[JURIST] The upper house of the Austrian parliament [official website, in German] Thursday voted 151-27 [press materials, in German] to approve the EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], formally known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text]. The treaty now goes to Austrian President Heinz Fischer for signature. Also Thursday, the Danish national parliament [official website, in Danish] voted 90-25 to approve the document, while the upper house of the Czech parliament voted to delay its vote on the treaty until the country's constitutional court can rule on whether it is consistent with Czech law. The lower house of the German parliament also voted to approve the treaty [JURIST report].

Leaders from the 27 countries that make up the European Union signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] in December, but all member countries must ratify the document before it can take effect. Eight countries, including Slovakia, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, and Slovenia [JURIST reports] have ratified the reform treaty so far. BBC News has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Myanmar voters will be permitted to observe ballot counting in a scheduled May national referendum [JURIST report] on a draft constitution [JURIST news archive] put forth by the country's ruling junta, according to Thursday state media reports. Government officials said that this would ensure that the referendum was fair, but opposition groups like the National League for Democracy (NLD) have expressed skepticism and urged citizens to reject [JURIST report] the proposed constitution, labeling the referendum a "sham" to legalize military rule. The draft constitution reportedly reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military [AP report; JURIST report] and would also block pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] from seeking office. AP has more.

Myanmar [JURIST news archive] has been governed without a constitution since the military regime took power in 1988 and talks on a new national charter [JURIST report] have been underway for 14 years. The last general elections in Myanmar were held in 1990. The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won that election easily, but the ruling military government did not recognize the result and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest.

[JURIST] Officials from the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] said Thursday that the court expects to complete an investigation into former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav [TrialWatch profile], also known as Duch, by July. In a statement [PDF text], the court said:

Indeed, the [Co-Investigating Judges] intend to notify the parties that they have finished their investigations in the first case file in early May 2008 (this is the formal notification under Rule 66(1) of the Internal Rules). Thereafter, the CIJ will work towards issuing a formal Closing Order relating to Duch in early July 2008 on whether and, if so on what charges, to send Duch forward for trial. However, the procedures between early May and final closure in July 2008 do not depend on the CIJ, but rather on the exercise by the parties of their procedural rights. The CIJ have therefore taken certain initiatives to ensure that all parties understand the projected proceedings and timetable, and work in the same direction to maintain the objective of closure in July 2008.

On that basis, it is hoped that any trial of Duch on charges raised in the Co-Prosecutors' Initial Submissions could commence at the beginning of the last quarter of 2008.

[JURIST] Indonesian police Thursday arrested a fourth man suspected of involvement in February assassination attempts against East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao [BBC profiles]. Last week, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that police had arrested three other suspects in the attacks. Last month, another suspect in the assassination attempt surrendered [JURIST report] to East Timorese authorities; an additional four suspects [ABC Australia report] surrendered shortly thereafter.

Horta was critically wounded and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed during the attacks, but Gusmao escaped unharmed. The National Parliament of East Timor [official website] subsequently declared a national state of emergency [AP report], prohibiting public gatherings and establishing a curfew. The parliament initially extended the state of emergency for one month [JURIST report] at the end of February, but extended it further [JURIST report] late last month, saying some parts of the country remained unstable following the assassination attempts. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Taiwan [official website] Thursday upheld a December 2007 ruling [JURIST report] by the Taiwan High Court acquitting Taiwanese President-elect Ma Ying-jeou [personal website, in Chinese] on graft charges. Prosecutors had filed an appeal [JURIST report] of the High Court decision, asking the Supreme Court to clarify the legality of the Taiwanese system that allows high-ranking public officials access to special funds. Ma had denied wrong-doing [JURIST report], arguing that the practice was legitimate because he used the money to fund municipal events and pay city employees.

In August 2007, Ma was acquitted by the lower court on charges [JURIST reports] that he diverted $333,000 of public money into his private back account. Prosecutors appealed the verdict and brought an additional breach of trust charge against Ma, but were unsuccessful in both efforts. Ma is due to take office next month. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The German Bundestag [official website, in German], the lower house of parliament, voted 515-58 [press materials, in German] Thursday to approve the EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], formally known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text]. The upper house is expected to ratify the treaty next month.

