\nArusha, 7 July, 2008 (FH) \u2014 Rwandan government has blasted the new policy of the Arusha-based UN court trying the 1994 genocide suspects of introducing conjugal visits for the detainees, describing the move \u201cas ridiculous and mockery of the justice process\u201d.
\n\u201cMany people in Rwanda consider this as very ridiculous\u2026I don\u2019t know what kind of legacy is the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) trying to leave behind\u2019\u2019, said furious Martin Ngoga, Rwanda\u2019s Prosecutor General over the phone from Kigali, apparently the decision coming just one year before the UN Court shuts down as directed by the Security Council.\n<\/p>\n
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\nHe told Hirondelle Agency that the move was \u201ccontextually misplaced\u201d and may jeopardize the UN tribunal\u2019s credibility. Rwanda does not allow conjugal visits.
\nThe angry reaction follows disclosure last week that since May ICTR has changed its policy to allow conjugal rights for detained and convicted persons.
\nThe Spokesman of the tribunal, Mr Roland Amoussouga attributed the move as part of efforts to harmonise policy matters with its sister tribunal in the ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY).
\nThere are a total of 56 detainees at the Special UN Detention Facility, including 18 convicted persons awaiting host countries.
\nAccording to Mr Amoussouga, the shift had been under consideration since the Chamber\u2019s decision in late 2005 to deny convicted Hassan Ngeze, ex-editor of Kangura newspaper, to a right to get married at the ICTR premises (and thereafter conjugal visits).
\nHowever, he has cautioned that the conjugal visits must be exercised within set out regulations and any violation would mean automatic denial of such visits.
\nThe tribunal\u2019s interpretation was that any detained was presumed innocent unless proven otherwise, adding that any convicted person must only be deprived of the right to move freely as part of the punishment.
\nThe issue of conjugal visits has not been universally settled, explained Mr Amoussouga, underscoring that the UN Court had a pioneering role in spreading some human rights\u2019 advancements in terms of right of the defence.
\nAccording to ICTR sources, the visitor, among others, may be required to undergo a background check, and the inmate must also be free of any sexually transmitted diseases. As a matter of procedure, both visitor and inmate are searched before and after the visit, to ensure that the visitor has not attempted to smuggle any items in or out of the facility.
\nThe conjugal meetings at the UN detention facility have been allowed for maximum of three hours, and must not disrupt the neighbourhood.
\nNo detainee, the source said, may be allowed to have more than one conjugal meeting within a period of two successive months; except in case of a detainee whose spouse is resident in a distant country, outside Tanzania,
\nAlso in such a case, there will be one conjugal visit in the first week and second meeting during last week of the family visit.
\nSome countries consider that inmates must not have the privilege of having sexual pleasure, even if that\u2019s with a legal spouse while serving the sentence as part of punishment. However, on the other side, human rights\u2019 activists consider that even if imprisoned, the right to family bond must not be denied.
\nConservative countries such as Saudi Arabia has allowed conjugal visits for years now but countries like England, Scotland and Ireland do not allow conjugal visits . However, home visits, with a greater emphasis on building other links with the outside world to which the prisoner will be returned are allowed.
\nIn Brazil, male prisoners are eligible to be granted conjugal visits for both heterosexual and homosexual relationships, while women\u2019s conjugal visits are tightly regulated, if granted at all. Since July 2007, the prison system in Mexico City has begun to allow gay prisoners to have conjugal visits from their partners.
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Arusha, 7 July, 2008 (FH) \u2014 Rwandan government has blasted the new policy of the Arusha-based UN court trying the 1994 genocide suspects of introducing conjugal visits for the detainees, describing the move \u201cas ridiculous and mockery of the justice process\u201d. \u201cMany people in Rwanda consider this as very ridiculous\u2026I don\u2019t know what kind of […]<\/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-15507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n