law

All eyes on the Khodorkovsky trial

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:15:02 +0200

This is an artist's impression of the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Once Russia's richest man and a potential opponent of then president Vladimir Putin, his imprisonment six years ago could now be extended until well after 2035. To publicise the event, almost 40 Russian artists filed into court to compete in illustrating the case.

Before his arrest, Khodorkovsky was potentially Putin's most powerful challenger. At the head of Russia's biggest oil producer Yukos, his influence was impressive. But when the Kremlin produced evidence of fraud and tax evasion in 2003, the oligarch was immediately detained, sentenced two years later, and in 2006, his company declared bankrupt. In March 2007 a second trial against him began after the Kremlin claimed to have found new evidence, this time proving embezzlement and money laundering. Originally it was thought he would be released in 2011. This new trial however, could see him sentenced to 27 more years in prison.

The case is a highly controversial subject in Russia, labelled by Khodorkovsky himself as absurd, and believed by 60 percent of Russians to be controlled by the "highest Russian authorities" rather than the court. Considered a good example of the "displaced" duties of the modern Russian court, a group of human rights activists from the Andrey Sakharov Museum teamed up with the Sergey Kuznetsov Content Group in inviting artists to draw the proceedings and submit their entries to an online competition. The results will be announced tomorrow (September 15).

Naming and shaming shoplifters with CCTV footage – legal?

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:20:30 +0200

In an attempt to crack down on shoplifters, a UK storeowner has begun posting CCTV images of suspected thieves on the company's website, along with the incentive of a 500 pound (€580) reward for those who successfully identify thieves. On Saturday, the scheme claimed its first victim. But is it legal?

Early last month directors at Home Bargains discount shopping chain, which operates 190 stores in the United Kingdom, gave instructions to their managers to begin sticking up posters in shop fronts, displaying CCTV images of suspected shoplifters. A few weeks later, an online version of the anti-theft campaign was launched. A page entitled "Crimebusters" was added to the company's website, and eight purported thieves were named and shamed. Just three weeks after the launch, and one of them, whose image has since been removed, was arrested at the weekend.

Home Bargains, which raked in £384m (€446m) in annual revenues last year, says that six million (€6.9m), or the equivalent of 1.5% of revenue, is lost to shoplifting. Operations director Joe Morris says that the new scheme is the store's only way of countering the problem. He assures that the police are aware of and cooperating with the work, and that your mugshot will only go up on the site if the company is "very confident" that you stole from them.

Anti download law: 'the idea of disconnecting web users is unimaginable today'

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:43:04 +0100

French web users are calling for a blackout on their sites, blogs and profiles in response to the new law. This image was published on Flickr by "Bricefwi".

While it's considered "inappropriate" and "suppressive" by web users, a French internet piracy law is being hailed as a saviour for bruised CD producers. The proposed "creation and internet" law, which would allow the state to block web access to illegal downloaders, will be decided on by the French Assemblée today.

CD sales have halved in the past five years according to the music industry, which blames the drop almost entirely on illegal downloads. And so does French culture minister Christine Albanel, who proposed the law in order to defend authors' rights from online piracy. Almost the entire senate voted in agreement to the law last October.

A first offense wouldn't see your internet connection disappear, but for persistent offenders, that's the eventual punishment. The "gradual response" system will be carried out by administrative body HADOPI, set up especially for the job.

Web users are mobilising through various movements across the net, one of which, "La quadrature du Net", is calling for online action against the law, which they say is a infringing on liberties. For support in parliament, they're counting on socialist members, who say that the law would enforce the "general policing of web users". There are also some in the majority party who say that a fine would be more effective than cutting web access.

Luckily, school is compulsory till 16...

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:06:27 +0100

These photos have been the subject of much debate among Chinese bloggers. It's time, according to them, to get these young shoe shiners back into school.

The photos appeared on blogs and discussion forums (like this one). Web users were angered to see children aged 10 to 12 working as shoe shiners, when school is supposedly compulsory until the age of 16. One of our Observers, a specialist in social problems in China, comments on the photos.

Sentenced for a virtual crime

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:45:26 +0100

A crime scene in the virtual world, Second Life.

Two Dutch youths were sentenced for stealing virtual goods last week, while a Japanese piano player was jailed for killing her virtual ex-husband.

