UN INVESTIGATOR FINED FOR USING FALSE PASSPORT

Arusha, December 6, 2001 (FH) - A defence investigator with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was on Tuesday convicted by a Tanzanian court of possessing an irregular passport and staying illegally in the country. Felix Ntamfurayishyari was sentenced to six months in prison or a fine of 200,000 Tanzanian shillings ($220).

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He paid the fine and was released. Ntamfurayishyari is an investigator for the defence team of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli, currently on trial at the ICTR. The investigator is known at the ICTR as a Rwandan. Police sources told Hirondelle Ntamfurayishyari was arrested last month after requesting a visa from the Dutch embassy using a fake Tanzanian passport. He pleaded guilty to the charges. "You can assume that the Tribunal will not authorize his employment by any defence team," ICTR spokesman Kingsley Moghalu told Hirondelle. Defence staff are hired by defence counsel but need approval from the Tribunal. They are paid via the ICTR's legal aid programme. A translator with a defence team at the ICTR was last month arrested on charges of possessing and using a fake Ugandan passport. The translator, known as Patrick Ssimbwa Bugingo, is in detention awaiting trial. He was granted bail on Monday but has so far failed to raise the 4,000,000 Tanzanian shillings ($11,000) bond and three sureties. Another ex-investigator of a defence team at the ICTR, Siméon Nshamihigo, is in detention at the ICTR awaiting trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. He was arrested in May this year by the ICTR Prosecutor. Nshamihigo had been working at the ICTR for almost three years under a false Congolese identity. GG/JC/DO/FH (RE1206e)