Turkish authorities have detained 20 leaders of a human smuggling group, as well as 367 illegal immigrants in a statewide operation. Fifteen suspects remain in custody, including a top-ranking gang leader and those who entered the country illegally with them have been deported. The operation took place across several Turkish provinces, including Istanbul, Antalya, Edirne, Mugla, Izmir, Canakkale and Van.

The Istanbul Provincial Gendarmerie began monitoring the suspects in February, and discovered that they were smuggling illegal immigrants from Iraq, Palestine, and Pakistan into the country.

A hearing Thursday in former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s prison cell was cut short when doctors deemed her too ill to continue.

The hearing was held in Tymoshenko’s jail cell because she is too ill to travel, according to her lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko, but it was adjourned early after doctor confirmed that her condition had indeed worsened.

“They summoned and questioned the prison doctor who said that Tymoshenko’s condition is serious and that she really can’t continue to take part in this farce. He also said that in the last three hours her pain has increased significantly,” Vlasenko told reporters..

During her trial, Tymoshenko, 51, remained in bed saying she could not move,, according to Vlasenko, who said the judge allowed a break only after a prison doctor certified that the former premier was not in a condition to continue.

“I have never in my life seen a more insolent, cynical and inhuman court,” he said.

The US government is opening a branch of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Bulgaria, Ambassador James Warlick announced Wednesday.

“The decision to open a DEA office in Sofia reflects the close and mutually beneficial relationship we share and the success we have had combating narcotics trafficking together,” Warlick. He cited cooperation going back to the 1990s between the DEA and Bulgaria’s General Department for Combating Organized Crime .

“To date, this collaboration has resulted in the disruption of the activities of significant criminal groups and the seizure of over 1,500 kilograms of illegal narcotics.”

Warlick’s announcement followed a meeting with Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and DEA Regional Director Mark Destito.

The European Court of Human Rights (EctHR) has officially waived the immunity of its Romanian judge because of a corruption investigation into his wife.

The court made the decision on November 30 upon the request of Romania's state prosecutors, who allege that Gabriela Birsan, wife of EctHR judge Corneliu Birsan and a judge in the country's highest court, accepted money and gifts in exchange for favorable verdicts.

However, rather than waive Birsan's immunity altogether, the court decided to split his protection and only waive the component relative to his spouse.  “to the extent strictly necessary for the conduct of the investigation,” the court wrote in a news release.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Sunday’s parliamentary election unfair, saying that voters deserve an investigation into allegations of fraud.

“Russian voters deserve a full investigation of electoral fraud and manipulation,” Clinton told representatives from the 56-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the international body in charge of monitoring the elections at their meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania on Tuesday.

“The Russian people, like people everywhere, deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. And that means they deserve free, fair, transparent elections and leaders who are accountable to them,” continued the Secretary of State.

She voiced criticism over the conduct of the elections, which saw Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s party win a majority of parliamentary seats.  She repeated the stance of some opposition leaders, who said that the elections had been rigged due to ballot box stuffing and other electoral fraud, and manipulation.  Citing the OSCE’s report on the elections, she decried the recorded instances of manipulation of voter rolls and the harassment that some independent observers were subject to.

Twenty people have been arrested in New York on charges of marriage fraud, extortion and racketeering. The suspects allegedly brought women from Russia and neighboring Eastern European countries to work as exotic dancers in New York City strip clubs believed to be controlled by the Gambino and Bonanno crime families of the Cosa Nostra. Seven of the suspects arrest last Wednesday are believe to be either members or associates of the two crime families.

“As alleged, the schemes in which these defendants participated ran the gamut of criminal activity—from racketeering and extortion, to immigration and marriage fraud. And the defendants themselves had one thing in common—the desire to turn the women they allegedly helped enter this country illegally into their personal profit centers,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara at a news conference. “Today’s arrests have brought an end to their illicit activities.”

Corruption cost Serbia €80 million in the first nine months of 2011, according to an investigation by the Serbian police.  According to the report, the money was lost from the state budget because of fraud and abuse of power by state officials.

Serbia fell eight spots on this year’s Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, ranking 86^th among 182 countries.

Serbian Chief of Criminal Police (MUP) Darko Senić, told “Dani” that of 852 reports filed, 217 corruption charges were brought against 410 individuals, for a total of 310 crimes.  Senić also noted that nearly half of all murders that occur in Belgrade are related to drug gang turf wars, and that more than a third of all property crimes are committed by drug addicts.

Montenegrin Prime Minister Igor Lukšić and Foreign Minister Milan Roćen have denounced allegations in a daily newspaper account that they had phone conversations with Darko Šarić, one of the region’s most notorious narcotics smugglers.

“I have never had any contact whatsoever, direct or indirect, with Mr. Šarić,” Lukšić said at a Sunday news conference.  He added that he had never communicated with the accused drug lord. “If his face did not appear in the newspaper so much I would not even know who he is,” he added.

The foreign minister bemoaned the timing of the accusations. “I see this as an attempt to discredit me and Mr. Roćen as the minister of oreign affairs and European integration at a very important time for Montenegro, as we expect a decision about the opening of EU accession talks,” he told journalists.

The Montenegrin daily newspaper Dan (‘Day’) published a detailed list of phone calls Šarić made in 2008, which they say includes details linked to Lukšić and Roćen, among other high-level officials.

Judicial experts and ministers from Balkan countries along with EU representatives met in Belgrade last week for a conference on “Facing the Challenges of Organized Crime and Serious Crimes In the Territory of the Western Balkans.” They are hoping to develop judicial cooperation in the Balkans.

The conference highlighted the importance of cooperation among countries in the region, and cooperation with the European Judicial Network. Efforts are underway to establish regional arrest warrants, which would help bring criminals to justice faster. Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic estimates that warrants would cut extradition proceedings from as many as six months to two months. Conference participants also suggested forming a team of regional experts to help with freezing or confiscating illegally acquired assets.

Two-thirds of the world’ countries are significantly corrupt, according to Transparency International’s 2011 Corruptions Perception Index, an annual report seen as the most credible barometer of global graft.

This preponderance of corruption, the watchdog argues, is what sparked protests all over the world, from Arab Spring protests to the riots across Europe because of concerns over economic collapse.

“This year we have seen corruption on protestors’ banners be they rich or poor,” said Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International (TI) in a news release.  “Whether in a Europe hit by debt crisis or an Arab world starting a new political era, leaders must heed the demands for better government.”

North Korea, included in the survey for the first time, is considered the world’s least transparent country, a distinction it shares with Somalia.  New Zealand won the top spot, followed by Finland and Denmark.