The ICTR

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BASIC FACTS ON THE ICTR

I. Purpose and Organisation
· The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established by the United Nations Security Council resolution 955 of November 8, 1994. It is the second ad hoc tribunal after the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), set up in 1993.

· It has been mandated to prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international Humanitarian Law committed on Rwandan territory as well as Rwandan citizens allegedly responsible of such violations in the neighboring states between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1994.

· The ICTR is headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania with offices in Kigali, mainly for the prosecutor’s work, and in The Hague, The Netherlands, for the work of the Appeal Chamber.

· It has a total workforce of over 1000 people from over 80 nationalities. · At the end of 2007, the Tribunal will have cost $1,032,692.200.  The first bi-annual budget in 1994-1995 was $7.28 million, to reach $250 million in 2006-2007.
· The cost of a trial, for an average duration of two years, has been estimated by some defence counsels at 500.000 US dollars, for a single accused.

· The Tribunal has three organs: The Chambers, including the Appeal chamber, which hear the trials, the Office of the Prosecutor in charge of investigations and prosecutions, and the Registry responsible for providing overall judicial and administrative support.

· The ICTR has three chambers, with 11 permanent judges two of whom sit in the Appeal Chamber. In August 2002 the Security Council decided to establish a pool of 18 ad litem (non permanent) judges for ICTR to speed up the trials. As of March 2004, five ad litem judges sit in trials. At any one time, nine of them may be attached to the Trial Chambers.

· The ICTR has set up the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha with a total number of 91 cells.

· Six countries have signed agreements with the ICTR for enforcement of sentences: Mali, where six prisoners are serving sentence, Benin, Swaziland, France, Sweden and Italy.

· The ICTR end of mandate is expected in the year 2008 for trials and 2010 for the appeal cases. Cases still ongoing or pending at that date will be transferred to national jurisdictions, including Rwandan courts. Preparations for the modalities of transfers are in progress.

II. Assessment of the procedures

· The first trial, involving Jean Paul Akayesu, former mayor of Taba commune, commenced on January 9th, 1997. The first judgment, in the same case, sentenced the accused to life imprisonment on October 2, 1998. Akayesu was found guilty of genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and rape as an act of genocide.

· Since its creation in 1994 until March 2007, the ICTR has tried 33 people:  5 have been acquitted, and 28 have been sentenced to different terms of imprisonment.  In March 2007, 27 people were currently on trial, 9 were awaiting trial, and 18 were at large. 
· Currently, there are seven ongoing cases involving 20 detainees. They include four joint trials and three single-case trials. The biggest trial is the ‘’Butare trial’’ which groups six genocide suspects. The three other joint trials involve four accused persons each : Military I, involving the alleged mastermind of the genocide, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora; Government I and II involving former ministers in the interim government and former senior politicians. The single accused cases involve “Mika” Muhimana, former mayor of Gishyita (Kibuye prefecture), Emmanuel Ndindabahizi, former minister of Finance and Sylvestre Gacumbitsi, former mayor of Rusumo commune. For these two, judgment is expected by mid-2004.

· The tribunal still has 23 detainees awaiting trial.

· The tribunal indicted a total of 83 persons: 67 were arrested,16 others are officially indicted but not arrested. Another 24 suspects, not yet indicted, are under investigation.

· The most famous convicts include Jean Kambanda, former prime minister who became the first head of government to be convicted of crimes of genocide, Jean Paul Akayesu, former mayor of Taba commune and the first person ever to be convicted of rape as an act of genocide. Other famous convicts whose cases are at the appeal stage, are the three media personalities: Ferdinand Nahimana, former director of Radio Télévision Libre de Mille Collines (RTLM), Hassan Ngeze, former owner and editor of Kangura extremist newspaper, both of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, former director of political affairs in the ministry of Foreign Affairs and founder member of RTLM, sentenced to 35 years.

· The most famous detainees whose trials are ongoing, are the former director of cabinet in the Ministry of Defence, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora and Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, former minister for Family and Women Affairs. She is the first woman ever indicted by an international tribunal, and the first to be indicted for rape as a crime against humanity.

· Six prisoners are serving their prison terms in Mali. They are Jean Kambanda, former prime minister, Clement Kayishema, former prefect of Kibuye, Jean Paul Akayesu, former mayor of Taba commune, Obed Ruzindana, former businessman, Alfred Musema, former director of Gisovu Tea Factory and Omar Serushago, former Interahamwe militia leader in Gisenyi prefecture.

· Two other prisoners are waiting to be transferred to other countries: Georges Ruggiu, former RTLM journalist and George Rutaganda, former second Vice President of Interahamwe militia.

· One accused, former Anglican Bishop of Shyogwe, Samuel Musabyimana, died while in detention at the UNDF on January 24th , 2003.

Joseph SEREGUNDO, a former technical official for the RTLM, died on August 22, 2006, in a hospital in Nairobi, according to the ICTR.  On June 2, 2006, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison after having pleaded guilty for inciting genocide.