Appeals court blocks detainees' release
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A U.S. appellate court in Washington Wednesday temporarily stopped the impending release of 17 Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay for the past seven years.
A U.S. District Court judge Tuesday had ordered the detainees be freed into the United States by Friday. But U.S. prosecutors were successful in halting their release for at least eight days while pursuing a full appeal.
In granting the government's request for an emergency stay, the appellate panel said it's action "should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion."
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse had said earlier that the district court's order releasing the prisoners "presents serious national security and separation of powers concerns, and raises unprecedented legal issues."
The United States no longer considers the 17 Uighurs "enemy combatants," so they should be released because they haven't been charged, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said.
The men were to have been freed by Friday pending a hearing Oct. 16 to determine the conditions of their release. Roehrkasse said the government considered it inappropriate that they be released with "no supervision
Russian troops withdraw from Georgia
TBILISI, Georgia, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Russia says it has completed its withdrawal of its peacekeepers from a buffer zone near South Ossetia on Wednesday, an official said.
The Russian military completed its withdrawal two days ahead of the agreed deadline, RIA Novosti reported.
"The last convoy of arms and military equipment crossed the border at 8:30 p.m. Moscow time the convoy was escorted by OSCE representatives," said Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov, commander of the Russian peacekeepers in the region.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reached an agreement last month that Russia would withdraw from undisputed parts of Georgia not more than 10 days after the European Union deployed at least 200 observers in the buffer zones near South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The European Union observers were deployed Oct. 1, the Russian news service reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the BBC that officials think the EU monitors would ensure security in the buffer zones.
"This is a European Union matter," Lavrov told the British broadcaster. "We trust them."
However, Lavrov said the monitors wouldn't be allowed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where Russia would maintain a force of 8,000 troops, the BBC said.
In Georgia, the commander of Russian troops said the withdrawal from all six checkpoints would be completed quickly.
Ukraine Parliament dissolved, election set
KIEV, Ukraine, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Ukrainians will go to the polls for the third time in less than three years after President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved parliament Wednesday evening.
Yushchenko took the action after members of the Supreme Rada were unable to formulate a new ruling coalition, RIA Novosti reported. The announcement came in the form of a prerecorded speech on national television while Yushchenko was in Italy, the Russian news agency said.
No date was set for the snap national elections.
"In conformity with the constitution, I am announcing the termination of the Supreme Rada's powers and the holding of parliamentary elections," the president said in his address. "The vote will take place in a democratic and lawful fashion."
The September collapse of the pro-Western ruling coalition, he said, was the fault of Prime Minster Yulia Tymoshenko.
Sharpton guilty in raucous Bell protest
NEW YORK, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton was convicted of disorderly conduct Wednesday for his role in protests following acquittals in the police shooting of an unarmed black man.
Sharpton and seven others were each sentenced to time served and ordered to pay a $95 surcharge by a New York judge, MNBC-TV reported. In Sharpton's case, time served amounted to 5 1/2 hours.
The protesters had snarled traffic by clogging intersections, bridges and tunnels to express their anger over the death of Sean Bell, who was shot outside a strip club hours before his wedding. Two of his friends were seriously wounded.
Criminal Court Judge Larry Stephen said he was "of course sympathetic to the underlying issues which gave rise to the protests and demonstrations" but admonished them for breaking the law.
"If you decide to take a bullet for the team, you should not complain about the consequences that flow from that," the judge said.
About 250 people were arrested last spring after three police officers charged in Bell's death were acquitted.
"I would hope the city thinks about how the pedestrians who couldn't walk and the drivers who couldn't drive were no different than the young men who sat in the car that night and were shot at," Sharpton told the judge.
