13.04.07 - ICTR/BAGARAGAZA - TRANSFER OF ONE OF THE ACCUSED BEFORE THE DUTCH JUSTICE

Arusha, 13 April 2007 (FH) – In a decision issued on Friday, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ordered the transfer before the Dutch justice of Michel Bagaragaza, a relative of the former President Juvénal Habyarimana.“The Chamber orders the case of Prosecutor v. Michel Bagaragaza to be referred to the authorities of the Kingdom of the Netherlands” (decision).The Judges also order t the ICTR Chief Prosecutor, Gambian Hassan Bubacar Jallow, “to hand over to the Prosecutor of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as soon as possible and no later than 30 days from the date of this Decision, the material supporting the Indictment against Mr. Bagaragaza”.It is the first time that this Tribunal set in Arusha, Tanzania, has allowed the referral of a case before a national court.M. Bagaragaza was the head of the tea industry in Rwanda during the genocide of 1994. Being the key witness of the Prosecutor who has already witnessed against other ICTR Accused, he is detained in The Hague for security reasons.Transfers of Accused before national courts, including Rwandan ones, are a part of the “ICTR completion strategy”. Since the Tribunal has been asked by the Security Council to end its trials of first instance before the end of next year, it has to refer some cases before national courts to be able to respect this deadline.According to the ICTR rules, when the Prosecutor asks the President to transfer an Accused, the latter, after having heard the arguments of both parties, appoints a Chamber which deals with the request.A first request aiming at transferring Bagaragaza before the Norwegian Justice was rejected in 2006 by the Judges on the ground that the Criminal Code of the Kingdom of Norway does not incriminate genocide, one of the crimes Baragaraza is prosecuted for.The Accused voluntary surrendered before the ICTR in 2005. He is notably accused of having contributed to create, finance, train, and arm the Interahamwe militia in order to launch attacks against Tutsi civilians. ER/PB/CV© Hirondelle News Agency