The Netherlands
International court sentences Sudanese militia leader to 20 years in prison for Darfur atrocities
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges at the International Criminal Court sentenced a leader of the feared Sudanese Janjaweed militia to 20 years imprisonment Tuesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the catastrophic conflict in Darfur more than two decades ago.
At a hearing last month, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman who was was convicted in October of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that included ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax in 2003-2004.
“He committed these crimes knowingly, willfully, and with, the evidence shows, enthusiasm and vigor,” prosecutor Julian Nicholls told judges at the sentencing hearing in November.
Abd-Al-Rahman, 76, stood and listened, but showed no reaction as Presiding Judge Joanna Korner passed the sentence. He was handed sentences ranging from eight years to 20 years for each of the counts for which he was convicted before the court imposed the overarching joint sentence of 20 years.
She said that Abd-Al-Rahman “not only gave the orders that led directly to the crimes” in attacks that largely targeted members of the Fur tribe perceived as supporting a rebellion against Sudanese authorities, he “also personally perpetrated some of them using an ax he carried in order to beat prisoners.”
The court’s prosecution office said that its staff would study the sentencing decision to decide whether to “take further action.” The office could appeal the sentence and renew its call for a life term.
The office said in a written statement that it sought a life sentence “owing to the extreme gravity of the crimes Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman was convicted of — murders, rapes, torture, persecution and other crimes carried out with a high level of cruelty and violence as a direct perpetrator, as a co-perpetrator and for ordering others to commit such crimes.”
It added that it also took into account the large number of victims, that included at least 213 people who were murdered, including children, and 16 women and girls who were victims of rape.
Abd–Al-Rahman, who is also known as Ali Kushayb, is the first person convicted by the ICC for atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region, where trial judges ruled that the Janjaweed crimes were part of a government plan to stamp out a rebellion there.
The ICC has a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment, but judges have the discretion to raise that to life in extremely grave cases. Abd-Al-Rahman’s time in detention before and during his trial will be deducted from the sentence.
Abd-Al-Rahman’s crimes were committed more than two decades ago, but violence continues to plague Darfur as Sudan is torn apart by civil war. ICC prosecutors are seeking to gather and preserve evidence from a deadly rampage last month in a besieged city in the region.
The latest alleged atrocities in famine-hit el-Fasher “are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region” and “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the ICC statement said, noting that evidence could be used in future prosecutions.
Korner said that ICC sentences are imposed as a deterrent to prevent other crimes in the future.
Cuba
Top court sentences former economy minister to life in prison for espionage
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s top court on Monday said a former economy minister was sentenced to life in prison for espionage, in the highest-profile case against an ex-official in recent years on the island.
The Supreme Popular Tribunal said in a statement that former Economy Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández also received a second sentence of 20 years in prison after being found guilty in a separate trial of other crimes including bribery, falsification of documents and tax evasion.
Gil was economy minister from 2018 to 2024, and he was one of the closest collaborators of President Miguel Díaz-Canel until he was removed from his post. In 2019, he was also appointed as deputy prime minister.
Weeks after his dismissal, the Cuban leader said that Gil had made “serious mistakes” and that corruption would not be tolerated, but without giving any specifics.
Cuba’s highest court didn’t give any details about what exactly the former minister did or who he was spying for.
Gil’s case is the highest profile among officials who have fallen from grace since 2009, when then-Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque were dismissed. Their case involved leaks of sensitive information, although they were not sentenced.
Gil was the public face of major monetary and financial reforms in 2021 in Cuba, including trying to unify country’s currency system. But Cuba, already affected by an economic crisis and shortage of some products, saw an inflationary spiral.
The highest court said that Gil “abused the powers granted to him” for personal gain, “receiving money from foreign firms and bribing other officials.”
New York
Archdiocese says it’s setting up a $300M fund for abuse victims
NEW YORK (AP) — The Archdiocese of New York on Monday announced it will set up a $300 million fund to compensate victims of sexual abuse who have sued the church.
