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A plainclothes policeman catches a woman during a police crackdown on prostitution in Quanzhou, Fujian province, October 29, 2011. China should remove criminal and administrative penalties against sex workers which often lead to serious police abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 14, 2013. The abuses include torture, beatings, physical assaults, fines and arbitrary detentions of up to two years, as well as a failure to investigate crimes against sex workers by clients, bosses and state agents, according to the report. Prostitution is not permitted under Chinese law, although the industry has boomed since the country launched economic reforms in 1978. REUTERS/Stringer

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Former Ivory Coast leader's trial postponed

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Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo (C) talks to a security guard during his initial court appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague December 5, 2011. REUTERS/Peter Dejong/Pool

Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo (C) talks to a security guard during his initial court appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague December 5, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Peter Dejong/Pool

AMSTERDAM | Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:52pm EDT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - War crimes judges on Tuesday postponed the trial of former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo by two months to give his defense more time to prepare.

Gbagbo is accused by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity during a four-month civil war that followed his refusal to stand down after losing a 2010 presidential election. About 3,000 people died in the conflict, and a million were displaced.

His lawyers requested a delay in proceedings in The Hague last week, saying they were short-staffed and were not ready for the trial, which had been due to start on June 18.

They also said Gbagbo would not be healthy enough to attend proceedings unless he had more time to recover from ill-treatment he had received while in detention in Ivory Coast before being handed over to the ICC.

Judges agreed to a delay and set a trial date of August 13.

(Reporting By Thomas Escritt, editing by Diana Abdallah)
World
Ivory Coast
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