The outcome of Sunday's referendum, if officially confirmed, will mean that the legislature will not be able to redefine marriage to expand rights to same-sex couples for at least a year.

Slovenian law prohibit adoption of legislation which runs contrary to the wishes of the people as expressed in a referendum for a period of 12 months after the popular vote.

The ban is loosely defined and permits various interpretations, but in the case of Sunday's referendum it is understood to mean that redefinition of marriage to include gay couples will not be possible in this period.

Even if attempts are made in another law to secure equal rights for same-sex couples, the ban effectively means that "legislation which would interfere with the vote cannot be adopted for the next year", head of the government legal service Ksenija Mihovar Globokar said.

With the redefinition of marriage impacting on as many as 70 laws indirectly, there is wiggle room for legislating certain rights for same-sex couples in other laws in this period.

But this would fall short of gay marriage and full equality for which gay groups have fought for and which the proponents of the defeated law had wanted to secure.

Slovenia has already enacted civil unions for same-sex couples, but this does not provide for many of the rights afforded to married couples, including on inheritance and visitation rights.

The outcome has been received with announcements of fresh attempts to legislate the issue, including from the no camp, whose representatives indicated that expanding rights associated with civil unions would be the goal.

Some parties who had been part of the pro camp also announced a new attempt to legislate marriage equality, but did not specify how they would try to achieve that.

A few legal experts have questioned the legislative provision banning the adoption of laws running contrary to the will of the people expressed in referenda for a year.

Such a ban had been removed from the Constitution as part of amendments adopted in 2013 and critics say a similar provision contained in referendum legislation may no longer be Constitutional as a result.

The legal quandary regarding rights of same-sex couples may not stop there, given that the Constitutional Court has found provisions of current legislation dealing with the rights of gay couples unconstitutional and demanded fixes.

But Slovenia's highest court has never explicitly demanded full marriage equality in its rulings, which makes it unclear where it draws the line.

An answer to that question may be provided if the issue of gay marriage is brought before the court by proponents of such legislation.

Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer had said she would consider sending all 70 or so laws affected by the legislation to the Constitutional Court for review if the changes to the marriage and family relations act was rejected in the referendum.

This possibility will be reviewed with NGOs dealing with the issue of gay rights, her office said in a statement on Monday.

The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) hosted on Tuesday a panel debate on ethics in public discourse and hate speech. Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer said that role models - above all politicians and parents - should display a certain level of cultured speech.

The ombudsman's office receives many hate speech complaints and condemns in principle all hate speech. It however only responds concretely when it is targeting minorities, she said.

She pointed out that her office advised the parliament to set up a special tribunal that would look into hate speech in politics. Moreover, the government should also consider making defamation punishable by civil penalty.

Nussdorfer also pointed to the issues related to hate speech voiced in line. She wondered how it was possible that one would be punished when voicing hate speech on the street but not when the same is done online.

Slavko Splichal of SAZU believes that anonymous hate speech cannot be protected by the freedom of speech.

Invitado por el Embajador de España en Suecia, Francisco Javier Jiménez-Ugarte, el Justicia de Aragón, Fernando García Vicente viajará el miércoles a Suecia para participar en un homenaje de la Universidad de Estocolmo a los hispanistas suecos estudiosos de los Fueros de Aragón, Gunnar Tilander y Max Gorosch. El Justicia, pronunciará una conferencia sobre el Derecho Aragonés y la influencia de estos investigadores en su estudio y divulgación.

Tilander, filólogo e historiador, fue Catedrático en Lenguas Romances de la Universidad de Estocolmo, y dedicó una atención preferente a Aragón, a su lengua y a los textos jurídicos medievales. La edición del Vidal Mayor, en los años 50, fue su obra culminante que mereció los elogios de grandes maestros, historiadores del derecho, europeos.

El Vidal Mayor, redactado por el que fuera Obispo de Huesca en 1247, Vidal de Canellas, interpreta y aclara los preceptos de los Fueros de Aragón, una obra previa, atribuida al mismo autor que, por orden del Rey Jaime I, recoge el derecho hasta entonces disperso y en distintas redacciones privadas, en forma de compilación, abriendo la etapa al derecho legislado.

En cuanto a Gorosch, discípulo de Tilander, sobresalió por sus investigaciones en el campo de la lingüística y recuperó, por encargo de su maestro, el Fuero de Teruel como su tesis doctoral aparecida en 1950, un Fuero correspondiente a la fase de territorialización del derecho aragonés que se difundió por distintas comarcas y duró tres siglos.

El homenaje sueco a estos maestros es la continuidad del que les rindieron las instituciones jurídicas y administraciones aragonesas en un acto el pasado mes de noviembre con motivo del 25 Aniversario del Foro de Derecho Aragonés presidido por Carlos Carnicer, entonces Presidente del Consejo General de la Abogacía Española, y que contó con la presencia de la Embajadora de Suecia en España, Cecilia Julin. En aquella ocasión, fueron el Presidente de la Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación, José Antonio Escudero y el Catedrático de Historia del Derecho, Antonio Pérez Martín, las personalidades encargadas de relatar la importancia de los hispanistas suecos para Aragón con quienes, en palabras de Escudero, esta tierra ha contraído una "impagable deuda de gratitud"

Con el Justicia de Aragón viajan a Suecia, como regalo a la Universidad de Estocolmo, varios libros sobre fueros y derecho aragonés editados por instituciones y entidades aragonesas, entre ellos, el Vidal Mayor, editado por la Diputación Provincial de Huesca que ha querido unirse a este homenaje y el Prontuario Aragonés del Reino y la Corona de Aragón, dirigido por el Catedrático de Historia Antigua de la Universidad de Zaragoza, Guillermo Fatas.

Reunión con el Ombudsman Sueco

Aprovechando la visita a Suecia, el Justicia de Aragón acompañado del Embajador español en el país, mantendrán un encuentro con el Ombudsman del Parlamento Sueco. Ambas Instituciones comparten en la actualidad funciones y objetivos, y también, una posición preferente en la historia de los defensores del pueblo: el Justicia de Aragón como precedente lejano y el Ombudsman Sueco como origen moderno de esta Institución.

Dr. Adam Bodnar took part in an annual conference prepared by a non-governmental organization Fair Trials International. The meeting took place on 5-6 February 2016 in Budapest. The event was addressed to a network of experts: lawyers who work all across Europe to ensure the guaranteed right to a defence in criminal cases.

In a letter to the Marshal of the Senate, the Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights Krzysztof Olkowicz summarized the Commissioner’s actions in the case of Maciej Dobrowolski’s long-term detention. Mr. Dobrowolski, a sports fan accused of aiding in drugs smuggling, was held on remand for 40 months.