CJ returning to Senate Friday, says lawyer

DEFYING DOCTORS. Chief Justice Renato Corona will return to the Senate Friday, defying doctors' orders. File photo by Joseph Vidal/PRIB/Senate Pool

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona will attend the impeachment trial Friday, May 25, lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas told reporters.

Corona will attend the trial in defiance of his doctors' medical advice, Cuevas said, according to reports by ABS-CBN News.

Earlier, prosecution spokesman Rep Juan Edgardo Angara said on Twitter that Corona is likely return to the witness stand Friday, quoting one of Corona's counsels. The counsel told Angara that Corona "is feeling better."

Corona remains in the intensive care unit (ICU) of The Medical City, Pasig City as of posting time. The hospital will issue a medical bulletin on his condition at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 24. – Rappler.com

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Mexico Twitter case breaches civil rights: lawyer

MEXICO CITY — Mexico has breached an international human rights charter by bringing terror charges against two social media users who wrongly reported an armed attack on a local school, a lawyer for the accused said.

The man and the woman face the threat of as much as 30 years in prison because they posted messages online and via Twitter late last month, warning that gunmen had stormed a primary school in the eastern coastal state of Veracruz.

"They took five children, an armed group," Gilberto Martinez, 48, a math teacher, wrote on his Twitter account on Aug. 25 as fear spread that gunmen had besieged the school.

Police allege that Maria de Jesus Bravo, 57, a local radio host, authored similar posts that sowed panic as parents rushed to save children from the reported attack.

The rumors spread quickly after witnesses spotted a burning car near the school, said Fidel Ordonez, an attorney for the accused, and prompted a crackdown by authorities on social media users which resulted in the arrests.

The two face terrorism charges that could get them 30 years in jail, Ordonez said, but their defense team says the case violates two articles of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Mexico signed.

"You cannot regard us as terrorists or saboteurs," the pair said in court documents filed by their lawyers on Monday, adding that they were simply exercising their right to free speech. In the Martinez Twitter posts, the teacher says that he is just relaying information from other sources.

Article 19 of the charter states "everyone shall have the right to ... seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice."

The Veracruz prosecutor's office did not immediately answer a request for comment on Tuesday. Local media quoted him as saying that the pair would be prosecuted under state laws banning acts which cause alarm or terror among the population.

International pressure should help to get the pair released in the next few weeks, Ordonez told Reuters by telephone.

"I have a very strong feeling that they will be released because this is truly an attack on civil rights," he added.

The pair are still being held in jail and likely to remain there until the next hearing which could come late this month or in early October, Ordonez said.

Mexico's efforts to combat drug smugglers have left more than 42,000 dead since President Felipe Calderon sent the army to confront traffickers less than five years ago.

However, the failure of Mexico's flawed justice system to convict suspects for serious crimes has sent authorities scrambling to find other ways to make charges stick.

President Felipe Calderon last week labeled as 'terrorists' suspected drug gang members accused of a deadly arson attack in the industrial northern city of Monterrey.

Veracruz, an oil-rich state on the Gulf of Mexico, has avoided the worst of the violence.

However, several attacks in recent months have had citizens turning to social media for unfiltered news, said Rupert Knox of Amnesty International. He said that the detained Mexican pair had been made to suffer for the overall lawlessness.

"This is an insecure environment where people turn to social media to try and keep themselves safe," he said. "These people are being scapegoated for the panic that ensued but the case should not stand up to scrutiny."

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Lawyer denies Greek piracy 'scam'

  Thousands of letters were sent to alleged filesharers in the in the UK A lawyer whose firm demanded money from alleged illegal downloaders in the United Kingdom has denied re-starting the scheme in Greece.

Andrew Crossley told the BBC that e-mails sent out in the name of ACS:Law were a scam and nothing to do with him.

The messages accuse their recipients of file sharing and demand payments of £1,665.

Mr Crossley's firm was wound-up and he is the subject of disciplinary action for sending similar letters in the UK.

The Greek letters were brought to light by Ralli Solicitors, which represented some of those accused by ACS:Law. It is now advising a client based in Greece.

"They have received e-mails purporting to be from the law firm," said Ralli solicitor Michael Forrester.

The letters have been sent to overseas addresses.

"The IP addresses quoted do not appear conventional, making reference to country codes outside of the UK," said Mr Forrester.

"Despite this, the letters of claim refer to UK law under the Copyrights, Design and Patents Act," he added.

Compensation

One of the letters seen by the BBC read: "We act as solicitors for DigiProtect Ltd, the owners of copyright of various films and music rights.

"Our client has retained forensic computer analysts to search for and identify internet addresses from which their copyright works are being made available on so-called peer-to-peer programs."

The letter asks that cheques are made payable to ACS:Law and supplies a central London address, which is in an adjacent building to where the law firm used to trade from.

However, Andrew Crossley contacted the BBC to say he was not involved.

"It is not my email, not my address - the address is old and post code is misstated, there is no client or company of that name, it is not a demand made by me and it is quite clear from the way it was written that it was not," he wrote in an e-mail.

Mr Crossley said he plans to contact the police in relation to the messages.

UK cases

Prior to its closure, ACS:Law was accused of taking advantage of new UK laws on piracy in order to make money.

Its sole proprietor, Mr Crossley teamed up with companies DigiProtect and MediaCAT, which purported to represent copyright owners.

Together they sent letters to around 10,000 people in the UK, alleging that the IP addresses of their computers had been linked to illegal file sharing.

Individuals were given the option of paying £500 or facing court action.

Many of those contacted said they had never engaged in such activity. Consumer watchdog Which accused the firm of speculative invoicing and claimed that none of the evidence would stand up in court.

Bankrupt

Mr Crossley eventually brought 26 cases to court, but soon after hearings began he tried to have them dismissed.

Judge Colin Birss QC refused to allow proceedings to stop and accused Mr Crossley of trying to "to avoid judicial scrutiny".

He, in turn, left the court mid-way through the case and had his barrister read out a statement in which he said that he no longer wanted to pursue net pirates because he had received death threats.

The case was dismissed and Mr Crossley faced a large bill for wasted costs. The accused have since settled out of court.

Soon after, ACS:Law was wound up and declared bankrupt.

Mr Crossley is currently the subject of an investigation by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority.

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