ICTR Chief Prosecutor speaks out on transfers

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Hassan Bubacar Jallow has said that new transfer requests of genocide suspects will be tabled before the court towards end of year. This comes following the decision by the tribunal last year, to block the transfer of five cases that had been referred to Rwanda by the Office of the Prosecutor; on grounds that Rwandan judiciary lacked capacity to handle them. During an exclusive interview with The New Times, Jallow said that fresh applications will be made after enough capacity building has been extended to the witness protection programme in Rwanda. “Once these capacity building issues are overcome in a satisfactory way, then we plan to file fresh applications, I hope before the end of the year,” he said. ICTR judges last year rejected motions the Prosecutor filed to have five cases transferred to Rwanda, despite the country’s interest and readiness to handle the cases. Some of the cases that had been referred to Rwanda included that of Jean Baptiste Gatete, the former mayor of Murambi, now in the Eastern Province, whose trial stalled down. Another case was that of Yussuf Munyakazi, a former businessman in the former Cyangugu Prefecture, currently on trial at the Tanzania based tribunal. During the interview, Jallow acknowledged that Rwanda had gone along way in handling legal concerns raised by the judges. “On the legal side, the concerns have been met. I’m aware they are taking a number of initiatives to try and get the witness protection programme operational like getting the video link system in place,” he added. According to legal experts, different countries that refused to extradite genocide fugitives to Rwanda attributed their reluctance to the ICTR decision. A recent example is Switzerlands refusal to extradite former Rwandan Minister for Environment, Gaspard Ruhumuriza who is wanted for his alleged role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis. But Jallow says that blame for the impunity gap should be apportioned on courts of those states that have failed to prove their judicial competence in having justice delivered. “It’s not really a creation of the ICTR. They are reluctant to extradite to Rwanda and at times they lack the jurisdiction competence to prosecute those suspects.” The United Nations Security Council has ordered the tribunal to close by end of next year, although the court, which has consumed hundreds of millions of dollars, still has a number of cases still on the table. ICTR President, Judge Denis Byron last month asked the council to extend judges’ contracts and increase four more judges to the Appeals Chamber to enable them accomplish their completion strategy. Close to eleven cases involving twenty four accused are yet to be disposed off. The tribunal’s wanted list remains with 13 fugitives, including the infamous Felicien Kabuga, a chief financier of the genocide. Ends

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ICTR Chief Prosecutor speaks out on transfers