Legal News

Brazil Puts Kibosh on Abortion Bill, and More From Around the Globe

By Dan Slater

A number of interesting legal developments are taking place outside the U.S. today. Here are a few:

• No Abortion in Brazil: The center-left government of Brazil, South America’s most populous Roman-Catholic country, voted against a proposal to change a law criminalizing abortion. The Justice and Constitution Committee — a committee in Brazil’s lower house of Congress — voted 57-to-4 against the bill, which had been stuck in Congress for 17 years. It is now likely to be shelved. Here’s a report from the BBC.
• Sentencing for Samsung Heir: Korean prosecutors requested a seven-year prison term for Lee Kun-hee, the former chairman of Samsung, South Korea’s biggest company. A Seoul Central District Court judge is set to rule on the charges of tax fraud and breach of trust against Lee next Wednesday. The judge may also issue a sentence then. Lee’s trouble began last November when a former Samsung attorney alleged that various affiliated companies created secret bank accounts under employees’ names to stash funds that were used to pay bribes to influential South Koreans. The special prosecutor appointed to investigate found that the bank accounts were used to hide about $4.5 billion of Lee’s personal assets and evade taxes. Here’s the WSJ report.
• Suspect Nabbed in Rwandan Genocide: Callixte Mbarushimana, a former UN employee accused of killing 3 UN colleagues during the 1995 Rwandan genocide, was arrested at the Frankfurt airport yesterday. Volkmar Kallenbach, a German prosecutor, said authorities are considering his extradition to Rwanda. Mbarushimana, a 44-year-old Rwandan Hutu, has been accused in Rwanda of genocide and crimes against humanity, Kallenbach said. He added that Mbarushimana disputes the charges. Here’s a Reuters report.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 10, 2008 (boomark / email).