[JURIST] A French appeals court Saturday acquitted one of 12 individuals who appealed their convictions [JURIST report] in a 2005 child prostitution case, one of the biggest criminal trials in the country's history [JURIST report]. Sixty-two men and women were initially convicted for offering forty-five children, ranging in age from six months to fifteen years, for sex from 1999 to 2002. The sentences for 11 other defendants were basically confirmed, with one prison term being reduced by one year.

The defendants originally received prison terms ranging from three to 28 years. A man, his son, and his son's ex-girlfriend accused of hosting most of the abuse in Angers in western France received sentences of 28, 18, and 16 years in prison, respectively. Two brothers involved were sentenced to 28 and 26 years in prison. The jury in the case deliberated for over a month. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Shiite head of Iraq's Debaathification Commission [official website] said Friday he would fight a proposed law [JURIST report] allowing former Baath party [BBC backgrounder] members to return to their previously held government positions. Despite provisions in the proposal that would prevent reemployment of former Baathists who have been charged with, or are sought for, criminal activities, Shiite leaders oppose the draft law [JURIST report] as being a "dangerous" undertaking to return former regime members to leadership positions in the government.

In an interview with US-funded Radio Sawa [media website], Falah Hassan Shanshal said: "The reconciliation draft law includes many legal and constitutional violations. We can even say that it is a coup that will bring members of the fascist, Saddamist Baath to power without any justification. Everyone has agreed to stand against it, not only the Sadrist bloc." Supporters of the draft measure are looking for a way to reinstate [JURIST report] former Baath party members who say they joined due to professional reasons since Hussein only allowed university enrollment, career progression and specialized medical aide to those who were members of his party. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] held [PDF] late this week that Arizona may enforce its voter identification law while a non-profit organization challenges the law in federal court. The law, which Arizonans approved in 2004 [JURIST report] as Proposition 200 [PDF], requires voters to show a government-issued ID [AZ Sec. of State materials; JURIST news archive] at the polls. The Ninth Circuit ruling was filed Thursday.

Opponents of the law have called it a “21st century poll tax,” since it requires people to purchase photo ID cards, and have argued that the law places an unconstitutional burden on minority, immigrant and elderly voters. Proponents say it prevents illegal immigrants from casting ballots. Last year, the US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that Arizona could enforce the law at the polls for the November elections, reversing a Ninth Circuit decision rendered earlier that month. AP has more.

[JURIST] A lawyer representing the Venezuelan government said Friday that Venezuela plans to press the United States on its refusal to prosecute or extradite Cuban anti-Castro militant and Venezuelan national Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] on charges that Carriles orchestrated the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Venezuela plans to raise the issue before the United Nations, the Organization of American States [official website], as well as challenge the US in international courts. Jose Pertierra said that Venezuela plans to argue before a UN Security Council counter-terrorism committee that the United States is violating Resolution 1373 [text] by failing to ensure that individuals "who [participated] in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts [are] brought to justice."

On Thursday, Carriles posted a $250,000 bond and was released from a New Mexico jail [JURIST report] following a legal battle over his release. He is still subject to US deportation proceedings. In 2005, Venezuela asked the US to extradite Carriles [JURIST report] to face charges of alleged terrorist acts. An immigration judge ruled that Carriles would not be extradited [JURIST report] to either Venezuela or Cuba due to concerns of potential torture. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez strongly criticized the ruling [JURIST report], characterizing it as "the US government... [deciding] in favor" of a terrorist. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jorge Acosta, president of Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal [official website, in Spanish] confirmed Friday that in a referendum last Sunday an overwhelming majority of voters approved [JURIST report] the convening of a constitutional assembly to rewrite the country's constitution [text, in Spanish]. Acosta said 81.72 percent of voters approved the measure and 12.43 percent voted against; 5.85 percent of ballots were either blank or disqualified. The tribunal will set a date for national elections to elect 130 special assembly members, which will convene for 180 days to draft the new constitution.

Constitutional reforms proposed by President Rafael Correa [official website, in Spanish; BBC profile] to limit the power of an allegedly corrupt Congress [official website, in Spanish] would restrain powerful political parties [JURIST report], increase accountability and set up regional, rather than national, elections. Critics fear that Correa will use the constitutional assembly to expand the power of the presidency. AP has more.

[JURIST] Virgina Tech shooting gunman Seung-Hui Cho was technically prohibited from purchasing firearms after a Virginia court found Cho to be an "imminent danger to himself" in December 2005 and issued an order [text] for Cho to receive psychiatric treatment, the New York Times reported Friday. Under federal law [18 USC 922 (g)(4), text], persons "who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution" are prohibited from possessing or receiving "any firearm or ammunition." US federal firearm regulations [27 CFR 178.11, text] define "adjudicated as a mental defective" to include a determination by a court that the person "is a danger to himself."

Virgina is among 22 states currently submitting mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) [FBI backgrounder], which requires Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to request background checks on individuals attempting to receive a firearm. Despite being the leading state in reporting mental disqualifications, Virginia's state rules on "mental disqualifications to firearms purchase" differs from the federal regulations and only require submission of records of persons who have been "involuntarily committed" or ruled mentally "incapacitated." Legislation seeking to improve NICS enforcement [HR 297 backgrounder] has been introduced in the House of Representatives in the past three terms, but has never become law. The New York Times has more.