05.01.12 - ICTR/ OTHER COURTS - COUNTRIES SEEKING ICTR HELP DOUBLED IN 2011

5 January 2012 By

Arusha, January 5, 2012 (FH) - More and more countries hosting Rwandan genocide suspects are asking the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for assistance, according to a report from the ICTR prosecutor's office. These requests are addressed to the prosecution, which refers them to the judges where necessary.

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In the first eleven months of 2011, the prosecutor's office received 106 requests from 26 countries, compared with 143 requests from 12 countries in 2010, says the report. The number of countries requesting this kind of assistance is expected to rise in the coming months, it adds. Thus the requests are likely to engage significant time and resources of the International Residual Mechanism, which is due to take over the remaining work of the Tribunal in July 2012.

Requests relate mainly to witnesses who have testified before the ICTR and who are potential witnesses for investigations taking place in western countries.

France, for example, sent two investigating magistrates to Arusha in October 2009 to meet with ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow. An informed source at the Tribunal said the French judges were seeking evidence in the case of Agathe Habyarimana, who is living in France. Rwanda accuses the widow of the former president of helping to plan the genocide.

ER/JC