News from June 2019
By DOJ Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that five individuals have been sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford for their roles in a prolonged conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine base in Vermont. On June 19, 2019, Joaquin Diaz-Alicea...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution states freedom of religion is a fundamental right; individuals have the right to practice freely the religion of their choice or to practice no religion at all. The law prohibits discrimination based on religion. Practice of Obeah, an Afro-Caribbean belief system with some similarities...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of religion and prohibits discrimination based on religion. The government continued to ban the use of marijuana, including for religious activities, which affects some practitioners of the Rastafarian religion. Civil society sources stated Rastafarians still faced...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of religion and individuals’ right to change, manifest, and propagate the religion of their choosing. Rastafarian community representatives reported their reluctance to use marijuana for religious purposes because marijuana use was illegal and subject to punitive...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution prohibits religious discrimination and protects the right to choose, practice, or change one’s religion. A hate crime law punishes some expressions of disrespect for religious beliefs. The Council of Religious and Life Stance Communities (STL), an umbrella organization for religious ...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: The constitution protects freedom of conscience, including freedom of thought and religion. The criminal code prohibits the publishing and sale of blasphemous language; however, the code is not enforced. The government continued to fund public schools administered by long-established Christian groups,...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution guarantees freedom of religion as well as the right to change one’s religion. It specifies there is no state religion and guarantees equality and freedom for all religious communities. The law prohibits religious discrimination and hate speech. Religious groups, particularly the Serbian ...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of religion and states that all are equal before the law. It prohibits discrimination based on religion. The constitution grants automatic official recognition to the Roman Catholic Church and states that other religious groups may also apply for official recognition...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of religion, with certain exceptions, and protection against governmental discrimination based on creed. In July President Mokgweetsi Masisi said he would begin to permit yearlong visas for missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church of...
By DOJ Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Debra Bluto, 64, of St. Albans Bay, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington following her guilty plea to a charge that she defrauded the Social Security Administration. Chief U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford sentenced Bluto to two years of probation and ordered her to pay restitution totaling $48,000.
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The transitional constitution stipulates separation of religion and state, prohibits religious discrimination, and provides religious groups freedom to worship and assemble, organize themselves, teach, own property, receive financial contributions, communicate and issue publications on religious matters,...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of religious belief. In October a parliamentary committee suspended consideration of a new law on “religious autonomy" after criticism it would put religions above the law. Domestic service workers and caretakers are not covered under the labor standards law and...
By DOJ Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: GREAT FALLS- Wolf Point resident Andrew Preston Martell, who admitted he had been driving drunk when he crashed his vehicle and killed a passenger on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation last October, was sentenced on June 20 to 40 months in prison and to three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: Historical and modern constitutional and legal documents provide for freedom of religious belief and affiliation and prohibit religious discrimination. The law bans public incitement to hostile acts against religious groups. The law divides recognized religious groups into three categories; 16 groups ...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: The constitution provides for the right, individually or jointly with others, to adhere to any religion or to no religion, and to participate in religious customs and ceremonies. The constitution states both that “[t]he citizen shall have the right to participate in the creation of political parties,...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: This section includes Israel, including Jerusalem. In December 2017, the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It is the position of the United States that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties.
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution guarantees all persons religious freedom, including the right to engage in religious ceremonies and acts of worship. Under the constitution, indigenous communities enjoy a protected legal structure allowing them to practice their own particular “uses and customs." The General Directorate...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: The Fundamental Law (constitution) provides for freedom of religion, including freedom to choose, change, or manifest religion or belief, cites “the role of Christianity" in “preserving nationhood," and values “various religious traditions." It prohibits religious discrimination and speech violating...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
Release: The constitution provides for the free exercise of all religions; however, the government officially recognizes only the Roman Catholic Church. It classifies all other religious groups as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or as unregistered religious organizations, according them fewer rights and...
By State Newswire | Jun 21, 2019
News Release: The constitution provides for freedom of religion and prohibits religious organizations from exercising any political authority or receiving privileges from the state. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) reported that in 2017 (latest statistics available) its human rights division received 214 inquiries related...
