Press review – Week of 26 December 2022

In this week's news, there are several important events in criminal law. First, the criminal Charles Sobhraj, otherwise known as "Snake", has been released by decision of the Supreme Court of Nepal. Second, the Committee against Torture of the United Nations (UN) was asked by the lawyer of Sebastien Raoult, a French student arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud and electronic abuse, to prevent his extradition to the United States. Third, in Burma, the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced by a junta court to seven years in prison for corruption, bringing her total sentence to 33 years, during a highly criticized trial. Finally, on the arbitration side, the French Supreme Court ruled that the Paris Court of Appeal had violated article 1520-1° of the Code of civil procedure for quashing an arbitration award between a Ukrainian bank and the Russian Federation.

In Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison

On Friday, 30 December, Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced by a junta court to seven years in prison for corruption. This sentence is in addition to the previous sentences for which she has been convicted since the beginning of the legal proceedings in June 2021, bringing the total sentence to thirty-three years. The 18-month trial has been described as a mock trial by human rights groups. > Read article

Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal and role of the judge

The French Supreme Court considered that the Paris Court of Appeal had violated article 1520-1° of the French Code of Civil Procedure by quashing an arbitral award between a Ukrainian bank and the Russian Federation. Indeed, as the arbitration offer provided for by the investment treaty did not include any temporal restriction, the judge had only observe that the dispute took place after the entry into force of the treaty.>Read article

After nineteen years in the jails of Kathmandu, Nepal, “the Snake” has been released

Charles Sobhraj, 78, otherwise known as the “Snake”, was released on 23 December by decision of the Supreme Court of Nepal, after 19 years in prison. Popularized by the Netflix series “The Snake”, this French citizen has almost served his 20-year sentence for the murder of two North American tourists, although he is in fact suspected of killing more than a dozen young Western travelers in Thailand, India and Nepal in the 1970s and 1980s. > Read article

Sébastien Raoult: the lawyer of the French student detained in Morocco has referred his case to the UN Committee against Torture

This Wednesday, 28 December, Philippe Ohayon, lawyer of Sebastien Raoult, a French student arrested in Morocco and accused of conspiracy to commit fraud and electronic abuse, referred the case to the Committee against Torture of the United Nations (UN). After the Moroccan justice system approved the extradition of Sebastien Raoult to the United States, the young man’s lawyer appealed to the Committee to suspend the transfer on the basis of several recent extraditions granted by Morocco that were blocked by the UN body, which considers that Moroccan law does not allow sufficient control against the risk of inhuman and degrading treatment. > Read article