SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has rejected a request by Alec Baldwin to dismiss the sole criminal charge against him in a fatal shooting on the set of the movie “Rust,” keeping the case on track for a trial this summer.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Friday upheld an indictment charging Baldwin with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021. The judge rejected defense arguments that prosecutors flouted the rules of grand jury proceedings to divert attention away from exculpatory evidence and witnesses.

Special prosecutors have denied accusations that the grand jury proceedings were marred and say Baldwin made “shameless” attempts to escape culpability, highlighting contradictions in his statements to law enforcement, to workplace safety regulators and in a televised interview.

Friday’s decision removes one of the last hurdles for prosecutors to put Baldwin on trial in July.

“We look forward to our day in court,” defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in an email.

During a rehearsal on the set of the Western film, Baldwin pointed a gun at Hutchins when the revolver went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin has maintained that he pulled back the gun’s hammer but not the trigger.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 1.5 years in prison.

Marlowe Sommer rejected arguments that prosecutors acted in “bad faith” after reviewing transcripts of the January grand jury proceedings, noting that prosecutors are not required to present exculpatory evidence.

“New Mexico law does not require a prosecutor to present exculpatory evidence to a grand jury, or require a grand jury to even consider exculpatory evidence after alerted to its existence,” the judge wrote.

She acknowledged that some questions by grand jurors were deferred to a hired expert witness for the prosecution, but she said that didn’t prevent the jury from making an independent determination in charging Baldwin.

Court arguments last week on the motion to dismiss stretched for more than two hours, as defense attorneys for Baldwin accused prosecutors of cutting off questions from grand jurors and making little or no effort to communicate with defense witnesses in case they were called upon. Detailed records of the grand jury proceedings are not open to the public.

Lead special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said she ensured jurors had questions answered by witnesses with relevant experience and that the grand jury was shown that it had access to boxes of evidence supplied by the defense. Baldwin did not appear at the hearing.

Prosecutors last year dismissed an earlier involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin after being told the gun he was holding might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. A new analysis of the gun last year enabled prosecutors to reboot the case.

Prosecutors have turned their full attention to Baldwin after a judge in April sentenced movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to the maximum of 1.5 years at a state penitentiary on an involuntary manslaughter conviction for Hutchins’ death.

The two-week trial of Gutierrez-Reed gave attorneys for Baldwin and the public a unusual window into how the actor’s own trial could unfold.

Baldwin figured prominently in testimony and closing arguments that highlighted his authority as a co-producer and the lead actor on “Rust.” Both the prosecution and defense in Gutierrez-Reed’s trial dissected video footage of Baldwin before the fatal shooting for clues about breakdowns in firearms safety.

Prosecutors said Gutierrez-Reed unwittingly brought live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and failed to follow basic gun safety protocols. Gutierrez-Reed is appealing her conviction but hasn’t yet filed detailed arguments.

A Paris court sentenced three high-ranking Syrian officials in absentia to life in prison Friday for complicity in war crimes in a landmark case against the regime of Syria’s President Bashar Assad and the first such case in Europe.

The trial focused on the officials’ role in the alleged arrest, torture and killing in 2013 in Damascus of Mazen Dabbagh, a Franco-Syrian father, and his son Patrick. The four-day trial featured harrowing testimonies from survivors and searing accounts from Mazen’s brother.

FRANCE IS TRYING SYRIAN EX-OFFICIALS FOR THE TORTURE AND KILLING OF A FATHER AND SON. HERE’S WHY

Though the verdict was cathartic for plaintiffs, France and Syria do not have an extradition treaty, making the outcome largely symbolic. International arrest warrants for the three former Syrian intelligence officials — Ali Mamlouk, Jamil Hassan, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud — have been issued since 2018 to no avail.

They are the most senior Syrian officials to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country’s civil war.

The court proceedings came as Assad has started to shed his longtime status as a pariah that stemmed from the violence unleashed on his opponents. Human rights groups involved in the case hoped it would refocus attention on alleged atrocities.

Clémence Bectarte, the Dabbagh family lawyer from the International Federation for Human Rights, said the verdict was the “first recognition in France of the crimes against humanity of the Syrian regime.”

“It is a message of hope for all Syrian victims who are waiting for justice. It is a message that must be addressed to states so that they do not normalize their relations with the regime of Bashar al-Assad,” she said.

The trial began Tuesday over the alleged torture and killing of the French-Syrian father and son who were arrested at the height of Arab Spring-inspired anti-government protests. The two were arrested in Damascus following a crackdown on demonstrations that later turned into a brutal civil war, now in its 14th year.

The probe into their disappearance started in 2015 when Obeida Dabbagh, Mazen’s brother, testified to investigators already examining war crimes in Syria.