In a statement, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the archdiocese would pay for the fund by reducing its budget and selling off assets, including completing the sale of its former headquarters in Manhattan, with the goal that the fund “can be set aside to provide compensation to survivors of sexual abuse.”
The archdiocese has also agreed to engage retired Judge Daniel J. Buckley as a mediator between itself and victims to reach a settlement, Dolan said. Buckley had a similar role in negotiations between the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 1,000 people there.
A spokesperson for the archdiocese said church officials hope the fund would cover settlements for most, if not all of the roughly 1,300 outstanding claims against the archdiocese.
Mexico
Former governor expected to face charges for money laundering
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican federal authorities took a former governor of the northern border state of Chihuahua into custody in preparation for charging him with laundering money diverted from state coffers while in office, the Attorney General’s Office said Monday.
Ex-Chihuahua Gov. César Duarte — identified in a statement only as “César N” in keeping with rules over the protecting the identity of the accused — was extradited by the United States three years ago to face state charges of embezzlement and was under house arrest.
Juan Carlos Mendoza Luján, a lawyer representing Duarte, told the newspaper El Heraldo de Chihuahua that Duarte had been detained and that his lawyers were still gathering information, but that his detention appeared unlawful.
Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said a statement Monday posted on X that a suspect was taken into custody for alleged involvement in laundering illicit funds. A federal agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed it was Duarte.
Duarte was Chihuahua’s governor from 2010 to 2016. The 62-year-old, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, travelled to the United States in 2016 with his family to seek medical treatment for an injury he suffered in a helicopter crash.
Mexican prosecutors previously accused Duarte of embezzling nearly $5 million in state funds while governor. U.S. authorities detained Duarte and he was returned to Mexico in 2022.
In June 2024, a Mexican judge granted him house arrest in the embezzlement case, which continues.
In October 2024, Mexico requested U.S. authorization to prosecute Duarte for money laundering, which differed from the charge he was extradited to face. That approval came last week, according to the statement from the Attorney General’s Office.
Wisconsin
Former Trump aides allege judicial misconduct in fake elector case
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former attorney in battleground Wisconsin alleged Monday that a judge presiding over his felony forgery case related to the 2020 election is guilty of misconduct and must step aside.
The attorney and two other former Trump associates charged in relation to their roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme asked that the preliminary hearing in their case set for Dec. 15 be postponed. They also asked that an evidentiary hearing be held by a judge in another county to examine the allegations of wrongdoing.
Details of the alleged misconduct were sealed by the court and not publicly available.
Jim Troupis, who was Trump’s attorney in Wisconsin in the 2020 election, filed the motion one week before he and two others were scheduled to appear for the preliminary hearing in Dane County Circuit Court.
The other two defendants joined Troupis in the motion. They are Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised the campaign, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.
They face 11 felony charges for allegedly using forgery in an attempt to defraud each of the 10 Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020 as part of a plan to submit paperwork falsely claiming that the Republican had won the battleground state that year.
Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to have the defeat overturned. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.
Each of the 11 of the felony charges carries the same maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The case has moved slowly through the Wisconsin courts as the three initially tried to have the charges against them dismissed. Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland dismissed that motion in August. Troupis alleged on Monday that that decision was “the byproduct of misconduct.”
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. According to Troupis’ filing, the state Justice Department objects to postponing the preliminary hearing.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who is running for a third term, brought the charges last year.
In addition to vacating the order to dismiss, Troupis and the two other defendants asked that the preliminary hearing be canceled, all Dane County judges step aside and the entire case be moved to another county.
The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them in 2023.
Federal prosecutors who investigated Trump’s conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, said the fake electors scheme originated in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin complaint details how Troupis, Chesebro and Roman created a document that falsely said Trump had won Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes and then attempted to deliver the document to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The Trump associates have argued that no crime took place. But the judge in August rejected their arguments in allowing the case to proceed.
A judge threw out a similar case in Michigan in September. And last year, a special prosecutor dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Cases related to alleged fake elector schemes remain in Nevada and Georgia but are not near the trial stage.
