\nArusha, 20 June 2008(FH) \u2013 Third successive Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has turned down prosecution\u2019s request to transfer another genocide accused Lieutenant Ildenphonse Hategekimana, former Commander of Ngoma Camp, to stand a trial in Kigali on grounds that the suspect may not able to get a fair trial.
\nThe Chamber presided by Khalida Khan (Pakistan) ruled it was not satisfied that Rwanda\u2019s legal framework criminalizes command responsibility.\n<\/p>\n
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\nThe other members of three-bench judges were: Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Emile Short (Ghana).
\n\u201cThe Chamber is not satisfied that Rwanda can ensure Mr Hategekimana\u2019s right to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as the witnesses against him,\u201d the judges ruled in their unanimous 24-page decision.
\nIn the ruling, the Chamber considered it possible that, pursuant to Rwandan law, Mr Hategekimana \u201cmay face life imprisonment in isolation without adequate safeguards in violation of his right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment\u2019\u2019.
\nOn June 6,another ICTR Chamber rued that the 63-year-old former businessman Gaspard Kanyarukiga would not receive a fair trial if transferred, adding that the suspect would not be able to call witnesses residing outside Rwanda \u201cto an extend and in a manner which will ensure a fair trial.\u201d
\nLate last month, another Chamber rejected the Prosecution\u2019s request to transfer trader, Yusuf Munyakazi (73), on similar grounds.
\nHowever, all three Chambers have acknowledged in their separate decisions that Rwanda has made significant progress in rebuilding its judicial system in post-genocide, including abolishing the death penalty since last year.
\nIn addition to submissions by the Prosecution and the Defence, the judges considered briefs from the Rwandan government, the Kigali Bar Association, Human Rights Watch and the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association, which had been given amicus curiae(friends of the court) status.
\nThe other two accused targeted for transfers and their decisions are awaited are: former Mayor Jean Baptist Gatete and former Inspector of Judicial Police, Fulgence Kaysihema. The latter is still at large.
\nThe prosecution\u2019s transfer motions are within the framework of the ICTR\u2019s exit strategy, which wants to transfer some cases to national jurisdictions in order to finish by the end of the year all first instance trials as directed by the Security Council. However, the Prosecutor last week asked the Security Council for additional one year to complete the work.
\nHeadquartered in Arusha, northern Tanzania, ICTR has so far, delivered 30 convictions and five acquittals.
\nEight accused, held in Arusha, are currently awaiting their trials.
\nOne is detained in Europe and is awaiting his transfer to the ICTR, whereas 13 suspects are still on the run, including Felicien Kabuga, the alleged financier of killings, which according to UN estimates claimed lives of about 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
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Arusha, 20 June 2008(FH) \u2013 Third successive Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has turned down prosecution\u2019s request to transfer another genocide accused Lieutenant Ildenphonse Hategekimana, former Commander of Ngoma Camp, to stand a trial in Kigali on grounds that the suspect may not able to get a fair trial. The Chamber […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-15398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n