Rwanda Information Portal

ICTR will not transfer Felicien Kabuga Genocide file to Rwanda

Arusha – The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will hand over case files of all Genocide suspects to competent national courts except for those of the three most wanted fugitives, the court has said.

Tribunal�s spokesman Roland Amoussouga informed Rwanda Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga Thursday that the Tribunal will transfer all other genocide case files to competent jurisdiction including Rwandan courts, �apart from those involving Kabuga Felicien, Mpiranya Protais and Augustin Bizimana�.

Billionaire Felicien Kabuga is alleged to have been the financer of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis. Controversy still remains as to where the 74-year old is hiding � with the ICTR standing firm that he is in Kenya.

Major Mpiranya Protais headed the notorious presidential guard of ex-president Juvenal Habyarimana. Mpiranya, believed to be living in Zimbabwe with protection from the highest echelons of power, allegedly commanded the troops which killed ex-PM Agathe Uwiringiyimana on April 07 1994. Some information has indicated he may have died of HIV/Aids.

As for Augustin Bizimana, during the Tutsi Genocide, he was Defense Minster in the interim government � controlling the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR). Except for Kabuga and Mpiranya, whose locations have been guessed, Bizimana remains off the radar completely.

All the three men each have a US$5million bounty on their heads by the US government.

The ICTR spokesman told the Rwanda prosecutor Genaral Ngoga at a joint press conference that some cases could be handed to Rwanda. As for case files of suspects that are yet to be apprehended � will be forwarded to countries of refugee, said Amoussouga.

Ngoga said Rwanda has completed all the necessary judicial and institutional reforms demanded by the ICTR to allow for transfer of suspects and convicts to Rwanda.

In June, the Arusha-based (Tanzania) court handed over another 25 case files to Rwanda, which could be handled by the local courts. The files include those of suspects who have been investigated but not yet indicted by the ICTR, and are believed to be in hiding abroad.

[ARI-RNA]

October 23, 2010   2 Comments

UN Tribunal ICTR urges Rwanda not to summon U.S. lawyer Peter Erlinder

By Kezio-Musoke-David

Kigali – The Tanzania-based international tribunal hearing the cases of Rwandan genocide suspects urged the central African nation on Friday not to prosecute a U.S. lawyer over a charge of genocide denial. Rwanda’s chief prosecutor Martin Ngoga on Wednesday said American lawyer Peter Erlinder could be summoned within two weeks. Denying the 1994 genocide, during which about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were butchered to death, is a crime in Rwanda.

Roland Amoussouga, spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), said Rwanda would have to respect Erlinder’s court immunity if the charges related to his work at the tribunal.

“Rwanda has the right to go ahead and prosecute Erlinder. However, they have also committed to respect the functional immunity he has at the tribunal,” Amoussouga told Reuters by telephone from the court’s base in Arusha.

“Prosecution can only go on if it is in relation to his private work and not with work related to the ICTR,” Amoussouga said.

Rwanda arrested Erlinder on charges of genocide denial in May when he flew to the country to defend opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who had been arrested over accusations of belonging to a terrorist group and promoting genocide ideology.

Erlinder was released on bail on health grounds a month later although the charges remained. Ngoga said at the time the charges related remarks made in earlier statements and publications but did not cite specific comments.

Ngoga said Rwanda would turn to Interpol if Erlinder failed to respond to an eventual summons.

“He is a lawyer and he knows the consequences of jumping bail,” the chief prosecutor told an ICTR news conference on Wednesday.

Under a 2003 law, persons condemned for denying or grossly minimising genocide, attempting to justify genocide or destroy evidence related to it are liable to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 in prison.

Rwanda last week re-arrested Ingabire who was barred from standing in August’s presidential election which Kagame won by a landslide.

Members of her unregistered United Democratic Forces (UDF) party fear for her health and said she had been visited by a paramedic on Friday. “We call again for a medical parole without any further delay,” UDF said in a statement.

[Reuters]


October 23, 2010   No Comments