ARUSHA - The Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has filed an application to transfer the infamous Jean Baptiste Gatete’s Genocide case to Rwanda.

Gatete, a former bourgmeistre (mayor) of the ex-Murambi commune (district) – now in Gatsibo District, Eastern Province – is remembered for his role in the massacres that rocked the area during the 1994 Genocide in which over one million Rwandans died countrywide.

The transfer bid comes at a time when the tribunal is faced with a December, 2008 deadline to have disposed of all cases on first instance and wound up appeals by 2010.

Gatete’s transfer application which was confirmed recently by Alloys Mutabingwa, Rwanda’s representative at the Tanzania-based UN-backed court, makes him the fifth suspect the prosecution wants to transfer to Rwanda, where they committed genocide crimes.

Gatete and three other suspects awaiting court decision on the transfer applications are currently in detention at the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha, Tanzania.

The other three are Yussuf Munyakazi, Lt. (rtd) Ildephonse Hategekimana and Gaspard Kanyarukiga.

The fourth suspect is Fulgence Kayishema who remains at large.

Gatete, according to Rwandan prosecution spokesman John Bosco Mutangana, is the most prominent Genocide suspect to date to be referred for transfer to Rwandan courts.

Widely known for his role in genocide crimes especially in former prefectures of Kibungo and Byumba, now in Eastern province, Gatete’s name has always come up in Genocide trials in the region especially Gacaca courts.

Many suspects and survivors alike have spoken of Gatete’s role in the training of Interahamwe militias and supplying them with arms while encouraging them to exterminate fellow Rwandans.

"He continued to kill people even as he fled into exile in Tanzania," Mutangana said.

According to the ICTR indictment, Gatete is accused of ten counts that include Genocide as a crime against humanity, complicity to genocide, murder and extermination and rape, among others.

Gatete was arrested in September 2002 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and made his initial appearance at ICTR in the same month.

Meanwhile, Rwanda on request by the tribunal has sent the Amicus Curiae (friend of court) brief, arguing its capacity to try the accused of the international tribunal, in the case of the four other suspects.

"We have sent and presented the briefs for all the four cases to the tribunal and currently we are preparing one for Gatete which we shall soon produce to court," Mutabingwa told The New Times by telephone from Tanzania.

The first case to be referred to a trial chamber for a possible transfer to Rwanda was the one of Kayishema, whose transfer motion was filed in June last year.

Mutabingwa also said that Rwanda has responded to the defence objections submitted by defence counsels of the suspects.

He also said that the Government of Rwanda will soon present a document to respond to allegations by both Human Rights Watch and the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association, which filed a brief at the tribunal alleging that Rwanda lacked the capacity to try these cases.

The rights body filed the document in January.

Mutabingwa asserted that there was optimism that the chamber will grant the request of the prosecution since there are strong grounds on which the Chief Prosecutor of the tribunal based his applications.

"The first ground is the deadline that the tribunal faces and the cases that remain pending which leaves only one option of transferring the remaining cases to national jurisdictions; the other is Rwanda’s proven ability and willingness to take on the trials," said Mutabingwa.

The envoy however said that it all remains for the tribunal’s chambers to decide.

The tribunal which was established by the UN Security Council after the 1994 Genocide to try key masterminds of the killings has made 74 arrests and completed 34 cases, five of which were acquittals.

Nonetheless, key architects of the Genocide that claimed over one million Rwandans still remain at large, including notorious Felicien Kabuga, who is said to have bankrolled the Genocide.

Rwanda has made progress in preparation of the ICTR cases including the promulgation of a special law regarding the criminal procedure of these suspects and others that may be arrested from other countries. Among the special provisions in the law is granting the suspects the privilege of having foreign lawyers as their defence attorneys if they choose to.

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