Serbia has undertaken an ongoing effort to apprehend those responsible for the atrocities that occurred in the region during the 1992-95 Bosnian civil war [JURIST news archive]. Suspected Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) war criminal Dragan Crnogorac was arrested [JURIST report] in November in connection with the Srebrenica massacre. In August, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] issued genocide charges [JURIST report] against four former Bosnian Serb soldiers, accusing them of participating in the murder of more than 800 Bosnian Muslims during the massacre. In April, the court convicted [JURIST report] two men of genocide, Radomir Vukovic and Zoran Tomic, for their roles in the massacre and sentenced each to 31 years imprisonment. The BiH war crimes court was set up in 2005 to relieve the caseload of the ICTY and is authorized to try lower-level war crime suspects.

Last month, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] announced [press release] that Haitian authorities will investigate crimes committed against humanity [JURIST report] allegedly committed under the rule of Duvalier. The announcement followed the filing of criminal complaints [JURIST report] against Duvalier by four people, including former UN spokesperson Michele Montas. Duvalier was charged [JURIST report] with corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and other unnamed crimes days after he returned to Haiti unexpectedly on January 16 after 25 years in exile. An anonymous Haitian government official, however, told Reuters that they had not yet decided to prosecute [Reuters report].

Last February, a federal judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment [JURIST report] for the NFS, upholding an agreement limiting the amount of timber that can be harvested in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Several Alaska towns and companies challenged the 2008 forest plan, which, among other things, designated parts of the forest "old growth reserves," limiting the amount of timber that could be harvested. In 2009, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld [JURIST report] a ruling reinstating the 2001 Roadless Rule. The Clinton administration measure was effectively overturned in 2005 by the State Petitions Rule [text], enacted by the US Department of Agriculture [official website] under then-president George W Bush. The State Petitions Rule allowed governors to petition for Roadless Rule protections, depending on their individual state needs, in lieu of blanket protection.

The continued operation of Guantanamo Bay remains controversial. Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] criticized US President Barack Obama [JURIST report] for failing to shut down the facility. Obama's stated desire to close Guantanamo has faced heavy opposition in Congress. In early January, Obama signed a bill barring the transfer of Guantanamo detainees [JURIST report] to the US for trial. The legislation authorized funding for defense interests abroad, military construction and national security-related energy programs and barred the use of funds to transfer detainees into the US and limited funds available for transfers to foreign countries. The administration plans to seek the repeal of these restrictions and opposes the extension or expansion of them in the future. The number of detainees at Guantanamo has been significantly reduced as the administration continues to transfer detainees to a growing list of countries including Germany, Italy, Spain, Maldives, Georgia, Albania, Latvia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Somaliland, Palau, Belgium, Afghanistan and Bermuda [JURIST reports]. There are currently 178 detainees awaiting transfer from Guantanamo.

This dispute strains what are already shaky diplomatic relations [AP report] between the US and Pakistan. Those relations have been strained by a variety of factors, including deaths related to airstrikes within Pakistan [WP report]. Pakistan filed a complaint with NATO [JURIST report] in October as a result of those airstrikes. Despite the fractured relationship, Pakistan remains one of the key US allies in the Middle East. In September of last year, Pakistani authorities arrested three individuals [JURIST report] linked with Faisal Shahzad [JURIST news archive], the man accused of attempting to detonate a bomb in Times Square.

Illinois is the seventh US jurisdiction to legalize same-sex civil unions. The Illinois legislature approved the bill [JURIST report] and sent it to the governor in December. In September, 13 state attorneys general joined in an amicus curiae brief [JURIST report] urging the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn a federal district court decision [JURIST report] striking down California's ban on same-sex marriage. The brief argued that the district court exceeded its authority because a federal court cannot "reorder this foundational legal and social institution." In July, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle (R) [official website] vetoed a bill [JURIST report] that would have allowed same-sex civil unions. In contrast, several jurisdictions in the US have legalized same-sex marriage. In March, DC became the sixth US jurisdiction to allow same-sex marriages, joining Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, Connecticut and Massachusetts [JURIST reports].

In November, the Serbian government filed documents [JURIST report] seeking Egner's extradition from the US to Serbia so he could stand trial on war crimes charges. Serbia's Office the War Crimes Prosecutor [official website] announced in 2009 that it would ask the US [JURIST report] for Egner's extradition. In July 2008, Serbian prosecutors confirmed [JURIST report] that they were gathering evidence for a case against Egner. Earlier that same week, the DOJ filed a complaint [text, PDF] in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington seeking to revoke Egner's US citizenship. Egner became a US citizen in 1966 but failed to disclose his Nazi service on his citizenship application. The DOJ argued that he was ineligible for citizenship both because of his service and because he concealed that information on his application.