Leaders from the 27 countries that make up the European Union signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] in December, but all member countries must ratify the document before it can take effect. At least eight countries, including Slovakia, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, and Slovenia [JURIST reports] have ratified the reform treaty so far. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Georgia court has scheduled the execution [press release] of a convicted killer after the US Supreme Court last week upheld Kentucky's lethal injection protocol [JURIST report], ending a de facto national moratorium on the death penalty. William Earl Lynd, who was convicted of the 1988 murder of his girlfriend, is scheduled to be executed during on May 6, according to Wednesday media reports. If the execution takes place as scheduled, it will be the first execution since the Supreme Court's ruling. Reuters has more. AP has additional coverage.

In September 2007, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Baze v. Rees [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], allowing it to consider whether the three-drug lethal injection cocktail [DPIC backgrounder] used in most states violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. This led to an effective moratorium [JURIST report] on the death penalty in the United States as many federal courts, state courts, and state governors put executions on hold pending the high court's ruling. Several other US states have already announced that they will resume executions by lethal injection [JURIST report]. The Georgia Supreme Court had previously stayed the execution of another condemned inmate [JURIST report] while Baze v. Rees was pending before the US Supreme Court.

[JURIST] The High Court in London ruled [text] Thursday that the British Treasury Department [official website] may not freeze the assets of suspected terrorists without going through Parliament first. Five UK terror suspects who had their assets frozen [BBC report] pursuant to two Orders in Council [backgrounder], the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2006 and the Al Qaeda and Taliban (United Nations Measures] Order 2006 [texts], challenged the financial sanctions.

The Orders implemented for the UK UN resolutions requiring UN member states to freeze the assets of people on a UN list of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban associates [materials]. The High Court rejected the Orders because they were not subject to parliamentary scrutiny before they came into force. BBC News has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Former White House advisor Karl Rove [official profile] was allegedly involved in a 2004 scheme to have Chicago-based US Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald [official website] fired, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday. According to the prosecutor, a witness at the corruption trial of political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko [Chicago Tribune backgrounder] will testify that Rove, Rezko and Republican national committee chairman Robert Kjellander had conversations about removing Fitzgerald from his job.

Rezko faces charges of using his position with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration to launch a $7 million kickback scheme. At the time of the alleged conversations, Fitzgerald had been appointed as Special Counsel in the CIA leak investigation [JURIST news archive]. The Bush administration came under fire last year for the firings of eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive] for alleged political reasons, and the ensuing scandal was one factor contributing to the resignation [JURIST report] of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. CBS News has more.

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[JURIST] The trial of former Saddam Hussein-era Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and six others will begin next week, an Iraqi judicial official said Wednesday. The seven former officials face charges related to the 1992 execution of 42 merchants accused by Hussein's government of causing a sharp increase in food prices at a time when the United Nations had placed Iraq under strict sanctions. Judge Raouf Abdul-Rahman [BBC profile], who presided over Hussein's 2006 trial [JURIST news archive] and sentenced Hussein to death [JURIST report], will preside over the trial of Aziz and his co-defendants. AP has more.

Last July, Aziz threatened to go on a hunger strike [JURIST report] if Iraqi authorities did not allow Aziz's preferred lawyer, Badih Aref Izzat, to enter Iraq and be present during interrogations. Aziz has had several health problems [JURIST report] while in US and Iraqi custody, the most recent of which took him to a US military Hospital last July. In March 2007, Aziz was brought before the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] to testify against six defendants accused of genocide in the Anfal trial [BBC trial timeline; JURIST news archive]. He instead denied [JURIST report] that Hussein's government had ever carried out any attacks.

[JURIST] A federal judge has ruled [PDF text] that a school district in Louisiana must stop allowing the distribution of Bibles in schools, saying that the distribution is "a religious activity without a secular purpose" in violation of the First Amendment. The Tangipahoa Parish School System [official website] allowed The Gideons International to visit one of the district's schools to distribute Bibles in May 2007. The Bibles were not distributed in classrooms and students were not required to take a Bible, but US District Judge Carl J. Barbier ruled Tuesday that:

this Court determines that the distribution of Bibles was ultimately coercive as Jane was pressured to accept a Bible in violation of Lee; that distribution of Bibles is a religious activity without a secular purpose in violation of Lemon; and that the distribution by the Gideons amounted to promotion of Christianity by the School Board in violation of County of Allegheny. As a result, the distribution of Gideon Bibles to elementary school children at Loranger Middle School violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, specifically, the Establishment Clause.