros terão que decidir a partir de quando vale a decisão.   Dos 11 ministros do Supremo, seis já se manifestaram pela derrubada da permissão para que empresas financiem campanhas: Luiz Fux, Joaquim Barbosa, Dias Tofffoli e Luís Roberto Barroso, que votaram em dezembro do ano passado, e Marco Aurélio Mello e Ricardo Lewandowski, que proferiram voto nesta quarta. Teori…

  In the way of these things, the decision to ban all prisoners from receiving books to read was put through by the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, without anyone noticing enough to kick up a fuss – though from today that looks set to change.   It was contained within an instruction to set up the incentives and earned privileges scheme last November. Basically this says that prisoners can't get anything without earning it. Families and friends are therefore now banned from sending parcels to prisoners.   And, crucially, this includes books. Whatever the Ministry of Justice will now say, no prisoner in the UK can now be sent books by anyone.   As Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform saysin her piece on politics.co.uk: "These new…

  A lawyer fired after raising concerns about corruption is seeking whistle-blower status in a U.K. lawsuit that could expand the protection to tens of thousands of professionals.   Krista Bates Van Winkelhof was a partner at Clyde & Co. LLP in Tanzania when she reported in 2010 that an African lawyer working in association with the U.K. law firm was involved in bribery and money laundering. She sued after being suspended and expelled from the partnership in 2011 and her case reaches the U.K.Supreme Court for a hearing today.   The U.K. has been cracking down on corruption by British companies overseas, giving prosecutors more power to file bribery charges. A victory for Van Winkelhof would expand whistle-blower rules, which normally protect salaried workers, to highly paid members of professional partnerships.  …

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website] on Friday struck down [opinion, PDF] Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. Judge Bernard Friedman ruled that the ban violates the US Constitution's guarantee of Equal Protection [text, Cornell LII] and also indicated that the state had failed to prove its allegation that children lacking "biologically connected" gender role models face difficulties in psychological development. Friedman also rejected the argument that the ban should be upheld because it was approved by voter referendum. "[S]tate defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people," said Friedman. The decision follows similar federal court rulings striking down same-sex marriage bans in Texas, Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia [JURIST reports], but the Michigan ruling is unique in that there was no stay placed on the effect of the decision pending…

El presidente del Tribunal Constitucional (TC), Francisco Pérez de los Cobos, ha destacado este miércoles durante la toma de posesión del magistrado Roberto Enríquez el principio de fidelidad a la Constitución como básico de nuestro sistema jurídico y ha subrayado que éste «exige que todos los poderes públicos» deban «abstenerse de adoptar decisiones o realizar actos que perjudiquen al interés general». Pérez de los Cobos ha realizado estas manifestaciones ante el ministro del Interior, Jorge Fernández-Díaz; el presidente del Tribunal Supremo, Carlos Lesmes, magistrados y exmagistrados del tribunal de garantías; el fiscal general del Estado, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, el presidente del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid, Francisco Vieira, el secretario de Estado de Justicia, Fernando Román y numerosos vocales del Consejo General del Poder Judicial (CGPJ).   En palabras del…

La Sala Primera del TS ha dictaminado que captar fotografías de una persona sin su consentimiento en lugares públicos y en momentos de su vida diaria, para aportarlas como prueba documental en un juicio de faltas con el fin de acreditar que no se encontraba impedida para comparecer en el juicio, no supone una intromisión ilegítima en el derecho a la propia imagen. Así lo señala en una sentencia de la que es ponente el presidente de dicha Sala, Francisco Marín Castán, que comienza reiterando la doctrina sobre los criterios de ponderación judicial en caso de conflicto entre derechos fundamentales, en particular, cuando uno de los derechos afectados es el derecho a la propia imagen.   Este derecho – dice literalmente la sentencia- “garantiza un ámbito privativo de la propia…