InfoUpdate
An Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society

30 October 2009

This professional service draws attention to current and important items of news
 and members are directed to the hosts' websites

InfoUpdate 23 of 2009
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and Items of Interest 

Electronic copies of this information may be obtained from our librarians at help@lawlibrary.co.za or click on the underlined hyperlink where relevant

Africa

Angola

Angola arms traffickers convicted - 27 October
The son of ex-French President Francois Mitterrand and an ex-government minister have been convicted for their roles in illegal arms sales to Angola. Jean-Christophe Mitterrand was given a two-year suspended sentence, and ex-Interior Minister Charles Pasqua was jailed for one year by the Paris court. They were convicted of accepting bribes to facilitate arms deals to Angola in 1993-98, in breach of French law. Two key figures were sentenced to six years each in their absence. Prosecutors accused Israeli-Russian billionaire Arkady Gaydamak and French magnate Pierre Falcone of being the key figures in the arms trafficking worth $790m (£485m). - BBC News website

Zimbabwe

Zim shuns UN expert - 28 October
Zimbabwe's government called off at the last minute a visit by a United Nations expert on torture that had been due to start on Wednesday, the UN announced. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, had been invited by President Robert Mugabe's government to visit Zimbabwe from 28 October to 4 November 2009. - IOL website

Zimbabwe deports UN rights expert - 29 October
Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, has been deported from Zimbabwe a day after being detained by security officials on arrival in Harare, a UN official has said. "We are boarding the plane to Johannesburg now," the official told the Reuters news agency on Thursday.  - Aljazeera website

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society