SWITZERLAND HANDS PRIEST TO RWANDA TRIBUNAL

Arusha, September 21, 2001 (FH) A Rwandan priest arrested in Switzerland at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was on Thursday transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha, Tanzania, official sources confirmed. Former catholic military chaplain Emmanuel Rukundo is wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

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Following his arrest on July 12th this year, he mounted a legal challenge through the Swiss courts. However, the federal court there dismissed his appeal against transfer to the ICTR. Rukundo is the first catholic clergyman to be arrested by the ICTR. A catholic priest, Athanase Seromba, has also been indicted and the ICTR is pressing Italy to arrest him. Already in detention are an Anglican bishop, Samuel Musabyimana, and a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana. Pastor Elizaphan's joint trial with his son began before the ICTR last Tuesday. The ICTR Prosecutor charges Rukundo with four counts of genocide or, alternatively complicity in genocide; murder and extermination as crimesagainst humanity. AT/JC/FH (RK0921e)