Seeking justice for disappeared people

THE first legal challenge to prevent British prime minister Boris Johnson from suspending parliament amid the UK’S Brexit crisis was delayed in a Scottish court yesterday.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh refused to take immediate legal action to prevent Johnson from suspending parliament for several weeks during part of the period before the Brexit deadline of October 31.

Judge Raymond Doherty said a full hearing on the case would be heard on Tuesday, raising the prospect that the government’s move could still be blocked. He said there was no need for an immediate injunction because a “substantive” hearing on the case would be heard next week.

The full hearing had been set for September 6, but was moved up.

Law professor Nick Mckerrell at Glasgow Caledonian University said the decision to speed up the hearing may be significant because it indicates the matter is being treated with urgency. “This is not the end of the matter,” he said after the judge declined to take immediate action.

The case was brought by a crossparty group of legislators seeking to broaden the period for parliamentary debate in a bid to prevent a disorderly departure by Britain from the EU.

Two other legal cases are in progress, in Northern Ireland and London. Former prime minister John Major said yesterday he was seeking to join the case in London to argue against suspension. “If granted permission to intervene, I intend to seek to assist the court from the perspective of having served in government as a minister and prime minister and also in parliament for many years as a member of the House of Commons,” he said.

Major is an outspoken critic of Brexit and had vowed to intervene legally if Johnson sought to prevent parliamentary debate on the issue.

The legal skirmishes are designed to prevent Johnson from substantially shortening the amount of time parliament will be given to enact legislation that might prevent a “no deal” Brexit, which many economists believe would damage Britain’s economy.

The prime minister warned that opposition to his plans is weakening Britain’s negotiating position by giving EU leaders the impression that parliament may step in to block Brexit.

“The more our friends and partners think, at the back of their mind, that Brexit could be stopped, that the UK could be kept in by parliament, the less likely they are to give us the deal we need,” Johnson told Sky News. | AP ANA PEOPLE in many parts of the world observed International Day of the Disappeared yesterday, paying tribute to and seeking justice for those who have gone missing in conflict, wars, in cases of human rights violations and even migrants who are unaccounted for.

In Pristina, hundreds of people marched, putting pressure on Serbia to resolve the fate of more than 1600 people missing since the Yugoslav Wars 20 years ago.

The Albanian majority in the former Serbian province rebelled for independence in 1998, triggering a heavy-handed response by Belgrade’s forces, which eventually drew the West into action.

A Nato bombing campaign of Serbia forced Belgrade to pull out in 1999.

Although 20 years have passed, 1653 people are still missing – mostly Albanians, but also Serbs.

Similar protests were held in Bosnia and Croatia, both of which had to fight for independence from the former Yugoslavia.

The fate of about 10 000 people gone missing, mostly in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, remains unresolved largely due to the lacking political will of enemies from all sides and further strained ties. | dpa ANA