Obeida Dabbagh and his wife, Hanane, are parties to the trial along with non-governmental organizations. They testified in court on Thursday, the third day of the trial.

Obeida Dabbagh said he hoped the trial would set a precedent for holding Assad accountable. “Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died. Even today, some live in fear and terror,” he said.

Despite the defendants’ absence, the trial’s significance was underscored by Brigitte Herremans, a senior researcher at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. “It’s very important that perpetrators from the regime side are held accountable, even if it’s mainly symbolic. It means a lot for the fight against impunity,” she said.

This week, we witnessed deep divisions between EU member states over the ongoing conflict in the Middle East – once again.

The reason was the decision by the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and his defence chief as well as against three Hamas leaders.

Reactions ranged from welcoming the Court’s decision — in Belgium, France and Slovenia — to rebuking it in various forms — Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

The disunity was also on display when Ireland and Spain together with Norway moved to recognise Palestine as an independent state – something that had been discussed for quite a while.

“Quite frankly, because we must keep the hope, the dream and the destination of a two-state solution alive at a time when, sadly, others are working to undermine that,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris told Euronews.

“Ireland would have much preferred to have done this as part of a peace process. But we can’t wait forever. It’s an awful long time, many decades, since the Oslo Accords.”

Ukraine air defence

There is more European unity regarding Ukraine – on the surface. But when it comes to arms shipments, action hasn’t always matched words.

Western allies are taking too long to make key decisions, Ukraine complained, at a time when Russia seems to be stepping up its offensive in the north-east.

In the face of relentless Russian attacks, Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, during a visit to Kyiv, warned that the country needed to boost its air defences – with Western help.

“Some of the rockets and missiles could be brought down by air defence, but obviously not all of them. And this is why I am calling worldwide to increase the air defence support.”

Moldova’s EU future

Watching the war very closely is Moldova, a country sandwiched between EU and NATO member Romania, and Ukraine.

The former Soviet republic has long been defying warnings from Moscow that closer Western integration could see it face Ukraine’s fate.

Nonetheless, Moldova signed a defence partnership with Brussels this week, a step designed to tie the country closer to the EU. The country is a candidate to join the bloc and formal talks are expected to begin next month.

For more on this, we spoke to Daniela Vidaicu, executive director of the Moldova Soros Foundation.

Euronews: So, how significant are the EU accession talks for the Moldovan public, how do people see EU membership?

Vidaicu: Well, the upcoming inter-governmental conference to be held in the nearest future is the most important political event for the pro-European Moldovan population. (…) Moldova is an inclusive society, it managed to achieve very good milestones in implementing national and domestic reforms so that the country and the society is transformed. And the negotiations should really move forward to be irreversible. For Moldovans, as you ask, both for those who are living in the country, but also for those that are living abroad in EU member states (and) holding already European citizenship, the European integration of Moldova is very important as a development plan and the most, probably, important strategic plan since its independence.

Euronews: We hear a lot about Russian disinformation – tell us what’s happening?

Vidaicu: Well, unfortunately, Moldova is one of the most affected European countries by Russian propaganda, which is very much coordinated by the Russian parties, the Russian media, the Russian social networks and influencers. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moldova started to face a very complicated, complex and aggressive hybrid war that undermines its development, its social cohesion, independence and security. And the goal actually is to increase the population polarisation and scepticism towards the European integration of the country and to keep the country under the Russian control, actually. So, the fake news, the disinformation, the Russian manipulation and interference target social or economic or political Moldovan vulnerabilities to keep the country in poverty and to undermine the European development of the country.

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Euronews: There is a constitutional referendum coming up, there will be elections in October – how are these campaigns going, and to what extent is the EU part of the debate?

Vidaicu: Yes, indeed. In October 2024, Moldova is going to host two important electoral events. Both events are considered to be very relevant and very crucial for the Moldovan future and are going to happen on the same day. We have the pro-European government and the president, who announced his intention to run for the second mandate, civil society and media who are supporting the European integration. And we have the pro-Russian parties and Russian media that are trying to convince the population not to go to the referendum, to boycott the referendum or to vote against the referendum.

June 1944 – June 2024

In a few weeks, the Allies will mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, that were the beginning of World War II and the liberation of Europe from the Nazis.

As a tribute to the fallen and to surviving veterans the British Royal Mint unveiled a commemorative coin depicting soldiers disembarking from a landing craft.

More than two million soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and other people from a dozen countries were involved in Operation Overlord.

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And nearly 160,000 troops hit the codenamed beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword on June 6th, 1944.

A few days ago, to mark the coin’s release, its design was recreated in Normandy – on Gold Beach. Quite appropriate.

At 35 meters across, the sand art served as a reminder of the bravery and sacrifices of allied troops – for a few days.

The coin, on the other hand, is permanent.