International court sentences Sudanese militia leader to 20 years in prison for Darfur atrocities
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges at the International Criminal Court sentenced a leader of the feared Sudanese Janjaweed militia to 20 years imprisonment Tuesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the catastrophic conflict in Darfur more than two decades ago.
At a hearing last month, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman who was was convicted in October of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that included ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax in 2003-2004.
“He committed these crimes knowingly, willfully, and with, the evidence shows, enthusiasm and vigor,” prosecutor Julian Nicholls told judges at the sentencing hearing in November.
Abd-Al-Rahman, 76, stood and listened, but showed no reaction as Presiding Judge Joanna Korner passed the sentence. He was handed sentences ranging from eight years to 20 years for each of the counts for which he was convicted before the court imposed the overarching joint sentence of 20 years.
She said that Abd-Al-Rahman “not only gave the orders that led directly to the crimes” in attacks that largely targeted members of the Fur tribe perceived as supporting a rebellion against Sudanese authorities, he “also personally perpetrated some of them using an ax he carried in order to beat prisoners.”
The court’s prosecution office said that its staff would study the sentencing decision to decide whether to “take further action.” The office could appeal the sentence and renew its call for a life term.
The office said in a written statement that it sought a life sentence “owing to the extreme gravity of the crimes Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman was convicted of — murders, rapes, torture, persecution and other crimes carried out with a high level of cruelty and violence as a direct perpetrator, as a co-perpetrator and for ordering others to commit such crimes.”
It added that it also took into account the large number of victims, that included at least 213 people who were murdered, including children, and 16 women and girls who were victims of rape.
Abd–Al-Rahman, who is also known as Ali Kushayb, is the first person convicted by the ICC for atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region, where trial judges ruled that the Janjaweed crimes were part of a government plan to stamp out a rebellion there.
The ICC has a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment, but judges have the discretion to raise that to life in extremely grave cases. Abd-Al-Rahman’s time in detention before and during his trial will be deducted from the sentence.
Abd-Al-Rahman’s crimes were committed more than two decades ago, but violence continues to plague Darfur as Sudan is torn apart by civil war. ICC prosecutors are seeking to gather and preserve evidence from a deadly rampage last month in a besieged city in the region.
The latest alleged atrocities in famine-hit el-Fasher “are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region” and “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the ICC statement said, noting that evidence could be used in future prosecutions.
Korner said that ICC sentences are imposed as a deterrent to prevent other crimes in the future.
Cuba
Top court sentences former economy minister to life in prison for espionage
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s top court on Monday said a former economy minister was sentenced to life in prison for espionage, in the highest-profile case against an ex-official in recent years on the island.
The Supreme Popular Tribunal said in a statement that former Economy Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández also received a second sentence of 20 years in prison after being found guilty in a separate trial of other crimes including bribery, falsification of documents and tax evasion.
Gil was economy minister from 2018 to 2024, and he was one of the closest collaborators of President Miguel Díaz-Canel until he was removed from his post. In 2019, he was also appointed as deputy prime minister.
Weeks after his dismissal, the Cuban leader said that Gil had made “serious mistakes” and that corruption would not be tolerated, but without giving any specifics.
Cuba’s highest court didn’t give any details about what exactly the former minister did or who he was spying for.
Gil’s case is the highest profile among officials who have fallen from grace since 2009, when then-Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque were dismissed. Their case involved leaks of sensitive information, although they were not sentenced.
Gil was the public face of major monetary and financial reforms in 2021 in Cuba, including trying to unify country’s currency system. But Cuba, already affected by an economic crisis and shortage of some products, saw an inflationary spiral.
The highest court said that Gil “abused the powers granted to him” for personal gain, “receiving money from foreign firms and bribing other officials.”
New York
Archdiocese says it’s setting up a $300M fund for abuse victims
NEW YORK (AP) — The Archdiocese of New York on Monday announced it will set up a $300 million fund to compensate victims of sexual abuse who have sued the church.
