UN urges world to arrest ICTR-indicted Genocide fugitives

Members of the UN Security Council have again called upon all States to cooperate with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and the Government of Rwanda in the arrest and prosecution of the eight remaining ICTR-indicted fugitives. This was underlined in a Security Council Statement as members marked the closure on Thursday of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). “The members of the Security Council call upon all States to cooperate with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and the Government of Rwanda in the arrest and prosecution of the eight remaining ICTR-indicted fugitives, and further call upon States to investigate, arrest, prosecute or extradite, in accordance with applicable international obligations, all other fugitives accused of genocide residing on their territories,” the UN Security Council said in a statement on Thursday. “The members of the Security Council reaffirm their strong commitment to justice and the fight against impunity.” The members of the Security Council emphasised that the establishment of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals pursuant to resolution 1966 (2010) was essential to ensure that the closure of the ICTR does not leave the door open to impunity for the remaining fugitives. The Tribunal was established by resolution 955 (1994) of November 8, 1994. Twenty years later, the ICTR indicted 93 people, convicted 61 and acquitted 14 and cost the international community a whooping $2 billion (1.8 billion euros). Eight of the 93 people indicted by the tribunal are still at large: Felicien Kabuga, Augustin Bizimana, Protais Mpiranya, Fulgence Kayishema, Pheneas Munyarugarama, Aloys Ndimbati, Ryandikayo and Charles Sikubwabo. There is a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to their arrest and transfer to the appropriate jurisdiction for trial. Until recently, those at large were nine but early last month; authorities in neighbouring DR Congo arrested one of them – Ladislas Ntaganzwa – a former mayor of Nyakizu Commune in the Prefecture of Butare. It remains unclear whether Kinshasa will cooperate but when the Prosecutor of the Mechanism, or the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), Justice Hassan B. Jallow, informed the Security Council of the arrest of Ntaganzwa during his briefing last month, he also urged the authorities of the DR Congo to transfer him to Rwanda for trial, without delay. The MICT was established by UN Security Council Resolution 1966 (2010) to complete the remaining work of the ICTR and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia after the completion of their respective mandates. It has two branches, one in Arusha, Tanzania, and one in The Hague, Netherlands. Ntaganzwa was reportedly captured overnight by police, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of the eastern DR Congo provincial capital city of Goma. At the time, without confirming whether he would be extradited to Rwanda to face trial, DR Congo’s Minster of Justice Alexis Thambe Mwamba was reported as saying that Ntaganzwa would be taken to Kinshasa for questioning. Eastern DR Congo has, since 1994 been a safe haven for the remnants of the perpetrators and masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Their different politico-military groupings have often metamorphosed in an attempt to veil their Genocide ideology. Since 2000, they are organised in what is known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) which is based in eastern DR Congo’s jungles. While in Kigali in 2009, Mwamba, who was then DR Congo’s Foreign Minister, referred to the FDLR as a “cancer” bequeathed to his country by the international community. Ntaganzwa’s case was transferred to Rwanda in 2012. He was indicted by the ICTR for genocide and crimes against humanity for the massacre of thousands of Tutsi civilians at various locations in his locality, including at Cyahinda Parish and at Gasasa Hill during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He was also alleged to have orchestrated the rape and sexual violence committed against many Tutsi women.

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UN urges world to arrest ICTR-indicted Genocide fugitives