Spiralling backlogs mean a shocking 29 cases including violent crimes and drug offences have been scheduled to start as far away as 2030, with victims left waiting at least four years to have their day in court. In total, more than 2,600 Crown Court trials are not due to be heard until 2028, including 206 rape trials.
Ziobro is being investigated on 26 charges, with prosecutors looking into allegations that he ran a criminal group and abused his position through the misuse of resources from a fund designed to help victims of crime. According to Polish media, prosecutors allege that the funds were used for political patronage and to acquire the Pegasus spyware system, allegedly deployed against domestic political rivals. Ziobro denies the allegations.
Hundreds of people from the Alawite religious minority, to which ousted President Bashar al-Assad belonged, were killed in the massacres in March. The violence erupted after attacks on the new government's security forces by armed groups aligned with the deposed autocrat. Counterattacks soon spiralled out of control to target civilians in the coastal regions that host the Alawite population. Seven of the defendants in the court on Tuesday were al-Assad loyalists, while the other seven were members of the new government's security forces.
On a sunny afternoon in Harlem, judges, political figures and community organizers gathered to present the late Franklin H. Williams with a gift for his 108th birthday: the dedication of a street corner just outside the housing complex where he spent much of his life one built in response to segregation he'd help to dismantle in his storied career as a civil rights attorney and diplomat.
Sir Brian Leveson recognizes the sensitivity around any restriction on jury trial, but he weighs it against the real risk of total system collapse in the near future.