The 14 and 15-year-old boys forced, in reality, a 13-year-old to open his "RuneScape" account and hand over a virtual amulet and mask to the elder boy's account. Although the pair beat and allegedly threatened the victim, the boys were only charged with the theft of the imaginary items, and not for any physical abuse. In a rare case, the Leeuwarden District judge ruled early last week that "goods don't have to be material for the law to consider them stolen", and sentenced the pair to 160 and 200 hours community service respectively.

Meanwhile, a 43-year-old Japanese woman was jailed last Wednesday on suspicion of hacking into her virtual ex-husband's identity and deleting him, as he had recently divorced her virtual self on "Maple Story". If convicted, she could face a five-year prison sentence, despite having no plans to harm the real-life man behind the virtual character. The cases have highlighted a shift in the application of law in non-real scenarios and caused bloggers to question the emotional value of virtual goods and identities.

Spaniards split over "abortion boat"

Ségolène Team Observers — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:54:19 +0200

By docking their boat at harbours around the world, Dutch NGO Women on Waves allows women to skirt abortion laws by operating in international waters. On Friday the group arrived in Spain, to a particularly cold reception.

At about half past five on Friday afternoon, "Aurora" sailed into the port of Valencia. The Dutch NGO, which has been offering abortions to women on its "floating clinic" for several years, was met by about a hundred pro-life activists shouted "fascists!" and "murderers!", while a small motor boat tried to stop the vessel from mooring. Also on the quay: pro-abortion activists, and between them, a police barrier, and a group of surging journalists.

While the turbulent arrival took over the country's weekend headlines, women were welcomed aboard the controversial vessel, where Dutch laws reign. Abortion was legalised in 1985 in Spain, but only in the case of rape, malformation of foetus, or a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman. "Aurora" was planning to set sail yesterday. But to where? Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of the NGO, is yet to decide. Women on Waves has already graced the shores of Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Ecuador.

The boat arriving in the port of Valencia:

Posted on YouTube on october 18, by feraleyes13.

"I find gay marriage bizarre"

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:34:43 +0200

Photo: Gino Ginelli on Flickr

On June 16, California became the second American state to give the green light to gay marriage. We asked our Observers, from China to Ghana, if there's a chance of seeing the same thing happen in their own countries.

Moroccans gang together for the release of the "Facebook prisoner"

Julien — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:12:36 +0100

Fouad Mourtada got three years in a maximum security prison for creating a fake Facebook profile page for a member of the Moroccan royal family. Now, web-users all over the world are ganging together to get Fouad out of prison.

The 26-year-old Moroccan IT engineer created a profile in the name of Prince Moulay Rachid (the brother of Mohamed VI, king of Morocco). The offence led to his sudden street arrest on Feb 5. After weeks in custody, where his family says he was tortured, he went to trial in Casablanca. He explained that he created the fake profile in admiration for the prince, and with no malicious intentions. However, the court wanted to "make an example" of Mourtada, and they condemned him, at the end of February, to three years in a maximum security prison for the "usurpation of identity".

Since Mourtada was put behind bars outrage among the Moroccan public and on the international blogosphere has only escalated. Young people in particular cannot understand why a harmless joke led to such a severe sentence. Last Saturday demonstrators in Morocco and across Europe marched to demand the release of the Facebook prisoner.

Susan wants to open Canada’s first ever brothel

Julien — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:04:00 +0100

Material compiled with the help of our Observer in Canada, Ostap Karmodi.

Although prostitution is legal in Canada, brothels are not. Sex workers have to trawl the streets by night, putting themselves at severe risks. Physical abuse is commonplace and many have been killed. One man was recently convicted for the murder of six women, most of them prostitutes from the poor Vancouver district of Downtown Eastside, and he's suspected of 43 other similar murders. Now, a group of Vancouver sex-workers has set up a sex workers “cooperative”, with the hopes of opening Canada’s first ever brothel in time for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Susan Davies, one of the campaign’s organisers, tells us about her struggle.

Abusive policeman suspended after evidence posted on YouTube

Julien — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:56:01 +0100

Now known as ‘The Baltimore Cop’ on YouTube, a police officer who physically and verbally abused a fourteen year-old skateboarder was yesterday suspended for his actions. Seventeen-year veteran Salvatore Rivieri was caught on camera shouting at and pushing Eric Bush last summer. But until the video surfaced on YouTube this week, no action was taken. Now, Rivieri, who threatened to “smack you upside the head”, is awaiting the conclusion of an internal investigation. And while he waits, the world watches. The video has already been viewed by around a million people worldwide.