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from Photographers Blog:
The Ruby sex gate, my cell phone and Massoud
Milan, Italy
By Alessandro Garofalo
“Do you know how Ahamad Massoud died?”
It’s not a quiz but a question addressed to us a few days ago by an employee from the secretary of the Public Prosecutor’s office when we asked why photographers were not allowed to bring photographic equipment into the court during the trials involving the former dancer Maroc, Karima El Mahroug, better knew as Ruby Heartstealer, in the sexgate scandal with former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, accused of inciting the prostitution of a minor and abuse of power.
For a long time here in Milan we used to wait for Berlusconi and various protagonists of his different trials outside the courthouse because a measure prohibits filming in the courtroom for safety reasons.
But as we know, there is always someone who feels smart, especially when we talk about Italy - business is business. The channel networks want the scoop to broadcast in the news and the newspapers want to publish pictures on their front page. So, disregarding the bans, some editors and colleagues started to shoot video and take pictures with mobile phones, regardless of quality.
It is normal that a trial involving a high position of government like the Italian premier would generate a lot of curiosity, especially when people involved in the case range between seventy-year-olds and minors.
from Alison Frankel:
Gupta appeal will be ‘very difficult,’ Holwell says
Without former U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell, there probably would not have been any prosecution of Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director and McKinsey chief convicted Friday of insider trading and conspiracy. In 2010, Holwell ruled that prosecutors could use wiretap evidence in their case against Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, rejecting defense arguments that the government is not authorized to use wiretaps to investigate insider trading. If prosecutors hadn't been able to use those Rajaratnam wiretaps – in which Rajaratnam obliquely referred to tips from a Goldman insider – it's unlikely the government would have gone to trial against Gupta, since the tapes were the only link between Gupta's alleged tips and Rajaratnam's trades.
Holwell, who is now in private practice at Holwell, Shuster & Goldberg, told me Friday that wiretaps have forever changed the way the government investigates insider trading. "Prior to the Rajaratnam case, you look at insider trading rings, and they're very small. Prosecutors would wind up getting one, two, three people." The Rajaratnam case showed that with wiretaps, you can sweep in rings of tippers, leading to "a vast array of prosecutions," Holwell said.
from Photographers Blog:
The Amanda Knox lottery
By Alessandro Bianchi
On my mind was the number 77; the number of my press badge and the number I gave to police to get through security at the entrance to the court house.
Within a few minutes, the stepladders of photographers and television crews formed a pyramid that could block your view if you had chosen the wrong place. It was like a lottery and you had to wait to see if you had picked the right number.
from Funds Hub:
Morning Line-up: Glencore, gold rush, Galleon
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere:
Glencore convertibles nearly double with IPO - FT
from FaithWorld:
Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders challenges judges at hate speech trial
(Photo: Geert Wilders (C) at his trial in Amsterdam, 4 Oct 2010/Marcel Antonisse)
Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, a key player in efforts to form a new government, has accused judges trying him on charges of inciting hatred of scandalous bias and demanded they be replaced.
Wilders, who has 24-hour police guard because of death threats, went on trial Monday over comments including a comparison he made between the Islamic faith and Nazism.
from India Insight:
Moral brigade, media trials and law
In what is being seen as a significant judgement, India's apex court recently dismissed all charges against south Indian actress Khushboo for her alleged remarks on pre-marital sex in a 2005 magazine interview.
The Supreme Court said her comments were her personal view and that she was entitled to express them.
from Global News Journal:
China holds Rio trial behind closed doors
The trial of four Rio Tinto employees began early on a chilly, gray Monday morning in Shanghai, when four police vans in a convoy led by a cruiser with flashing lights swept the defendants to the courthouse well before 7 am.
Quick glimpses from outside the modern courthouse are all that most outsiders will get.
from Tales from the Trail:
Blagojevich trial to begin in June
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's trial will begin in June, which gives fellow Democrats reason to squirm before the mid-term elections. 
The judge in Blagojevich's corruption case turned down the defense's request to delay the trial to November, which would have been after the November 2 election.
from The Great Debate UK:
Wiwa v Shell: The day of reckoning
-Ben Amunwa is a campaigner with oil industry watchdog Platform, where he runs Remember Saro-Wiwa, a project that uses art and activism to raise awareness about the impact of the oil in the Niger Delta. The opinions expressed are his own.-
When the news broke of a settlement in the Wiwa v Shell case, a cacophony of responses soon flooded my inbox. Hailed as a victory for human rights by some, others felt disappointed that Shell could throw money in the face of justice. In such a high profile and emotive legal battle, holding oil giant Shell responsible for human rights abuses in Nigeria, including the execution of charismatic activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, hopes were inevitably high.
from Tales from the Trail:
What if a Gitmo detainee is acquitted? It’s hypothetical …
The Obama administration doesn't want to talk about what might happen if a New York court acquits a Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspect.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian, Tuesday became the first Guantanamo prisoner sent to the United States for trial. He pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court.
Ghailani is accused of conspiring to bomb the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, killing 224 people. He had been held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba since 2006.
His transfer to New York was seen as a test case for President Barack Obama's effort to close the controversial prison for foreign terrorism suspects.
A key question in dealing with the detainees has been whether to try them in military or civil courts. So has the issue of what to do with prisoners who are acquitted.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs refused Tuesday to say whether the administration would set Ghailani free if he was acquitted.
He was asked the question repeatedly at a White House briefing. Here are his replies:
"Well, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals."
"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals about the court cases either."
"Well, let's discuss that if it ever comes to fruition."
"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals about how certain cases may or may not play out."
"I'm not willing to get into playing hypothetical games."
"I'm not debating legal principles. I'm just not getting into the hypothetical back and forth of what happens on a case."
"I am not going to get into the hypotheticals about specific outcomes of cases."
"We will talk about what happens about a verdict when a verdict comes."
"And I'm, in this specific case, not going to get into those hypotheticals."
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