Judge Vagn Joensen said his decision was based on a November 2008 Appeals Chamber ruling in the case of ex-Rwandan Transport Minister André Ntagerura, handed down about two years after Ntagerura was acquitted.
“I am bound by interpretation of the Statute laid down by the Appeals Chamber,” said the ICTR President. “Thus, the Statute does not empower any Trial Chamber to grant the applicants the relief they are seeking. Therefore, I have no reason to assign a Trial Chamber to deal with the matter at hand,” he ruled.
Ntagerura, along with former Health Minister Casimir Bizimungu, former Foreign Affairs Minister Jérome Bicamumpaka and ex-army officer Gratien Kabiligi had asked the President of the Tribunal to compose a Chamber to hear their grievances and to issue requests for cooperation to specific States to facilitate their relocation. All four are still lodged in safe houses in Arusha because they cannot find host countries.
According to the motion, Ntagerura seeks relocation to Canada, France or the Netherlands, Kabiligi wants to go to France, and Bizimungu and Bicamumpaka would prefer to go to Canada.
FK/NI/JC