Category Archives: International

World News Legal developments from around the world. The following is a collection of the most recent posts from other blogs addressing topics of international law.

Blog, Criminal, Family, International, Legal News

France to introduce 15 as legal age of consent for sex

France announced plans to make 15 the legal age of consent for sex after high-profile cases including those of two men who escaped rape charges for having sex with 11-year-old girls caused national outrage.

Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa told the AFP news agency Monday that “the government has decided to set the age at 15” following public consultations and recommendations from a panel of experts.

The legislation, which will be presented to lawmakers for approval later this month, is part of a slew of government measures to tackle sexual violence, gender-based discrimination and harassment.

Adults can be charged with groping and sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison if they’re found guilty of abusing a child under 15. The more serious charge of aggravated sexual assault or rape of a child carries a sentence of up to 20 years — but coercion or violence must be proven.

Full Article – https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/03/06/france-introduce-15-legal-age-consent-sex/399119002/

Blog, Business Law, Immigration, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

A Mafia Acquittal Is the Latest L for Quebec Law Enforcement

Crime experts are expecting Montreal’s gang wars to heat up this year.

Patrick Lejtenyi

Leonardo Rizzuto and Stefano Sollecito walked out of the Montreal courthouse on Monday, February 19 as free men. That this caused surprise among organized crime observers is understandable. That it caused extreme frustration among law enforcement is probable, given that this is yet another case against Quebec-based organized crime figures botched by the cops and the Crown.

The two alleged high profile Mafia leaders had their charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and gangsterism tossed out of court after Quebec Superior Court Judge Eric Downs ruled that key evidence was inadmissible. That evidence stemmed from wiretaps planted by police in 2015 in the office of lawyer Loris Cavaliere—wiretaps that the judge said violated the sanctity of solicitor-client privilege. The accused argued that investigators didn’t put in enough safeguards to guarantee the privacy of Cavaliere’s other client. The judge sided with them and threw the wiretap evidence out, leaving the Crown with little else to prove Rizzuto and Sollecito’s guilt.

Full Read – https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/evmq3p/a-mafia-acquittal-is-the-latest-l-for-quebec-law-enforcement

Blog, Criminal, Immigration, International, Legal News, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

Family won’t pay El Chapo’s lawyer without kingpin’s sign off

Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s family members are refusing to cough up attorney’s fees unless they hear the kingpin himself order the payment, it was revealed in court Thursday.

Guzmán​ ​–​ ​in what would have been his first public words since his extradition in Jan. 2017– stood shakily, clutching a piece of paper in his hand, before prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg interjected and said she was worried he’d use the opportunity to pass secret messages.

“He desires to speak to the court directly,” defense attorney A. Eduardo Balarezo said​ in Brooklyn federal court Thursday​, as his client was overheard telling his interpreter in Spanish​,​ “I am sick for all the situation.”

“He wants his family to know they should pay his attorney,” Balarezo continued. “Obviously he wants me to take my fees, and sometimes people need to hear that directly from the horse’s mouth.”

Read Full Article – https://nypost.com/2018/02/15/family-wont-pay-el-chapos-lawyer-without-kingpins-sign-off/

Blog, Business Law, International, Legal News

Bizarre legal brawl intensifies at Trump hotel in Panama

By Joshua Partlow and David A. Fahrenthold February 26 at 6:57 PM 
PANAMA CITY — Last Thursday afternoon, the majority owner of the Trump International Hotel here in Panama arrived unexpectedly in the building’s swank Sky Lobby with an entourage.

He wanted to fire the Trump Organization, which has managed the hotel since it opened in 2011.

But the Trump Organization has refused to leave.

Since that first confrontation, police have been called multiple times to referee disputes between owner Orestes Fintiklis — who blames the company’s poor management and damaged brand for the hotel’s declining revenue — and the Trump Organization, which says it still has a valid contract to manage the place.

Offices have been barricaded. Several yelling matches have broken out. The power was briefly turned off, in a dispute over the building’s electronic equipment. At one point, Fintiklis — denied a chance to fire the hotel staff or even check into a room — played a tune on the hotel’s lobby piano as an apparent show of defiance.

Read Full Article https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/bizarre-legal-brawl-intensifies-at-trump-hotel-in-panama/2018/02/26/ccede22c-1b0e-11e8-98f5-ceecfa8741b6_story.html?utm_term=.c8bdf78771c3