[JURIST] Spanish National Court judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] will begin an inquiry into the suspected torture and ill-treatment of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], Spanish media reported [El Pais report] Saturday. The inquiry follows claims made by several Spanish groups - including the Association for the Dignity of Prisoners of Spain, the Free Association of Lawyers, the United Left and the Human Rights Association of Spain [advocacy websites, in Spanish] - about alleged torture, abuse, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees at the facility. The Obama administration has not responded to Garzon's questions regarding the open investigation of detainee abuses at the facility. Garzon's inquiry has focused on Spanish citizen and ex-Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Abderraman Hamed [CNN report], and three others who Garzon has stated have significant connections with Spain. The domestic focus is due to new Spanish laws on the exercise of universal jurisdiction [AI backgrounder; JURIST news archive] passed [JURIST report] by Spain's parliament in November. The new law limits the use of universal jurisdiction to offenses committed by or against Spaniards, or where the perpetrators are in Spain.

Garzon has been known for using universal jurisdiction extensively in the past to bring several high-profile cases, including those against Osama bin Laden and former Latin American dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archives]. In March, he asked prosecutors to examine [JURIST report] the US lawyers reportedly behind the establishment of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, including David Addington, John Yoo [JURIST news archive], and former attorney general Alberto Gonzales [BBC profile]. The case was reassigned [JURIST report] to another judge the following month. The continued inquiry comes as US President Barack Obama prepares to close the detention facility. It was reported [JURIST report] earlier this month that 35 Guantanamo detainees now face trial or military commissions, adding to the five detainees that are already scheduled to be tried in New York for the 9/11 attacks and six detainees who have been chosen to face military tribunals [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Former US Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) [official website] lawyers John Yoo [academic profile; JURIST news archive] and Jay Bybee [academic profile] have been cleared of allegations of wrongdoing in relation to their controversial memos asserting the legality of enhanced interrogation techniques [JURIST news archive], it was reported Friday. The results of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) [official website] investigation of the two former OLC lawyers have yet to be officially released, but the probe is reported [Newsweek report] to have concluded that the lawyers exercised poor judgment in crafting the 2002 memos, a finding that does not qualify as professional misconduct. Originally, the OPR investigation had concluded that Yoo and Bybee had violated their professional obligations in crafting the memos, but this finding was softened by the reviewer. The implications of the original findings would have been far reaching, and could have led to significant sanctions against the former officials. Yoo, now a professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law [official website], could have faced disbarment. Bybee, now a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website], could have faced impeachment proceedings.

A report prepared in the final months of the Bush administration came to similar conclusions, but was returned [Washington Post report] to the OPR for further investigation by then Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The five-year statute of limitations on Yoo's alleged misconduct lapsed shortly after. In June, a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that a private lawsuit against Yoo could proceed. Judge Jeffrey White refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by convicted terrorist Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] that claims Yoo's legal opinions endorsing enhanced interrogation techniques led to Padilla's torture. Yoo has appealed the decision. The ruling was the first time a judge has allowed a lawsuit to proceed against a government lawyer for his opinion in the interrogation memos [JURIST report]. The Department of Justice [official website] in April released four of the memos [JURIST report] from the OLC outlining controversial CIA interrogation techniques and their legal rationale in response to a Freedom of Information Act [text] lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] during the Bush administration.

[JURIST] Hundreds of judges in Italy walked out of their courtrooms Saturday, in protest over judicial reform legislation proposed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The legislation, which has been approved [JURIST report] by the Italian Senate [official website, in Italian], aims to shorten the trial and appeals process by putting strict time limits on its duration. The protests were organized [press release, PDF; in Italian] by the National Magistrates Association (ANM) [official website, in Italian] on Wednesday and took place at ceremonies marking the beginning of the judicial year. Judges all across Italy, including Milan, Naples, Palermo, and Rome, got up and walked out [BBC report] carrying a copy of the Italian Constitution as government officials began to speak. According to the ANM, judges are concerned [press release, PDF; in Italian] that the reforms would act as a de facto amnesty for persons accused of crimes committed prior to May 2, 2006 and would endanger future trials.

The bill [S 1880 materials, in Italian] approved by the Senate would limit the three stages of a case - trial, initial appeal, and final appeal - to between 6.5 and 10 years depending on the crime, and cases that exceed the time limit would end in an automatic acquittal of the defendant. Because of the bill's retroactive effect, two pending corruption cases [JURIST report] against Berlusconi himself would be automatically dismissed. Members of Berlusconi's center-right coalition have defended the bill as a way to speed up [Times report] the slow Italian justice system while his critics have called it an ad personam bill, passed by his allies to help Berlusconi with his legal troubles [Financial Times report]. The bill would become law if it is approved by the lower house Chamber of Deputies and signed by President Giorgio Napolitano [official websites, in Italian].

[JURIST] White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said during an interview [transcript] Sunday on CNN's State of the Union that upon being tried and convicted, alleged 9/11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] would likely be executed. Gibbs stressed that the heinous nature of the crime he is accused of merits such severe punishment. When asked about the increasingly-unclear location of the trial Gibbs said the focus was still to have the trial in New York:

We are talking with the authorities in New York. We understand their logistical concerns and their security concerns that are involved. We have been discussing that with them.

As you know, they were originally supportive of this. We want to see this man tried and brought to justice in the place in which the crime was committed. We will work with them and come to a solution that we think we bring about justice for those that lost loved ones on such a horrific day on 9/11.