In a statement, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the archdiocese would pay for the fund by reducing its budget and selling off assets, including completing the sale of its former headquarters in Manhattan, with the goal that the fund “can be set aside to provide compensation to survivors of sexual abuse.”
The archdiocese has also agreed to engage retired Judge Daniel J. Buckley as a mediator between itself and victims to reach a settlement, Dolan said. Buckley had a similar role in negotiations between the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 1,000 people there.
A spokesperson for the archdiocese said church officials hope the fund would cover settlements for most, if not all of the roughly 1,300 outstanding claims against the archdiocese.
Mexico
Former governor expected to face charges for money laundering
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican federal authorities took a former governor of the northern border state of Chihuahua into custody in preparation for charging him with laundering money diverted from state coffers while in office, the Attorney General’s Office said Monday.
Ex-Chihuahua Gov. César Duarte — identified in a statement only as “César N” in keeping with rules over the protecting the identity of the accused — was extradited by the United States three years ago to face state charges of embezzlement and was under house arrest.
Juan Carlos Mendoza Luján, a lawyer representing Duarte, told the newspaper El Heraldo de Chihuahua that Duarte had been detained and that his lawyers were still gathering information, but that his detention appeared unlawful.
Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said a statement Monday posted on X that a suspect was taken into custody for alleged involvement in laundering illicit funds. A federal agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed it was Duarte.
Duarte was Chihuahua’s governor from 2010 to 2016. The 62-year-old, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, travelled to the United States in 2016 with his family to seek medical treatment for an injury he suffered in a helicopter crash.
Mexican prosecutors previously accused Duarte of embezzling nearly $5 million in state funds while governor. U.S. authorities detained Duarte and he was returned to Mexico in 2022.
In June 2024, a Mexican judge granted him house arrest in the embezzlement case, which continues.
In October 2024, Mexico requested U.S. authorization to prosecute Duarte for money laundering, which differed from the charge he was extradited to face. That approval came last week, according to the statement from the Attorney General’s Office.
Wisconsin
Former Trump aides allege judicial misconduct in fake elector case
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former attorney in battleground Wisconsin alleged Monday that a judge presiding over his felony forgery case related to the 2020 election is guilty of misconduct and must step aside.
The attorney and two other former Trump associates charged in relation to their roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme asked that the preliminary hearing in their case set for Dec. 15 be postponed. They also asked that an evidentiary hearing be held by a judge in another county to examine the allegations of wrongdoing.
Details of the alleged misconduct were sealed by the court and not publicly available.
Jim Troupis, who was Trump’s attorney in Wisconsin in the 2020 election, filed the motion one week before he and two others were scheduled to appear for the preliminary hearing in Dane County Circuit Court.
The other two defendants joined Troupis in the motion. They are Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised the campaign, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.
They face 11 felony charges for allegedly using forgery in an attempt to defraud each of the 10 Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020 as part of a plan to submit paperwork falsely claiming that the Republican had won the battleground state that year.
Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to have the defeat overturned. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.
Each of the 11 of the felony charges carries the same maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The case has moved slowly through the Wisconsin courts as the three initially tried to have the charges against them dismissed. Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland dismissed that motion in August. Troupis alleged on Monday that that decision was “the byproduct of misconduct.”
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. According to Troupis’ filing, the state Justice Department objects to postponing the preliminary hearing.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who is running for a third term, brought the charges last year.
In addition to vacating the order to dismiss, Troupis and the two other defendants asked that the preliminary hearing be canceled, all Dane County judges step aside and the entire case be moved to another county.
The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them in 2023.
Federal prosecutors who investigated Trump’s conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, said the fake electors scheme originated in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin complaint details how Troupis, Chesebro and Roman created a document that falsely said Trump had won Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes and then attempted to deliver the document to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The Trump associates have argued that no crime took place. But the judge in August rejected their arguments in allowing the case to proceed.
A judge threw out a similar case in Michigan in September. And last year, a special prosecutor dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Cases related to alleged fake elector schemes remain in Nevada and Georgia but are not near the trial stage.
