The Secretary General remains very concerned about the deteriorating situation in the Ivory Coast.... The Secretary General wishes to warn that any attack against peacekeepers constitutes a crime under international law, for which the perpetrators and those who instigate them will be held accountable. Any attack on the Golf Hotel could provoke widespread violence that could reignite civil war. The Secretary General calls on all those who may be contemplating participation in the attack to refrain from such dangerous and irresponsible action.

During the post-election violence in the Ivory Coast, hundreds have been arrested and dozens have allegedly been subjected to torture, ill treatment and forced disappearances. Last week, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) [official website] expressed concern [press release; JURIST report] over the humanitarian needs of nearly 14,000 Ivory Coast refugees who have fled to Liberia over the past month due to post-election political instability and violence. The UNHCR warned that food supplies and housing are running short as refugees are increasingly arriving malnourished and fighting disease. Ouattara defeated Gbagbo in a November 28 runoff election, but Gbagbo has refused to concede victory, his supporters have responded to his loss in the election with a campaign of violence and intimidation [WP report]. Earlier in December, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) [official website] urged [JURIST report] Gbagbo to step down, threatening the use of force if he attempts to maintain power. Also in December, the UN Human Rights Council [official website] adopted a resolution [JURIST report] condemning recent post-election violence while Ouattara's prime minister Guillaume Soro [BBC profile] called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to launch an investigation [DPA report] into possible crimes being committed by Gbagbo's supporters.

Khodorkovsky, the former owner of Yukos oil, and Lebedev, were convicted [JURIST report] of embezzling more than $27 billion [AFP report] from the company. Their defense counsel staunchly criticized the ruling, claiming [press release] that the court blocked significant amounts of testimony and evidence submitted by the defense and systematically quashed objections to their omission. The verdict drew vehement international criticism [JURIST report], including from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official biograpy], who said [press release] that the ruling "raises serious questions about selective prosecution." The Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs [official website, in Russian] dismissed critics, saying [press release, in Russian] that "[a]ttempts to exert pressure on the court are unacceptable." The men are currently serving eight-year prison sentences for fraud and tax evasion [JURIST report], to which they were sentenced in 2005 for the same money laundering from Yukos. In May, former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov [BBC profile] testified [JURIST report] that Putin ordered Khodorkovsky's arrest for political reasons, indicating that Khodorkovsky had funded the Communist Party [party website, in Russian] without first getting approval to do so from the president. In March, Khodorkovsky criticized Russia's justice system [JURIST report] as an "assembly line" that inevitably finds the government's political enemies to be guilty. The statement echoed concerns Khodorkovsky had previously expressed about the fairness of Russian trials and the need for widespread reform of the Russian court system [JURIST reports].

Katsav was initially indicted on rape charges [JURIST report] in 2009 for allegedly assaulting female employees in the 1990's. In 2008, Katsav rejected a plea agreement [JURIST report] that would have permitted him to plead guilty to lesser charges of indecent assault, sexual harassment, and obstruction of justice, in exchange for a suspended sentence and the dropping of rape charges. The plea deal had been highly criticized by women's and civil rights activists, prompting 5 separate petitions to overturn the agreement.