14.03.07 - ICTR/ITALY - THE ICTR ASKS FOR THE TRANSFER OF ONE OF ITS ACCUSED TO ITALY

Arusha, March 14, 2007 (FH) – The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) asked that one of its convicts that has exhausted all appeals, the Italio-Belgian Georges Ruggiu, be transferred to Italy to serve the rest of his sentence, it was learned from an official source Wednesday. A radio host during the 1994 genocide on the famous Radio Libre Des Mille Collines (RTLM), Ruggiu, the only non-Rwandan accused before the ICTR, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in June 2000 after having acknowledged his guilt for, among other things, inciting genocide. He had pled guilty. “At the request of the President (of the ICTR), I contacted the Italian government last October to ask for the transfer of George Ruggiu to Italy,” the head of the Registry of the Tribunal, the Senegalese Adame Dieng, told the Hirondelle Agency. Mr. Dieng meanwhile specified that it would take effect subject to a long proceeding before Italian justice. Italy signed a treaty with the ICTR on the serving of sentences. Two other European countries, France and Sweden, signed and ratified this text but no one sentenced by the ICTR has yet been sent to serve their sentence in Europe. The other countries which have signed the treaty are Mali, Benin and Swaziland, three African countries. As a result of this treaty, six people are currently serving their sentences in a Mali prison, the only country besides Tanzania, host to the Tribunal, to today house those convicted by the ICTR. Several of those condemned who have exhausted all appeals are staying in detention at the seat of the tribunal in Arusha, in Tanzania, while waiting for their transfer to another country. “We are in the process of preparing their transfers, essentially to Africa: to my knowledge, there is no transfer envisioned for the moment to France or Sweden,” Dieng continued. The Chief Registrar also indicated that it could “very possibly” sign a treaty with the Rwandan authorities on a treaty for the serving of sentences. A modern prison that could house those sentenced by the ICTR has been constructed in the center of Rwanda, with the financial support of the tribunal. ER/PB/KD © Hirondelle News Agency