A/HRC/7/66 page 12 threats to life by members of some political parties against individuals associated with other political parties. These incidents did not, however, obstruct the free, fair and generally peaceful nature of the elections. 39. A number of mechanisms were put in place to protect human rights and to provide a remedy in the event of violations. Electoral courts were instituted to hear complaints arising from the electoral process, including cases of alleged electoral fraud. Through the Political Party Registration Commission, political parties adopted a code of conduct. The media also adopted a code of conduct to give content and guidance to the exercise of freedom of the press. Civil society groups also played a significant role through voter education, campaigns for non-violent elections and for the full participation of women. C. Monitoring of courts, police stations and prisons 1. Courts 40. In all districts, courts functioned well during the year, albeit with difficulties, including delays in trials, excessive remand and adjournment of cases and prolonged pretrial detentions. There were a number of instances when judges and magistrates were absent from their jurisdictions for long periods or when court sittings were irregular, which resulted in delays of trials. Excessive adjournment of cases owing to the lack of prosecutors and defence counsels and the non-availability of vehicles to transport defendants were also noted in a number of cases. Instances of miscarriage of justice were also noted in a number of cases. For example, on 30 October, the backlog court in Bo sentenced a woman to death after a trial that lasted only one day. She appeared in the court only twice with no legal representation, and no witnesses were examined. A lawyer was assigned to her case but was given only a day to organize her defence. It was later discovered that the reason why the case was so hastily tried was that the judge’s contract was about to expire and he wanted the case concluded before leaving. 41. Prolonged non-scheduling of cases owing to shortage of staff and lack of equipment contributed to delays in trial. In Bo, Southern Province, for instance, a woman spent over a year in the prison without appearing in court because no typists were available to prepare her deposition and there was no State Counsel to indict her. In Kenema, Eastern Province, all the files for indictments to be issued were sent to Freetown on 22 January because no clerk typists were available. As a result, of the 52 cases under trial at Kenema prison, only 5 have been served with their indictments by the end of 2007. In Makeni prison, some inmates have been awaiting indictment for over a year. Difficulty in obtaining bail or securing sureties, the non-appearance of witnesses and the lack of regular attendance of court officials also contributed to the huge backlog of cases. 2. Police stations 42. There was a general improvement in the respect for human rights. As part of the preparations for the 2007 elections, the capacity of the police was increased in a number of areas, including professional standards, crowd control and investigation, which has had a visible impact on the respect for human rights by the police, which, however, is confronted with a number of challenges. UNIOSIL monitoring reports revealed a number of cases of police misconduct and