In 2005, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights [official website] denied an appeal request to reinterpret its November 2004 ruling [JURIST reports] that upheld Berenson's conviction. Lawyers for Berenson claimed that her trial failed to meet international standards for fairness and sought to have her conviction and 20-year sentence overturned. In a 2000 CBS News interview [text], Berenson characterized her original trial proceedings as hostile and coercive, saying that she had faced a panel of hooded judges and that armed guards had aimed assault rifles at her and her lawyer's heads during the 10-minute proceeding. She was initially sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court, but the sentence was reduced to 20 years in a civil retrial in 2001.

The US and Colombia continue working together to fight the continuing drug trafficking [PBS backgrounder] problem in Colombia. In May 2008, Colombia extradited 14 former militia leaders [JURIST report] suspected of organizing violent massacres and drug smuggling operations to the US to face drug trafficking charges. The guerrilla leaders had surrendered to Colombian authorities under a peace deal in which Uribe suspended warrants for their extradition, but Justice Minister Carlos Holguin told local radio that the leaders had broken the deal by continuing to organize gangs or by refusing to cooperate with government officials. In April 2008, a Colombian court temporarily blocked [JURIST report] the extradition of one such leader, Carlos Mario Jimenez-Naranjo, ruling that it would deny the victims of his crime the chance to seek compensation. The US and Colombia signed an extradition agreement [JURIST report] in 2005 that forces Colombian drug traffickers to face trial in the US.

Bangladesh took similar measures to reduce prison overcrowding in 2008 after the government announced a clampdown on crime and arrested thousands [JURIST reports] of political activists and suspected criminals on corruption charges. This caused prisons to reach triple their intended capacity and required the government to release certain prisoners who have served half their prison sentences in order to reduce the country's overcrowded prison populations. Bangladeshi political parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party [party websites] accused the government of using the sweep for political purposes, but government officials defended their actions claiming that the arrests were primarily based on warrants and other crimes and were not for political reasons under the Emergency Power Rules.

In addition to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive], several countries have utilized their legal systems to try suspects accused of crimes related to the Rwandan genocide. In June, a Finnish court convicted former Rwandan pastor [JURIST report] Francois Bazaramba on charges of genocide and murder and sentenced him to life in prison. Canadian prosecutors announced in November that a second suspect had been charged [JURIST report] under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act [text, PDF]. The first man charged under the act was Desire Munyaneza. In October, he was sentenced to life imprisonment [JURIST report] for war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide. Munyaneza was convicted [JURIST report] in May 2009 of seven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes under the act.

The Supreme Court heard arguments [JURIST report] in 2007 in the case of Permanent Mission of India v. New York [Cornell LII backgrounder] in order to determine whether US courts have jurisdiction to hear claims against foreign governments regarding unpaid property taxes for diplomatic residences. The court ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that foreign governments may be sued for payment of local property taxes on real estate used for diplomatic residences, noting that "property ownership is not an inherently sovereign function," and that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act [text] "does not immunize foreign governments from lawsuits to declare the validity of tax liens on property held by the government" for diplomatic residences. The court remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings on the issue. The district court ruled in favor of New York in the second set of proceedings and India and Mongolia appealed the district court's ruling to the Second Circuit. The 2009 DOS notice went into effect during the appeals process.

[I]f the Act is constitutional under th[is] analysis..., then there would be no constitutional bar to criminalizing lying about one's height, weight, age, or financial status on Match.com or Facebook, or falsely representing to one's mother that one does not smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, is a virgin, or has not exceeded the speed limit while driving on the freeway. The sad fact is, most people lie about some aspects of their lives from time to time. Perhaps, in context, many of these lies are within the government's legitimate reach. But the government cannot decide that some lies may not be told without a reviewing court's undertaking a thoughtful analysis of the constitutional concerns raised by such government interference with speech. ... We then apply strict scrutiny review to the Act, and hold it unconstitutional because it is not narrowly tailored to achieving a compelling governmental interest.

The Stolen Valor Act was unanimously approved by the Senate and signed into law by former president George W. Bush in 2006. The act broadened provisions of previous US law and criminalizes the unauthorized wear, manufacture, sale or written or oral claim of any military decorations and medals. According to the circuit court opinion, Alavarez had a history of making false claims about serving in the military. He had previously told another board member that he won the Medal of Honor for rescuing the American ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis and that he had been shot in the back as he returned to the embassy to save the American flag. Alvarez reportedly told another woman that he was a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot who had been shot down but then, with the help of his fellow soldiers, was able to get the helicopter back into the sky. Alvarez had also claimed to have played hockey for the Detroit Red Wings, to have worked as a police officer and to have been secretly married to a Mexican starlet.

Several suspected Somali pirates have faced charges in federal court this year. A Somali man charged with piracy pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in May to charges of hijacking, kidnapping and hostage-taking related to an April 2009 attack on the US container ship Maersk Alabama [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. Somali officials have criticized [BBC report] the US for exercising jurisdiction over suspected pirates, insisting that piracy prosecutions should be conducted by an international tribunal. They have also asked that Somali pirate suspects be returned to Somalia, which lacks a functioning central government to address the piracy problem. Piracy remains an issue of international concern, as few countries have been willing to prosecute suspected pirates. The few that have attempted to do so include Kenya, Seychelles, the Netherlands, Mauritius, Yemen, Somalia and Spain [JURIST reports].

In June, Zagel denied a request [JURIST report] to delay the Blagojevich trial in order for his defense lawyers to review a decision by the US Supreme Court [official website] limiting the scope of the federal honest services fraud statute [18 USC § 1346 text]. Zagel held that the trial delay was unnecessary because the Supreme Court's decision in Skilling v. United States [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] was unlikely to affect Blagojevich's case. In April, the prosecution was ordered [JURIST report] to release a 91-page government proffer outlining evidence in its case against Blagojevich. In March, Blagojevich pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to eight amended corruption charges. In January 2009, the Illinois State Senate voted unanimously [JURIST report] to convict Blagojevich of abuse of power and remove him from office. Blagojevich and his former chief of staff John Harris were initially arrested [JURIST report] in December 2008.