17.10.12 - RWANDA/UN - RWANDA DEMANDS SUBSTANTIVE REPORT ON CASES TRANSFERRED TO FRANCE

Arusha, October 17, 2012(FH) – Rwanda has, once again, expressed its concerns on delays of prosecution of two case transferred by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to France and called on the Tribunal to produce "substantive reports" on the matter.

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The two cases involve Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Priest at the Holy Family Parish in Kigali between 1992 and 1994 and former Governor of Gikongoro prefecture, Laurent Bucyibaruta. They were transferred on November 20, 2007 by the Tribunal.

Reacting Monday to a report by ICTR President, Judge Vagn Joensen, before the United Nations General Assembly, Olivier Nduhungirehe, senior Rwandan diplomat at the UN, called on the Tribunal to produce more substantive report on the status of the prosecutions of those two cases.

“The Tribunal had the right and the duty to revoke those referrals from the French courts, if those delays persisted,” a UN statement quotes the Rwandan diplomat, as saying.

Rwandan Ambassador, Eugene-Richard Gasana, had raised similar concerns before the UN Security Council in June 2011, when ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow presented a report on progress of cases for the Tribunal.

Presenting the 17th Annual Report before the Assembly, the ICTR President said the Tribunal has accomplished a great deal towards completion of its work and remained on schedule for delivery of the final remaining trial judgment by end of this year and completion of all appeals by 2014.

The remaining trial judgment involves ex-Rwandan minister Augustine Ngirabatware and seven cases comprising 17 persons, including five former ministers are pending on appeal.

FK/GF