Lukashenko cracked down on opposition presidential candidates and detained protestors during his bid for a third term in the last election. Earlier this year, Belarus' Minsk City Court delivered suspended sentences of two former presidential candidates, Uladzimer Nyaklyaeu and Vital Rymasheuski, convicted of organizing protests following the re-election [JURIST reports] of Lukashenko. The two-year suspended sentences [RFE/RL report] were handed down days after former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau [Free Belarus Now profile] was sentenced to five years [JURIST report]. Hundreds of activists were arrested after protesting Lukashenko's 2006 presidential win, including opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich [JURIST reports]. While Lukashenko has since sought to improve his country's ties with western nations, the US State Department has historically criticized Belarus' human rights record [JURIST report]. The UN General Assembly Third Committee and the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights [JURIST reports] have similarly denounced Belarus for human rights abuses.

Some commentators predicted that Serbia would have difficulty extraditing Divjak from Austria, drawing parallels to the country's failed extradition [JURIST report] last year of former Bosnian president Ejup Ganic [Trial Watch profile] from the UK to stand trial for alleged war crimes in Serbia. Divjak's arrest is part of Serbian officials' ongoing effort to apprehend those responsible for the atrocities that occurred in the region during the 1992-95 civil war. On Monday, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that suspected Bosnian war criminal Aleksander Cvetkovic could be extradited [JURIST report] to Bosnia to stand trial for crimes related to the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre [JURIST news archive]. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] confirmed the indictment [JURIST report] of former police officer Bozidar Kuvelja in March for his role in the 1995 massacre. In February, French authorities arrested Milorad Momic [JURIST report] under an international arrest warrant for his suspected involvement in the massacre. The war crimes court began trying four members of the 10th Sabotage Detachment [press release] in December for genocide for their actions at Branjevo Farm after indicting them [JURIST report] last August. Also in December, the war crimes court found four policemen guilty [JURIST report] of killing Muslim civilians during the Bosnian Civil War, handing them sentences ranging from 15 to 27 years in prison. The Prosecutors Office for BiH [official website] announced in November that Dragan Crnogorac was arrested [JURIST report] on suspicion for having committed genocide under Article 171 of the BiH criminal code [text, PDF].

A number of cases have been opened in relation to the Bosnian Civil War. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] confirmed the indictment [JURIST report] of former police officer Bozidar Kuvelja in March for his role in the 1995 massacre. In February, French authorities arrested Milorad Momic [JURIST report] under an international arrest warrant for his suspected involvement in the massacre. The war crimes court began trying four members of the 10th Sabotage Detachment [press release] in December for genocide for their actions at Branjevo Farm after indicting them [JURIST report] last August. Also in December, the war crimes court found four policemen guilty [JURIST report] of killing Muslim civilians during the Bosnian Civil War, handing them sentences ranging from 15 to 27 years in prison. The Prosecutors Office for BiH [official website] announced in November that Dragan Crnogorac was arrested [JURIST report] on suspicion for having committed genocide under Article 171 of the BiH criminal code [text, PDF]. Last August, Spanish officials extradited accused Montenegrin war criminal [JURIST report] Veselin Vlahovic, known as the "monster of Grbavica," to Sarajevo. He is wanted on three international arrest warrants, including one for the rape, torture and murder of more than 100 women and children and is expected to face genocide charges before the country's war crimes court.

Last month, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller [official website] filed a notice of appeal [JURIST report] to challenge a federal court judge's decision to issue a preliminary injunction blocking a similar Indiana law that would have defunded Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) [advocacy website]. Kansas currently has multiple suits challenging new abortion restrictions. Earlier this month, another judge for the US District Court for the District of Kansas issued a preliminary injunction [JURIST report], in a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CCR) [advocacy website], to block another Kansas regulation requiring clinics within the state to obtain a license to perform abortions. Without the injunction, two of Kansas' three abortion clinics would have been forced to close for failure to meet the new requirements for a license. Kansas is also among multiple states that have acted to ban abortions after 20 weeks, when some studies suggest a fetus can begin feeling pain, including Missouri, Indiana, Alabama, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Idaho [JURIST reports].

Officials chose a new location for Mubarak's trial for security reasons after reporting [JURIST reports] that the trial would take place at a convention center in downtown Cairo. The announcement came amid speculation [Reuters report] that the trial would take place at a Red Sea resort because of Mubarak's alleged poor health. Many Egyptians contend that Mubarak is not ill and that members of the government have claimed the ex-president is sick in an effort to avoid a swift, public trial. Last week, an Egyptian criminal court postponed the trial [JURIST report] of former interior minister Habib el-Adly, who also faces murder charges in relation to the pro-democracy demonstrations, until August 3. Mubarak was hospitalized in April [JURIST report], just days before he was scheduled to appear before Egypt's public prosecutor for questioning about his alleged roles in protester deaths and embezzlement of government money. In March, a commission of Arab and Egyptian human rights groups accused Mubarak [JURIST report] and the police of murdering protesters during the demonstrations in Egypt. Mubarak could face the death penalty [JURIST report] if convicted of ordering attacks on protesters. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] reported that at least 840 people were killed [JURIST report], and more than 6,000 were injured, during the Egyptian protests.

The total or partial non-observance of the relevant international standards in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights relating to the right to a fair trial can be of such gravity so as to confer on the deprivation of liberty, of whatever kind, an arbitrary character. The trial was organized in way which constitutes a breach of fairness. In spite of the difficult balancing issues that are involved in free speech cases, Mr. Liu Xiaobo's defence was limited to 14 minutes. ... Restrictions of the right to political free speech are strongly circumscribed. The Government has not shown in this case a justification for the interference with Mr. Liu Xiaobo's political free speech. The requirement of proportionality which applies to such restrictions is not satisfied by the reasons provided by the Government.

Last December, Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in absentia at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway after it was announced he would be the recipient [JURIST reports] in October. The Chinese government denounced the decision calling it "contrary to the purpose of the Nobel Prize," and censoring the announcement, blocking internet searches and international broadcasts about it and even turning off phones of people who text messaged the news. China's human rights record has been widely criticized. In June, the US State Department (DOS) [official website] urged the Chinese government to release protesters arrested [JURIST report] for the peaceful Tiananmen Square protests in June 1989. The DOS also asked the Chinese government to provide an account of those missing, detained or killed during the suppression. The US encouraged the Chinese government to protect universal human rights of peaceful dissenters and to release all that are detained, forcibly disappeared, or placed under house arrest in recent months. China has also been criticized for jailing human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng [advocacy website; JURIST news archive]. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called on the Chinese government [JURIST report] in March to free him claiming his detention is in violation of international law.

Prison overcrowding is a problem faced by a number of countries around the world. California Governor Jerry Brown [official website] submitted a plan [press release] in June to reduce the state's prison population [JURIST report] by over 30,000 inmates to satisfy a court order [JURIST report] to reduce overcrowding. Canada allocated $105 million in September 2010 to build new prison cells at four existing prisons in anticipation of a drastic increase in prisoners [JURIST report] over the next several years. In September 2008, UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Patricia O'Brien [appointment release] found that prison overcrowding in countries with UN peacekeeping missions threatens the success of those missions [JURIST report]. The government of Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] announced plans to release certain inmates in June 2008 and later in August 2010 [JURIST reports]. Also in June 2008, the Third Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that a plan to ease prison overcrowding by transferring prisoners to out-of-state facilities did not violate the state's constitution [text]. The UK has also instituted a plan to release inmates ahead of schedule, and Iraq has experienced increasing overcrowding problems [JURIST reports].