27.03.08 - ICTR/KAYISHEMA - ICTR PROSECUTOR SEEKS ATTORNEY FOR GENOCIDE ACCUSED

27 March 2008 By

Arusha, 27 March 2008 (FH) - The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has asked the Chamber to order assignment of a lawyer to a defendant still at large, former Inspector of Judicial Police Fulgence Kayishema, who is in the list of five genocide accused proposed to be transferred to Rwandan courts for trial, reports Hirondelle Agency.

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The move is considered to give the accused a timely fair trail.

"The prosecutor has asked that a counsel be assigned to the accused", said the ICTR spokesperson, Roland Amoussouga.

The rules of the ICTR do not obligate the Registry to automatically assign a lawyer for a defendant who is not in the tribunal's custody, he pointed out. However, if a decision is rendered in that direction, the registry would carry it out, he added.

Kayishema was judicial inspector in Kibuye, western Rwanda.

The four others suggested for transfer are already in the tribunal's custody and have lawyers to defend them. They are ex-businessman Yusuf Munyakazi, former Commander of Ngoma Camp Lieutenant Ildephonse Hategekimana, former businessman Gaspard Kanyarukiga and former Mayor of Murambi Commune Jean-Baptist Gatete. No decision has yet been rendered on any of the five transfer motions.

Kayishema is accused of having conspired with others, including Abbot Athanase Seromba, who was sentenced to life in prison on March 12, to prepare and implement a plan of extermination of ethnic Tutsi population in Kivumu and in the prefecture of Kibuye. The prosecutor maintains that in the plan all those who sought refuge in the parish church of Nyange in Kibuye, were killed in the April-July 1994 slaughter.

The transfers of some accused to national courts, including those of Rwanda, are part of the completion strategy of the ICTR, which must finish by the end of the year its first instance trials as directed by the UN Security Council.

First of its kind transfer hearing is planned for 24 April in the case of Munyakazi.

During the much awaited hearing, Rwandan prosecutor, defence; Bar of Kigali, Human Rights Watch (HRW), as well as Association of Defence Attorneys Association, will present their positions as friends of the court (amicus curiae).

Observers believe that whatever will be the chamber outcome, it was most likely to be appealed by one or the other parties.

The Rwandan government has insisted that it had right to try the suspects which will help to speed up the reconciliation process.

According to the UN estimates, about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 100-day bloodbath.

ER/PB/MM/SC