[JURIST] Irish President Mary McAleese [official website] on Thursday signed the European Union (EU) reform treaty, known as the Treaty of Lisbon [EU materials; JURIST news archive], completing the country's ratification process. Ireland has become the 26th nation to ratify the treaty, leaving the Czech Republic as the only one of the 27 member nations that has not yet done so. Irish voters approved the treaty [JURIST report] in a second referendum vote held earlier this month after the EU offered guarantees on representation, national sovereignty, and other legal matters. Ireland was the only member state to constitutionally require a voter referendum in order to ratify the treaty.

After the treaty was approved by Irish voters, Polish President Lech Kaczynski [official website] ratified [JURIST report] the document. Last week, the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic [official website, in Czech] announced that it will hold a public hearing [JURIST report] on October 27 regarding a challenge to the country's signing of the treaty. EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso [official website] urged [press release] the Czech Republic to sign the treaty and not raise artificial objections, saying it would be "completely absurd" to reopen the ratification process in the other member states.

[JURIST] The Spanish Congress of Deputies [official website, in Spanish] on Thursday gave final approval [press release, in Spanish] to a law limiting use of the country's universal jurisdiction [AI backgrounder; JURIST news archive] statute to those offenses committed by or against Spaniards, or where the perpetrators are in Spain. The measure, which was approved [El Pais report, in Spanish] by a vote of 319-5 with three abstentions, enjoyed support from the opposition Popular Party (PP) as well as the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) [party websites, in Spanish], echoing a non-binding resolution [JURIST report] passed by the Congress in May. The legislation was approved [JURIST report] by the lower house in June and then amended in the Senate [official website, in Spanish]. The new law, which will take effect the day after it is published in the official gazette, will only apply prospectively, allowing cases currently being heard under universal jurisdiction to proceed, including investigations of Israeli actions in Gaza in 2002, detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay and allegations of war crimes and genocide in Rwanda, Tibet, Guatemala, and China [JURIST reports]

Spain's current statute allows the exercise of universal jurisdiction over foreign torture, terrorism and war crimes if the case is not subject to the legal system of the country involved, regardless of its connection to Spain. In June, human rights groups urged [JURIST report] the Spanish government to continue the broad exercise of universal jurisdiction, while some countries, including Israel [Haaretz report], have argued [JURIST report] for changes to the practice. Universal jurisdiction has been used by prominent Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon [JURIST news archive] to bring several high-profile cases, including those against Osama bin Laden and former Latin American dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archives].

[JURIST] A French court on Thursday ruled that a woman cannot recover semen samples donated by her husband prior to his death. The High Court in the Western city of Rennes said that Fabienne Justel could not take [AFP report] her husband's sperm abroad to be used in an artificial insemination because it runs counter to a French law that prohibits the procedure after divorce, separation, or death of one partner. Justel said that her husband donated the sample after being diagnosed with terminal cancer with the intention of allowing her to fulfill their dream of having a child together, and should therefore be allowed access to the sample. The government argued that the terms of the contract between Justel's husband and the fertility center explicitly required his presence and approval before his sample could be released. She plans to appeal [Le Monde report, in French] the ruling.

In March, a New York appeals court denied [JURIST report] the parents of a deceased donor access to a semen sample that he donated prior to undergoing cancer treatment. In October 2006, the court initially denied the motion [opinion, PDF] for preliminary injunction and declared that the parents of Mark Speranza had no legal right to semen specimens because they were not part of Mark's estate.

[JURIST] The New South Wales Supreme Court [official website] on Friday convicted five men were of conspiracy to do acts in preparation of terrorist attacks. The men, who cannot be named publicly [ABC report] due to other ongoing trials, were found guilty of having stockpiled ammunition and bomb-making materials in order to conduct a terrorist attack on an unspecified location [Australian report] to protest Australia's military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Four co-conspirators had previously pleaded guilty [ABC report] to related charges, although this information was kept from the jury [Australian report] during the trial. The five face a maximum of life in prison [Reuters report] when they are sentenced on December 14.

The jury returned the convictions after deliberating for 23 days [UPI report], hearing from 300 witnesses and examining 3,000 exhibits which included 30 days of video surveillance [ABC report] and 18 hours of taped phone calls. The men were arrested [ABC report] in a series of raids in 2005. In August, another group of men was arrested [UPI report] in Sydney, accused of plotting to attack an Australian army base. The raids were made public by the Australian prior to being carried out, which has led to a corruption investigation, and possible charges [The Age report] against a Victoria detective.

[JURIST] Assistant US Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez [official profile] said Wednesday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] is committed to fighting discrimination against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation. One tool Perez indicated would be useful in this new endeavor is the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, currently under consideration in the House of Representatives [HR 3017 materials] and the Senate [S 1584 materials; JURIST report]. Perez also referenced a bill [HR 2647 materials] passed [JURIST report] recently by the House that would expand the federal hate crimes definition to include crimes based on sexual orientation. That bill will now go before the Senate. This new commitment [AP report] by the DOJ comes just days after President Barack Obama remarked [JURIST report] during a speech [text] to the Human Rights Campaign that, "[m]y expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians - whether in the office or on the battlefield."

While his election was hailed by many as the spark needed to bring about equality based on sexual orientation, to many, Obama's actions have not matched his promises [Houston Chronicle column]. In that same speech, Obama reiterated his campaign promise to end the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' [text] policy that prevents homosexuals from serving openly in the armed forces, but the administration has yet to take any action to further that goal. Support has grown for repeal of the policy, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari [JURIST report] on a claim that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' violates equal protection and substantive due process. In the wake of that denial, the Senate Armed Services Committee declared that it would hold hearings on the issue [JURIST report] this fall.

[JURIST] A Russian historian who was researching his country's treatment of German prisoners of war during World War II was charged on Thursday with violating privacy laws. Mikhail Suprun was in the process of conducting research on the hardships faced [HistoryNet backgrounder] by captured German soldiers and civilians held at prisons in Arkhangelsk, northeast of St. Petersburg, when he was detained last month [Barents Observer report]. Under the Constitution of the Russian Federation [materials], privacy rights are protected through two provisions in chapter two, Articles 23 and 24, and it appears that Russian authorities are basing the charges on Suprun's violation of the privacy rights of Soviet citizens of German heritage [AFP report] who were held at Arkhangelsk. If convicted, Suprun faces up to four years in prison [Guardian report].

Many critics believe that Suprun's arrest is the latest in a series of acts by the Russian government meant to rehabilitate the image of the Soviet Union. Earlier this week, a Russian court rejected a libel suit [BBC report] brought by Stalin's grandson Yevgeny Dzhugashvili against the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta for a report that Stalin order the death of Soviet citizens. In September, critics of this rehabilitation expressed outrage when a renovated Moscow train station was unveiled with inscriptions praising Stalin [CNN report]. Dzhugashvili may have been partly prompted to bring the suit based on the results of a controversial December 2008 poll in which Russians voted his grandfather the third most popular Russian [BBC report] in history, a result criticized by many.