19.12.06 - ICTR/REPORTS - THE PRESIDENT AND PROSECUTOR OF THE ICTR HAVE PRESENTED THEIR REPORTS

Arusha, December 18 2006 (FH) – The president and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) presented last Friday to the General Assembly of the United Nations their report on the tribunal’s proceedings and confirmed that the ICTR’s mandate would be over in 2008. According to the United Nations media services, ICTR President Erik Mose notably highlighted the fact that 59 persons either have already been judged or are currently on trial before the ICTR’s chambers. The nine ongoing trials concern 25 defendants, he explained. When the trials in first instance are over, there will be 11 prisoners left awaiting trial. After the transfer of one of them to a national jurisdiction, the president considers it possible to judge the ten other pending cases before the end of 2008. Still according to the same source, the prosecutor mentioned the difficulty there is in transferring defendants to other African countries the jurisdictions of which are already overburdened with cases. Rwanda, in the prosecutor’s opinion, thus remains the only country in Africa ready to take cases from the ICTR. Concerning the arrest of the 18 persons still under indictment, the prosecutor thinks six of them are likely to be judged in Arusha. The United Stated, Canada and some European countries have set up a special bureau to prosecute the alleged genociders. Should the reference of certain cases to Rwanda be impossible, he said he hoped they would be transferred to other jurisdictions. Delegates of several countries (Tanzania, United States, Japan, China, Congo, United Kingdom, Argentina, the Russian Federation, France, Slovakia, Ghana, Peru, Greece, Qatar and Serbia) then took the floor and commented upon the work accomplished by the two ad hoc tribunals. The UN media services report that Judge Mose concluded the debates with the announcement of the expansion of the information center of Kigali and the opening of other such centers in Rwanda. PB/MG © Hirondelle News Agency