UN TRIBUNAL EXTENDS COL. RENZAHO'S PROVISIONAL DETENTION

Arusha, October 29th, 2002 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday extended the detention of former governor of the Rwandan capital city Kigali, Col. Tharcisse Renzaho, for a period yet to be determined.

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Renzaho has been in provisional detention at the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha, Tanzania since his arrest late September. The 30-day detention pending the issuing of an indictment by the prosecution expired Tuesday (today). According to ICTR rules, the period can be extended up to two more 30-day periods on the request of the prosecutor and the consent of the chamber. Failure to extend the period leads to immediate release of a suspect. The prosecution argued that the indictment had been filed with the registry of the tribunal on October 25th, 2002 but only in English. The prosecutor further said that unlike customary practice, the indictment had not been submitted to a judge for confirmation "because it had a lot of support documents which the judge wouldn't have read in the two days" before the expiry of the detention period. Renzaho's duty counsel, Francis Musei of Tanzania did not object to the prosecutor's motion for extension of the detention period. "This is from instructions of my client", he said. He however requested the court to end Renzaho's solitary confinement. Lone judge, Erik Møse of Norway referred the matter to the registry of the tribunal. Notable among the documents that the prosecution said it had filed with the registry are witness statements of about 60 potential prosecution witnesses. Among them is an expert report by French Sociologist André Guichaoua. Renzaho, 58, is accused of masterminding killings of ethnic Tutsis in Kigali city during the genocide. GG/CE/FH(NI-1029e)