The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) yesterday upheld the ruling ordering the transfer of Bernard Munyagishari to Rwanda for trial.Munyagishari is the last person currently in the custody of the Tanzania-based tribunal, as it winds up, giving way to the International Residual Mechanism.“The transfer of Munyagishari will take place no sooner than three (3) days after the Appeals Chamber decision is translated to him in French…the date on which he will be transferred to Rwanda will be communicated,” reads a statement from the National Public Prosecution Authority.“On behalf of the Government of Rwanda, the National Public Prosecution Authority would like to thank the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for the significant vote of confidence it has given to the Rwandan justice system,” the statement added.Munyagishari was the president of the Interahamwe militia in the former Gisenyi Prefecture, now in the Western Province and was arrested in 2011 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.If transferred, Munyagishari will be the second person in the tribunal’s custody to be transferred for trial to Rwanda as part of the court’s completion strategy, after last year’s transfer of Jean Uwinkindi, a former cleric accused of unleashing militiamen on his flock at a church in the current Bugesera District. Other suspects whose cases have been referred to Rwanda but remain at large are; Fulgence Kayishema, Charles Sikubwabo, Ladislas Ntaganzwa, Aloys Ndimbati, Ryandikayo and Phenius Munyarugarama.Norway arrests suspect In a related development, the Norwegian police on Wednesday arrested a Rwandan identified as Eugene Nkuranyabahizi, who is accused of committing the Genocide in the Southern Province.A former teacher, Nkuranyabahizi is accused of colluding with Interahamwe militia to kill Tutsis who were fleeing the Genocide to Burundi.“We learnt of his existence in Norway when we shared names of fugitives whose addresses where unknown to us and they said he was in their country,” the head of Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit John Bosco Siboyintore said.
