[JURIST] Romanian voters Saturday rejected a referendum proposal to impeach reformist President Traian Basescu [official website, English version; BBC profile]. Basescu was suspended [JURIST report] by the opposition-dominated parliament last month for allegedly abusing his powers.

Earlier this month, the Romanian Constitutional Court [official website] upheld an opposition-sponsored bill [JURIST report] making it easier to remove the president by reducing the number of popular votes required for impeachment. Basescu, who was elected in December 2004 and has targeted corruption, is the most popular politician in Romania. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] was transferred [US DOD press release] to a maximum security prison near his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia Sunday to serve the remainder of his nine-month prison sentence. In March, a US military commission [JURIST news archive] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] recommended sentencing Hicks to seven years in prison, but all but nine months of that were effectively suspended by a military judge [JURIST report] under the terms of a plea agreement [JURIST document] kept secret from the panel of military officers during its deliberations.

Hicks has spent more than five years in US custody since being captured in Afghanistan. Under the plea agreement, Hicks was required to state that he "has never been illegally treated" while being held as an enemy combatant by the United States and that his detention was lawful pursuant to the laws of armed conflict. Hicks is also prohibited from having contact with the media for a period of one year, is to not take any legal action against the United States for his treatment during his 5 year detention, and is required to turn over any profits from an eventual sale of his story to the Australian government. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) [official website] will release 226 inmates from its juvenile prison system after an investigation revealed that their sentences were improperly extended. Commission Special Master Jay Kimbrough, appointed [press release] early this month by Texas Gov. Rick Perry [official profile] to investigate the TYC, formed a six-member panel in March to review extended sentences [JURIST report] after inmate advocates and their families complained that sentences are extended in retaliation for filing grievances.

Kimbrough said the other inmates' sentences will be reviewed on a regular basis. He is also investigating physical and sexual abuse allegations [JURIST report] at commission facilities. AP has more.