Rwanda ready to face rights body at ICTR

Following recent claims by Human Rights Watch that Rwanda does not have capacity to try Genocide fugitives who may be extradited from different countries, Kigali insists its ready to prove its capacity before a UN Genocide court.“We are ready and waiting for Human Rights Watch to make a submission to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, (ICTR); we shall defend our competence,” said Aloys Mutabingwa, Rwanda’s representative to the Tanzania-based tribunal.The rights body recently said that the despite the various positive steps that were made in the Rwandan judiciary, it was not yet ready to handle cases that are likely to be transferred from ICTR and other countries to Rwandan national jurisdictions.In a related development, Rwanda for the second time is due to prove its competence to handle cases from ICTR by presenting another document to the court to process the transfer of Genocide suspect Yussuf Munyakazi, a former businessman.Munyakazi is among four ICT detainees whose cases are in line for a possible transfer to Rwandan courts.Rwanda submitted its first document of competence in the case of former judicial police officer, Fulgence Kayishema where the office of Prosecutor sent the document called Amicus Curiae (friend of court).Besides Kayishema and Munyakazi, the ICTR prosecutor has requested to transfer to Rwandan courts Lieutenant Ildephonse Hategekimana and another businessman Gaspard Kanyarukiga.Meanwhile, the verdict of Juvenal Rugambarara, a former mayor of Bicumbi Juvenal Rugambarara will be pronounced today at the ICTR.Rugambarara entered a plea bargain with the prosecution after pleading guilty to a single crime which led to the amendment of his charge sheet from nine crimes to one. With a cumulative budget of over three billion dollars for over the past ten years, the ICTR has so far completed 32 cases, five of which are acquittals. Rwanda is a lead candidate to take over cases that will be left by the back-logged UN tribunal when it closes shop by the end of next year for all cases on substance.Ends

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Rwanda ready to face rights body at ICTR