26.09.07 - RWANDA/FRANCE - THE COURT OF APPEAL OF PARIS REQUESTS CLARIFICATIONS FROM THE ICTR

 Paris, 26 September 2007 (FH) - The Court of Appeal of Paris Wednesday ordered additional information before rendering a decision about the possible transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of two alleged génocidaires, Abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and former Prefect Laurent Bucyibaruta.

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At the time of the examination of the case last week, the prosecution had come to a conclusion about the transfers to the ICTR.  
 
A new hearing was scheduled for 21 November, the documents requested by the investigation chamber will have to be handed in before 15 November.
 
In Arusha, the spokesperson for the office of the prosecutor, questioned by the Hirondelle agency in the afternoon, was not able to comment. A press conference was announced for Thursday afternoon.
 
The investigation chamber notably requested from the ICTR that it provide original and certified documents and not simply copies.
 
It also wishes that the tribunal confirm the existence of a request from the prosecutor of the ICTR for the transfer of the case against the two men from the international tribunal to France. The ICTR has not yet rendered a decision on this request from the ICTR prosecutor.
 
The Court of Appeal also asked that the complaints filed in France against the two men and the verbal investigations of their indictments be transferred to the court.
 
The lawyers of the two men were delighted by this decision. "The procedure in these moments is very advantageous for our clients", declared Philippe Gréciano, lawyer for Bucyibaruta.
 
"The court wishes to have the whole of the evidence in order to rule in a complete manner", indicated to Jean-Yves Dupeux, counsel for Munyeshyaka.
 
Their clients, arrested for the second time on 7 September at the request of the ICTR, had been released on 19 September by the investigation chamber. On 20 July, they had been arrested, at the request of the ICTR, which asked that they be placed in preventative detention while awaiting a decision from the ICTR on the transfer of the case to France.
 
The Parisian court had once before refused the ICTR request which accuses the two men of rapes, executions and assassinations constitutive of a crime against humanity, genocide with regard to the clergyman and complicity to genocide for the former prefect.
 
Survivors of the genocide filed complaints in France against the two men. Wenceslas Munyeshyaka has been under investigation 1995 and Laurent Bucyibaruta since 2000. They were placed under judicial supervision.
 
A Hutu catholic priest, Wenceslas Munyeshyaka has been, since 2001, in charge of the parishes of Gisors and the Epte Valley. Laurent Bucyibaruta, former prefect of Gikongoro (southern Rwanda), resides near Troyes (Aube).
 
PAS/PB/MM
 
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